If you look in my profile you'll see my cat Swiper. He's a beauty and his fur's lovely. But he's got a very fine undercoat with his lovely long fur and he mats up terribly. His fur, too, is very fine--it's like touching a mink coat--so soft and silky. Wow..... you just want to keep petting him.

I can brush him a little bit until he decides to start biting the brush and clawing at it too, playfully. He has all his claws and generally is very gentle.

The matting starts unexpectedly very close to the skin and then becomes, sometimes overnight, like a dreadlock. Sometimes I can get him to stay still long enough to cut down the mat, but usually it's too close to the skin for me to get it all.

So how do I deal with a cat with this type of fur? I can't take him to a groomer--I'm a really bad cat owner because he doesn't have all his shots up to date. It's never posed a problem for me because my cats have been all indoor cats. So please don't skewer me on that. My dogs go regularly, just not my cat (and former cats who have lived very long, healthy lives). And all my other cats have been DSH cats and the hair thing has never been a problem.

HELP!! I feel like a TERRIBLE pet owner because I can't stop this matting.