Any advice for matted fur?

Question

I adopted a beautiful (rather large) dog 2 days ago from a lady who couldn't care for him anymore. I was under the impression that she did take care of him but her living arrangement was just too small for this huge of an animal. Until I got to looking at him! He has horrible ear mites (meds started today), dead fleas and gnats and grass tangled in his "mane" - he has horribly matted fur! He has the long golden retriever hair at the back of his ears and that was so matted I had to cut most of it but his mane and tail are so horribly matted that even a bath did help work them out. I have been brushing and brushing with no real help. Does anyone have any good ideas for getting these matts out WITHOUT shaving his fur? I took him to the groomer but they wanted to just shave him, said working out the matts would be too time consuming. I refuse to shave him, he has so much hair and shaving him would probably be very traumatic for him. PLEASE HELP!

Serious answers only!!!

TAY: If you're not going to FULLY read questions BEFORE answering, DON'T BOTHER! I just adopted the dog 2 days ago you twit, how could I have gotten this taken care of a long time ago when I didn't own him???????? Think and read before you answer questions, it saves you from looking like the horses end!

Thanks to everyone with serious answers who actually bothered to read my question - the dog has very long hair, he is part Golden Retreiver, Chow, St. Bernard that we know of for sure so he has tons of hair. The groomer even said that shaving his fur could make him feel weird. He's going through enough with changing homes after 6 years, I don't want to make it worse on him. I will call the vet we seen for his check-up tomorrow and ask about a good conditioner appropriate for his fur type and see if that will work. If it doesn't, I will have no choice but to cut the matts out. Just hoping not to have to go that route. I'm wanting to make his transition here smoothe and easy for his sake, it's been hard on him so far, but at least here he'll have a much better life as I would NEVER allow my animals to get like this!!

JO: Thanks! The matts aren't brick like, you can get the fur to split apart and it isn't so close to the skin that you can't get behind it. This is why I want to brush them out rather than shave him. When I was trying, I was NOT just pulling the brush. I was putting my hand behind the matt to hold the hair up while letting his skin be relaxed and lightly tapping at the hair. I got a LOT of them out but some are being very stubborn. Believe me, I am furious that his previous owner allowed him to get this way. He is such a wonderful dog and deserves so much better!!

Answer 1

For large matts use a pair of good sissors and cut DOWN through the mat. Keep doing this and use a good brush, bent needle like tines. Cut the matts to smaller matts and brush with the slicker brush. Smaller matts can be cut using a plastic letter open that has the little razor in it. Just slice through the mat.

By dividing the matts you have less pull on the dog and smaller amounts to handle. Start brushing at the bottom and work your way up. Spilt it again and again until you have got it ALL out.

Make sure you have removed all matts before you bathe. Water makes hair shrink and will only make matts worse.

For his ears, I have a solution that I have used as a regular ear wash. The recipe was given to me by a Vet I had worked for. It works on ear mites, infection, inflamation and is just a good ear cleaner. I have used it for 15 yr.s as a general ear wash.

Your dog will not like it one bit cause it burns, so will need some help since he is so big. Working on one ear at a time, pour solutation into the ear canal, do not allow dog to shake his head until you have massaged the base of the canal just under his ear. You will hear ooosshing and gooshing if you are in the right spot. Now let his shake his head. Do the other ear.

1 part apple cider vinegar (healing)
1 part 70% rubbing alcohol (drying)
1 part water (dilutition)

This will bring up all kinds of crap that is down inside.

Good luck. E-mail me

Answer 2

Since you said they arent all the way up against the skin I would take a pair of scissors, and make a few cuts into the mat. Then get a good slicker brush and hold the hair at the root (so he wont get brush burn) and try brushing it out. It always works for us at the grooming shop, however if it is really giant mats it may not work and then your best bet would be to just have the mats shaved. He will look a little funny for a while, but it will be better just to get the mats shaved rather than the whole dog because his hair may never grow back the same!! good luck!

Answer 3

When mats get wet they set more. You didn't mention what kind of brush you are using so...

Get a dog brush that has a bunch of pins sticking out (I forget the name of it). Looking at it you would think 'that's got to hurt', but it doesn't.

SLOWLY, starting at the LOWEST point on the dog's body, pick one spot, say the back left leg inside, having the dog lay down, brush the hair towards the dogs feet, working UP the leg. As you come to a mat, slowly using the brush and your fingers work it out. Do this on the complete dog.

As you finish a section or area, using a cheep laundry cream rinse, put some in a spray bottle and add twice as much water (example 1/4 cup cream rinse, 1/2 cup water), shake well, then lightly spray on the area you finished and brush it in. Leave it their until you have finished the total dogs matted area. It will help prevent future mats.

Ears, mites LOVE warm dark moist areas. Clean the hair out of the dogs ears using your finger nail tips (pinch small area of hear and pull). I am talking about the ear canal area not the outter edges. If you can see it, pull it. It really doesn't hurt the dog. Remove any ear wax you see GENTLY. It will want to stick to the hair. Once the dogs ears are clean of hair you will have a LOT less problem with mites and ear infections. Once done, keep it up.

Being VERY careful, trim the hair by the dogs nails so you can just barely see the nails (not just the tips). Trim the dogs nails (only the tips). Do this once a week until the dogs nails are as short as they should be (so you do NOT hear the dog walking).

If you want to keep the fleas away, add a chopped up clove of garlic (or garlic pill) to his diet every day. Feas HATE the smell of garlic and will stay away (works well for humans too).

Answer 4

It will be a big task, but it would help if you could get a mat splitter and get a groomer to show you how to use it properly. I used to be a dog groomer and it can be done but also ask a groomer their opinion on how stressful it will be for the dog if you do it yourself. I used to show people how to and tell them what to get and they either did it over time, or most times they agreed to have it shaved, realizing how tedious and painful it was.
If the mats are not brick like and pulling up the skin, then mat splitting is very possible. Tedious but not too traumatic.
Hope you find a groomer who will show you. It only takes a few minutes to give you an example of what to do.
You could offer to pay them ten dollars to just show you how, it would be worth it since you want to spare the hair if at all possible. Many groomers will show you for free.
If shaving is what ends up being necessary, the hair will grow back. It does take awhile though, with a G.R.

Answer 5

You should probably take the woofer to a grooming salon and have him clipped, bathed and generally cleaned up. If you do this now in the cold season the animal probably needs to have some protective clothing to stay warm and comfy.

Once the matted fur is gone, please start a regular brushing schedule each day to maintain the beautiful coat.

Matted hair behind the ears needs to be clipped very carefully and gently so you won't cut into his ears. This gentle approach to getting the matted up hair balls cut away might take days-please go slow so you won't frighten the animal.
Remain calm and talk to the dog while clipping to keep him happy and distracted.
Good luck and many happy days with your new companion.

Answer 6

i would try a dog spray in conditioner and brush that spot just do a small bit at a time so not to stress full for the poor thing you can get them from vet and pets stop very good with long haired dogs and also a scrapper or thinning brush may help as well ,,, we did this with a collie we got from a bad owner we got told it was a girl after getting rid of all the matted fur ,,,,, he was a boy and luck he didn't lose them as we had to cut a lot of the Matt's out !! good luck give him heaps of love!!

Answer 7

You have to shave him. Matts are painful if left untreated. he can get hot spots on his skin which can lead to infections and much more serious problems. when an animal is this matted, bathing only causes the matts to "cement" themselves into the coat, making it virtually impossible to remove. Why are you so opposed to shaving him? The fur will grow back. Meanwhile, while that fur is off you can inspect his skin and body for any other problems that you may not be aware of. The constant brushing and pulling at the matts is much more traumatic than shaving him. Please do whats best for him and get him to the groomer, this is about his health, not just about the way he looks.

Answer 8

If the matts are that severe the only option is shaving the poor guy rather than torturing him by trying to comb the matts out. I doubt it would be traumatic, in fact the dog will probably feel much better, the matts have got to be pulling on his skin, can you imagine someone constantly pulling your hair by the roots, that's what this dog is experiencing. Sounds like you're putting your feelings above what's best for the dog. Shave the dog and get over it so he can start to grow back a beautiful, well-cared for coat.

Answer 9

uhh...Well, if it really is that bad shaving is the quickest option BUT, if you said you did get some of the mats out there is hope. I know that they sell a conditioning shampoo for long hair dogs. I would get that. If that doesnt work (and I know I am going to catch heck for this) use human conditioner, just on the bad parts and just try to work it out. At the end of the day, though, you might just be better off snipping the mats out. Not shaving completly, just getting the worse mats. I didnt help, did I? Sorry.

Answer 10

It's in his best interest to shave him. There's a lot of dead fleas and God knows what other stuff...take him to the vet and let them do it and let him grow his fur back from scratch rather than brushing it which can also be very painful for him if the matts are very close to the skin.