I grew up with short-haired cats that pretty much took care of their own fur.

I now have this cat that has not been doing a very good job of maintaining himself.

I took him to the vet's for a comb-out and bath - he feels SO much nicer now - but he looks like a mess.

I have always had long haired cats. I start giving them baths and brushing them when they are babies. They get used to it. They don't like it, but they will tolerate it. My little Persian used to sit in the bathroom sink for her blow dry and brushing. She does not like getting mats pulled out so that part is not fun. My big guy does not mind being brushed, although his coat is so thick that it takes forever. Sometimes I just pull the mats out with my fingers, and he is so good. Always amazes me. He just sits on my lap and purrs.

My neighbors have a long haired coon, and they keep him shaved, about an inch long. He matts horribly, and it is warm enough in the house, that he doesn't miss the extra fur. The brush him regularly too :D:D:D

BArn cats here, self suffcient, or dead. I know that sounds horrible, but I am allergic.

I brush mine , one medium hair and one short hair, just to keep them from shedding so much. And try to keep the hairballs away. Nothing worse than getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and stepping on a hairball yuckkk!!

Mine liked to be combed out. However my youngest, Cici, tends to form knots on her when she really starts shedding. I just take her into the bathroom for a more intense combing. I don't like to cut the mats out unless I have to.

I have two that love to be brushed. It's relaxing to them and me.

My six (one Mama and five kids) keep themselves wonderfully clean. Two are calicos with a lot of white fur, and they always look terrific. They have short hair so, no problem with matting. I guess I am lucky.

We have two cats, both of which are probably considered short-haired, but one of them has the thickest coat I've ever seen and she sheds continuously. She just explodes when you touch her, so we brush her ALL the time, mostly out of self-defense. And she loves it. No matter how much we brush, we end up with enough fur to make another cat. However, after a good long brushing session, you can pretty much predict that she'll go after the other cat. Not sure what goes on their little brains...

Sounds like one of my in-laws' cats. He's a persian, and there's twice as much fur as there is cat, I'm not even joking. His tail is as puffy as his whole body. He needs to be brushed pretty often because they let him go out in the back yard and he gets pick picks in his fur sometimes, or leaves, or whatever. He doesn't LIKE having his fur brushed, you kind of have to hold him down, but that's the price he pays for getting to go outside. And no matter how many times a week you brush this guy, there's more fur where that comes from, you really could build a whole new cat with his fur...
I have one long hair (house cat), and one short hair (siamese), and both LOVE getting their fur brushed. Neither of them really needs it, the siamese doesn't have long fur at all, and my other house cat has like rabbit fur. It doesn't tangle or anything. I brush her because I'd rather not pick up hair balls...
The only thing is that we have to use two different brushes on our cats... our siamese has short hair, and the prickly bristles of the regular cat brush is way too rough for her skin.