# Matts



## Walter (May 31, 2015)

Hi, 

Walt had an operation a while ago, just as his puppy coat turned in to an adult one. Because he was healing he developed a habit of licking and chewing at his fur around the area that was healing. 

We were planning on getting him cut, but had to leave it a while longer until he had healed up so he's a bit wild looking now. 

His licking and chewing is causing him to get matted. We've managed to get most of them out but once they're in there, it's causing him some pain to have them brushed out. A poodle owner we know has said that a groomer has to report the owner to the RSPCA if a matted dog comes in, which seems ridiculous to me, and that they're forbidden by law to brush the mats out and have to shave them instead. This also seems silly. He has a few small mats and a couple of larger ones, one of which he reluctantly let me brush out, and one of which he let me have a go at before getting sick of me. I'll finish it tomorrow. 

Does the hearsay about groomers have any truth to it? Walter gets brushed a few times a week but it looks like we'll have to step it up considering how thick his coat has become and how quick he mats. 

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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

So I think it's a bit ridiculous that every matt is reported by groomers. The numbers of investigations would be unimaginable. My two get tiny matts just from laying in wet grass and doing a nice back rub on it or from a lot of mouthy play. I do tend to snip out matts as my two are really sensitive in certain spots (under arm, by their weewee) but if you brush regularly whatever matts are in there I'm sure won't be at the level of reportable offense. 


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

I believe the rules were changed on welfare grounds to limit the amount of time a groomer could spend removing matts and if a dog is badly matted a groomer will shave under the matts for the dogs sake rather than try to spend painful hours otherwise removing them.

The odd small matt is not a huge problem as long as you remove it quite quickly (I snip them out too) but bear in mind any matts will pull on the dogs skin and cause them pain so I keep Molly pretty short so she stays fairly low maintenance. I also tend to comb her rather than brush which means I know I am getting down the the skin each time and means I find any matts starting to form quickly and can easily deal with them before they are a problem for her.


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## Datun Walnut (Oct 15, 2013)

We find the majority of matts develop around foreign objects like grass seed or sticky-bud strands. I've never heard of the reporting thing but I would imagine if a dog came in that was in a complete state, the groomer would be right to report it. 

We've tried matt splitters but the best way really is to tease them out and cut the remainder and avoid stressing Poppy.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Hopefully the groomers would use their judgement and report dogs that were actually neglected. I can think of so many situations where well meaning people who love their dogs let things get away from them and it would be ludicrous to drive people away from fear of being reported rather than just cleaning the dog up.


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

Had to reply to this one.....No a groomer will not report you to the RSPCA for a few area's of matts, if we had to do that most groomers would be phoning them every other day! groomers are used to having to shave a solid coat off like a fleece and still not report it - they may if it was obviously very long term neglect, coat matted so tightly it could be restricting blood flow, nails so long dog can't walk properly etc. Sadly even when groomers have reported dogs like this (and worse) they are often told that the owner is now doing something about it so it doesn't get followed up. But - groomers do abide by the animal welfare act which states that animals should be free from pain and harm, sadly a lot of dematting is at best uncomfortable and quite possibly painful so groomers generally stick to a rule of not dematting for longer than 15 mins, those that homegroom know that is not very long, if there are looser knots that can be cut through and brushed out quite easily whilst holding close to the skin so that it isn't pulling on the dog and the dog is quite happy then personally I probably wouldn't include that but it still takes longer and extra time maybe charged for. If he is already unhappy about being brushed to be honest I would say shaving the coat maybe the best thing to do anyway, otherwise it is likely his behaviour could get worse. Once his coat is very short then you can go very slowly getting him used to the brush again while the coat is very short and there is no chance of catching a matt to hurt. I know it is sad to see your shaggy dog clipped off but is is only hair, and it will grow again. A good quote groomers try to remember - Humanity before Vanity.


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