Cat Cleaning, a necessary process 

The cleaning eliminates the dead hair and the parasites in it. Cats swallow their own hair and they expel them afterwards in an innocuous way in form of balls.

But the carrying that cats give themselves doesn't substitute the care that an owner should give them, overall in the cases of long hair breeds, which tongues can't manage nor the quantity nor the length of their hair.

In warm conditions, cleaning themselves is the best way cats have for reducing their body temperature thanks to the evaporation of the saliva  they deposit on their skin. Also, it serves as distraction when recovering from a stressing situation.

Some think that it is an automatic answer to a rising of the temperature of the body due to fear or shame.

Cats usually give themselves long beauty sessions after extenuating chases or playing. When he stops for washing, it means that he doesn't want to keep on playing.

Lost of habit
Some cats dedicate more time than others to embellish themselves, although they are usually less maniacs with age. Then, they can't, for example, hold up their claws for cleaning their ears, which is why you have to have special attention and always b aware that they are free from acarus and other parasites.

Although the cleaning patterns of each cat varies greatly from the others, you mustn't pass by any drastic change in them, overall if they are associated with the lack of appetite. When a cat stops cleaning himself, it is usually a sign that he is ill, while if he is more stressed than usual, he tends to compulsively clean himself.

Anyway, there are other factors that unchain this kind of unusual behavior, as is the prolonged absence of a member of the house, domestic fights or even the change of furniture.

If your cat doesn't like to embellish himself, there is an infallible method: put some cold butter all over his hair. There is no healthy cat that can resist this method.