If you do, be careful. I've seen a cat come in to the clinic after the owners tried cutting mats out, and they cut into the skin around the cats neck and gave it a wound about 1.5cm in length. The cat had to be sutured up again. Not a pleasant experience for anyone!

We have an old cat at the shelter who is short haired but very matted, no one tries to brush him though because he is so sensitive and his skin is getting quite thin - it would do more harm than good for this poor guy unfortunately.