This is the process that worked for me. Beforehand, I prepared what I called a "Ziploc Bag Catch System": folded paper towel, sprayed with a liquid flea spray (non-aerosol), stuffed into a Ziploc bag. Then I use the same flea spray on the flea comb and combed through the cat's fur. I immediately used the catch system to clean the fur and stunned fleas off the comb by placing the spokes of the comb between the flea spray drenched paper towel folds, while it was still inside the Ziploc bag, then applied pressure to the outside of the catch system while sliding the cleaned flea come out. Then I immediately folded the open end of the Ziploc bag down so the fleas couldn't drag themselves out. Then I re-sprayed the flea comb and combed through the cat's fur again, unfolded the catch system and clean the comb again. I continued this process until I had completed combed through the cat's coat, re-spraying the inside of the bag and the flea comb as needed. Once done, I then zipped the catch system closed and disposed of it. The first time around, I went through 3 catch systems before I was completely done, so you might want to have a couple catch systems set up and on standby. I hope this helps some.

I've got 2 short-haired cats & 2 long-haired (including 1 Maine Coon). It works fine on all of them, just takes a little patience. In fact, one of my short-haired cats gets mats as bad as the Maine Coon! I particularly like how comfortable the comb is to hold. I've bought several, so I can have one wherever I'm likely to sit when I want to work on one of the cats.