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Courtney
Cat grooming expert and contributor to Cat Grooming Directory. Passionate about helping cat owners find the best grooming solutions for their feline friends.
Grooming survival kit, a 30-day healthy coat plan, and year-one essentials — printable, product picks included. Enter your email to unlock instantly.
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Courtney
Cat grooming expert and contributor to Cat Grooming Directory. Passionate about helping cat owners find the best grooming solutions for their feline friends.
Grooming survival kit, a 30-day healthy coat plan, and year-one essentials — printable, product picks included. Enter your email to unlock instantly.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We'll email you a link to the interactive guide.
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Find GroomersHere's a thing that happens every summer: cat owners spend all of spring brushing out avalanches of fur, and then — sometime around June — the shedding slows down. The tumbleweeds disappear. The cat looks fine. Grooming feels handled.
Then they pick up their cat in August and discover a mat the size of a dinner roll hiding behind one ear.
Summer grooming is sneaky that way. The spring shed is dramatic and impossible to ignore. Summer is the season that looks low-maintenance and isn't.
After the spring blow-out, cats settle into a lighter summer coat. That transition is supposed to be clean — out with the heavy winter undercoat, in with something more seasonally appropriate. In practice, it doesn't always work that neatly.
Dead undercoat that didn't fully shed can stick around. For long-haired breeds — Maine Coons, Persians, Norwegian Forest Cats — that trapped undercoat doesn't just sit there looking innocent. In humid heat, it compresses. It packs down toward the skin. And eventually, it becomes a mat that's been quietly forming for weeks while the cat looked perfectly fine from the outside.
This is why summer is actually a higher-stakes grooming season for long-haired cats than spring. In spring, you can see the problem. Fur tumbleweeds are a feedback mechanism. Summer hides the problem until it's already a situation.
Short-haired cats have it easier, but "easier" is not the same as "no maintenance needed." They still shed in summer, still need nail trims, and still benefit from a bath if they've been exploring whatever lives under the porch. "Short hair" is not a grooming hall pass.
Cats aren't dogs. Anyone who has tried to bathe one knows this. Dogs in summer are obvious about how they feel — panting, seeking shade, laying flat on cool floors like a discarded bath mat. My dogs Blue and Belle start doing this the moment the thermostat climbs past 75. You know exactly how a dog feels about the heat.
Cats mask discomfort. They'll sit perfectly still, looking regal and unbothered, while a mat tightens against their skin and their coat traps heat they can't effectively shed. You often can't tell a cat is uncomfortable until the problem has been building for a while.
Humidity speeds up matting in a way that dry heat doesn't. Moisture causes fur to clump and compress — especially the fine, soft undercoat that long-haired cats grow in abundance. If you're in a humid climate (most of the southeastern US, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest), your cat's coat is dealing with this pressure every day from May through September.
Flat-faced breeds — Persians and Himalayans — have an extra layer of complexity here. Their airflow is already limited by their facial structure, which means they feel heat more acutely. A dense, under-maintained coat in summer is genuinely uncomfortable for them in a way that's hard for the cat to communicate clearly and easy for an owner to miss.
If you've got a long-haired cat and you live somewhere that gets humid, summer is not a coast-through season. It's a stay-on-top-of-it season.
This is the one that trips people up every year. Spring shedding is impossible to ignore — fur everywhere, brushing feels obviously necessary. Summer shedding is quieter, so brushing gets skipped.
Don't skip brushing. The summer coat isn't shedding dramatically, but it's still turning over. And in humid conditions, that loose fur is exactly the raw material mats are made from. Brush your long-haired cat every day or every other day through summer. Short-haired cats can usually get by with once a week, but they still benefit from it.
A slicker brush is good for the surface coat. A fine-toothed comb — or a stainless steel dual-sided comb with both wide and narrow teeth — is what finds early mats before they become serious. Run the comb through the coat all the way to the skin. If it stops and won't move, you've found something that needs attention.
Do this gently. Don't force it. If the comb hits something solid and compact, that's a mat, and it needs professional hands before you make it worse.
Mats don't usually form in the easy-to-see places. They form in the spots cats are least likely to groom themselves well, where fur catches and bunches:
Run your fingers through these spots weekly. If the fur feels dense, compact, or resistant in a way it normally doesn't, that's early matting. Catching it early means a groomer can usually brush it out. Catching it late means a lion cut becomes the conversation.
Shaving a cat for summer feels logical — less fur, cooler cat — but it usually backfires. A healthy coat actually helps regulate temperature by providing insulation from heat and protecting skin from sun exposure. Removing that protection doesn't automatically make a cat more comfortable; sometimes it makes things worse.
There are valid reasons to shave a cat — severe matting, certain medical situations, specific breed management practices. But "it's summer" isn't one of them on its own. Our guide on shaving cats in summer covers when it makes sense and when it doesn't.
If your cat goes outside, summer is when coats pick up debris — pollen, tree sap, dirt — that accelerates tangling. A quick check and a pass with the brush after outdoor time keeps small problems from compounding into large ones over the week.
Cats on dry food alone often don't drink enough water, and dehydration affects coat condition — it can make fur brittle, dull, and more prone to breaking and tangling. Multiple water sources, a fountain if your cat prefers moving water, wet food a few times a week — all of this supports the coat from the inside.
A change in coat texture or condition in summer can point to something worth investigating. A coat that suddenly looks dull, greasy, or patchy might be hiding a skin issue, hormonal changes, or weight gain making it hard for the cat to reach and groom certain spots. If you notice a real change in the coat, a groomer can assess it professionally — and your vet should know about it too.
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Summer is not the season to take a break from professional grooming. For long-haired cats especially, it may be the season to schedule more frequently, not less.
Call a groomer when:
You find a mat you can't work out gently. Don't force it. A mat that's tightened against the skin needs professional tools and professional hands. Trying to brush through a serious mat at home usually makes it worse and can hurt the cat. If you're already looking at mats, read our guide on what to do about matted cat fur first, then book an appointment.
The coat looks or feels different than usual. Texture changes, clumping, stickiness, or patches that weren't there before — any of these is a reason to have a groomer take a look.
Your long-haired cat is overdue. For breeds like Persians and Maine Coons, "overdue" in summer typically means six to eight weeks without professional grooming. That's long enough for real problems to develop quietly.
The cat flinches or moves away from being touched. Some cats are drama. But if a cat who normally tolerates brushing is suddenly reactive, there's often a hidden mat or a skin issue underneath making things painful.
You're not sure what you're looking at. Honestly, just book the appointment. A good groomer would rather see your cat when it's fine than try to rescue a coat that spent three months getting worse.
Professional cat groomers who specialize in cats — as opposed to high-volume dog-and-cat salons — tend to be more willing to work slowly, take breaks, and handle a cat on the cat's terms. The National Cat Groomers Institute certifies groomers specifically in feline handling, and Fear Free-credentialed groomers have additional training in low-stress technique. Both credentials are worth asking about when you call.
Summer is a good time to lock in a groomer you trust before fall schedules fill up. The groomers in our directory — search by location to find cat-specific groomers near you — are cat-focused or cat-forward operations. Many are certified through the National Cat Groomers Institute or hold Fear Free credentials, and they're not trying to get your cat off the table in eight minutes so the next dog can come in.
When you call, ask a few things: How do they handle anxious cats? How long do they typically book for a long-haired cat? What do they recommend for summer coat maintenance? The answers tell you whether you're talking to someone who knows what they're doing with cats specifically — or someone who mostly does dogs and figures a cat is close enough.
It's not close enough. Cats aren't small dogs. Anyone who's tried to bathe one knows exactly what that means.
Do cats need professional grooming in summer?
Most cats benefit from professional grooming year-round, but long-haired breeds need it more urgently in summer. Humidity accelerates matting, and once a mat is close to the skin, it's very difficult to address safely at home. Short-haired cats need less frequent professional attention but still benefit from occasional baths and nail trims.
Is summer the worst time for cat mats?
It depends on the breed and your climate. In humid regions, summer is often worse for matting than spring — the shedding is less visible so people brush less, while humidity quietly compresses the coat. For dense-coated breeds like Maine Coons and Persians, summer is high season for mats.
Should I brush my cat more in summer?
Yes, especially if they're long-haired. Summer shedding is quieter than spring, but brushing frequency matters just as much. Loose fur in a humid coat is exactly what mats are made of. If you're brushing a few times a week in spring, keep that going through summer.
My cat's coat looks fine. Do I still need a groomer in summer?
Probably yes. Mats form underneath the surface coat, where they're invisible until they've been developing for a while. A groomer can get hands and a comb under the coat in a way that's hard to replicate at home. "Looks fine from the outside" is a starting point, not a finish line.
When should I schedule a summer grooming appointment?
Earlier than you think. Summer grooming calendars fill up quickly at good cat-specific groomers. For long-haired breeds, aim for a professional appointment every four to six weeks through summer. For short-haired cats, every eight to twelve weeks with home brushing in between is typically fine.
Can I skip the groomer and just do everything at home in summer?
Home brushing is essential, but it's not a full replacement for professional grooming — especially for long-haired breeds. Think of home care as maintenance between appointments. A professional groomer catches what you miss and handles situations, like tight mats, that aren't safe to tackle at home.
Summer is the season cats are very good at making look effortless. They sit in a sunbeam. They look composed. They are not, necessarily, fine.
Keep brushing. Know where mats hide. And find a groomer who knows what summer coats are actually doing underneath all that composed, sunbeam-sitting dignity.