>>Most angora is VERY easy to felt, you look at it funny it seems to felt. >>But, my angoras are German, or high percentage of German, which are bred to >>NOT mat, and have a very low maintenance, with high volume of fiber, so if >>they are matting, they have mites or are poorly bred. <<
German angoras were bred to grow large, and produce larger amounts of hair, than their English or French cousins. If an animal is bred so that it's hair or fur doesn't mat, the animal is going have a lot of guard hair. Guard hairs prevent the softer undercoat from matting. Fibers that don't have a lot of guard hair, can mat or felt easily. That's why the cat undercoat matted. Not because of mites, but because that's the nature of soft fibers. As for the skin redness and greasy feeling of the cat's fur, that could be caused by fleas. It only takes one flea to give an animal one bite, and there can be an allergic reaction to the flea's saliva. As the cat grooms itself, it distributes the allergen. Sometimes there's a reaction over the whole body of the cat or dog that got flea bit. If you really want to know if there's mites, get a microscope, or a strong magnifying glass. Get some Scotch tape. Find an area on the animal's skin that looks irritated. Put the tape over that area. Make sure it makes contact with the skin. Pull the tape up and off. Put the tape on a microscope slide, and examine it. If there's skin mites, you'll see the little critters. If they're sucking mites, you'll have to scrape down to the capillary bed, before you can use the tape. Either way, you should be able to see if the animal actually has mites. You can even do that on any fiber you think may be mite infested. If the fiber has been stored for awhile, you'll find the cadavers of the little suckers. wrnk d2 To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
