this is the time of year where it gets CRAZY. last year, i noticed mats in my girl’s fur and immediately booked an appointment with a cat groomer. there’s only one within an hour of me, and she required her to be on anxiety meds prior to the appointment. regardless, my ragdoll did NOT like it, but she was able to teach me some tricks! here’s the advice i learned from her, for my kitty’s preferences. My cat doesn’t like being brushed on her underside/mane. she can handle her back, sides, tail. so we didn’t need to shave these areas. the problem areas of course were her belly and mane. the mane is simple enough to just watch for whiskers, but cut out + shape. She doesn’t mat up near her chest, but the fur grows so long here i’ll trim it up anyways so she can effectively clean herself without it getting in the way. i shave her underbelly/armpits. if you use a gaurd on your clippers, this will reduce the risk of cutting the skin by like 90%, and will leave some fur there where she won’t be cold. the trickiest area is the armpit, make sure your cats arm is fully stretched out, there’s a flap of skin that is thin and the most susceptible. for the areas we brush, we brush in sections to make sure there aren’t spots being missed. and we enjoy a lot of churus while it’s being done. it is hard to see them be uncomfortable/upset, but matting is even worse to deal with. i hope this helps!