Mrs Barakta's-Mum's cat Rocky. Who for reasons unclear (other than resorting to stereotypes about ginger cats being a bit dim) hasn't been doing a very good job of grooming himself. His humans are no help in this regard, as Mrs-Barakta's-Mum pretends not to like cats, and Dr Biggles has a strange autistic way of loving cats without ever really touching them. His sister helps him do the back of his head, but not much else.
Anyway, for reasons unclear, he had a matted area on his left (but not right) hindquarters, which necessitated a haircut and some careful teasing apart of the remaining felt. Astoundingly, once he got the general idea he was happy to sit on my lap and let me get on with this, apart from a bit near the base of his tail which required mild distraction tactics. I think I removed enough hair to make a spare cat.
As a relatively young, active short-haired cat (albeit one with impressive fur density), I can't help thinking that he'd be fine if he had an occasional brushing and got stroked on a regular basis. It's not like Jake (my Linconshire correspondent's elderly Turkish Van), who can't stay awake long enough to manage his own floof, but wriggles and squirms if you try to help.
