# To all you groomers! - whats the worst thing youve seen on the job?



## ashes (Apr 15, 2007)

ok a few days ago a dog came into the grooming shop completly matted. he was about 13 years old, over weight, some kind of standard poodle mix, lived outside, and hadnt been to the groomer in 7 years the woman told me. i told her right up front that due to the dogs age and coat condition i would have to just shave it all off. she was fine with that and just said whatever you have to do. i brought him back, put him on the table and began shaving. i hadnt gotten 3 strokes in when i noticed a sore of some kind on the dogs back. i went around it for the time being since old dogs get stuff like that. but then i found another and another. upon closer examination i was appauled to find that the sores were actually HOLES IN THE DOGS SKIN and what had created these holes? MAGGOTS.. the holes actually had woms crawing in them. -shudders- so we called the owner.. he went right to the vet and was treated. the owner called us the next day in tears thanking us for helping her dog. it turned out in total he had five holes in his body and would have surely died if we hadnt found them.

but what i want to know is.. has anyone else ever seen anything like that before???


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## squirt1968 (Feb 19, 2007)

Haad that lady recently adopted the dog or is this her standard of care? Doesn't sound like the poor dog had any type of attention other than food and water. How terribly sad.


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## blackrose (Oct 7, 2006)

Oh, that is disqusting. I haven't seen anything as bad as that. 

There are three cases that I can think of. 

One was a longhaired cat. The guy who brought him in could barely speak english. The whole intire underside of the cat was one huge mat of poo. Tiffany shaved the cat down and its skin had sores all over it because of the poo. Dr. Greise, the head vet at where I work, told the guy that if the cat ever came back in in that kind of condition, he was going to call animal control on him.

Another was a Chow mix of some sort. Its fur was one solid mat. I don't know how the dog could even move. When Tiff shaved the fur off, it could be strung across the room in a line, it was so matted together. 

Another was a Sheltie that came in. His owner didn't want him shaved, so had to demat him by hand...it wouldn't have been that bad, but this dog had TONS of mats, and his skin was beet read it was so inflamed. He also had the nastiest dandruff...like, huge yellow chunks. It was disgusting and I felt awful for the dog.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

My biggest issue are the dogs who come in with nails so long that they are walking on their heels or the toe is sideways. People think you can clip them right down to the proper length in one visit. At that point I refer them to a vet for doing the nails under sedation and with pain meds.

Although I'm not a professional groomer I voluteer at a shelter doing grooming. I also foster some of the dogs from the shelter. And all my neighbors eem to think that my dremel like tool for doing my own dogs is the best thing sinced sliced bread. They actually offer to pay me if I will do their dogs.


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## Corrinne (Apr 16, 2007)

I once had a Newfoundland come in very poor condition. The coat was matted to the point of having to be shaved down. What I first noticed about the dog, was the awful smell! When we (my old boss, Denise an I) began shaving...on the back inner leg of the dog, was a huge mat. Once the mat was shaved off, it revealed a tremendous abcess-like sore covered in maggots, which explained the smell. We phoned the owner and had them take their pet to the veterinarian. How anyone could not notice such a large sore and awful smell...I do not know!


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## ashes (Apr 15, 2007)

i know it! how could you have a dog that smells that aweful laying around your house and on your carpet.. even on your bed! 

we had an old rag doll cat come in thats tail had matted to its back legs. underneath was.. well.. alot of poop. when we managed to get all the hair off the poor things butt had taken on a grey green tint and smelled like it was rotting! 

another smelly tale was of a VERY old shepherd mix that had open tumors all over her and came in once a month to get the hair shaved away from them. you could bathe that dog every hour on the hour and not rid her of the smell. it was kind of an old pizza cheese smell.. if that makes since. haha


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

The most shocking thing I saw was the first time I saw the vet extract a cuterebra. It was from a pet rabbit, and the poor thing had about seven of them. I was aware of gross things like sores & maggots under matted fur, but never knew such a thing like a cuterebra existed.

I'd only been working as a tech for a few months, maybe less, and I was restraining the rabbit for the doc. I remember telling a more-squeamish coworker, "Don't look. Just don't look," while I couldn't look away. It wasn't until after it was extracted, that the vet explained that he stopped removing cuterebras in front of owners because too many of the passed out or threw up. Might have been nice if he'd warned me beforehand, but I guess I passed the test.  

For those lucky enough to not know, it's a grub-like larva of a botfly that burrows under the skin when it's tiny, then grows to be about the size of a large bumblebee. Reminds me of that worm they put in the guy's ear in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Kahn.


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## allick06 (Mar 13, 2007)

I've been at this for a while but one or two incidents really stick out in my mind first, a standard poodle that was so starved, I had to do a lot of skin stretching to get the dog shaved and before I could complete the groom, I bought some food for the dog, which could've gotten me fired, and feed the dog. Second was a little pom that was so infested with fleas I had to stop the groom and rush the dog to the vet, where it later died of anemia due to the fleas draining it.


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## Amaya-Mazie-Marley (Apr 15, 2007)

I'm not a groomer or anything but I went to pick up a dog from a "breeder" and it was unbelievable what I saw. I was supposed to be getting a Chinese Crested Powderpuff, that was cream colored. Well PP have alot of hair, this one had hardly any hair. The "breeder" told us he was cream colored, well he was red colored from mud, and was almost black from fleas. It was horrible.


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## suzukigirl (Apr 9, 2007)

Thats so sad when owners dont notice things like maggots on their dogs! I would of called the vet and then animal control. Cant the owners get arrested for cruelty to animals?


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## peace36 (Jan 29, 2007)

Lorina said:


> For those lucky enough to not know, it's a grub-like larva of a botfly that burrows under the skin when it's tiny, then grows to be about the size of a large bumblebee. Reminds me of that worm they put in the guy's ear in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Kahn.


How likely is this to happen. Does it only happen when dogs are unclean? They sound just disgusting!


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

peace36 said:


> How likely is this to happen. Does it only happen when dogs are unclean? They sound just disgusting!


I don't see very many of them. Maybe a couple a year during the summer? From what I've read, they're more common on (in?) livestock and wildlife than on pets.


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## pocky (Feb 15, 2007)

oh my god !!! Maggots, worms,holes..Disgusting !!! Poor poor doggie. Obviously the owner is not very responsible with regards to his/her pet.


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## Macky (Feb 12, 2007)

Lorina said:


> The most shocking thing I saw was the first time I saw the vet extract a cuterebra. It was from a pet rabbit, and the poor thing had about seven of them. I was aware of gross things like sores & maggots under matted fur, but never knew such a thing like a cuterebra existed.
> 
> I'd only been working as a tech for a few months, maybe less, and I was restraining the rabbit for the doc. I remember telling a more-squeamish coworker, "Don't look. Just don't look," while I couldn't look away. It wasn't until after it was extracted, that the vet explained that he stopped removing cuterebras in front of owners because too many of the passed out or threw up. Might have been nice if he'd warned me beforehand, but I guess I passed the test.
> 
> For those lucky enough to not know, it's a grub-like larva of a botfly that burrows under the skin when it's tiny, then grows to be about the size of a large bumblebee. Reminds me of that worm they put in the guy's ear in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Kahn.



I rescued a little kitten from a wooded area one time, cleaned it up and made a vet appointment for shots and whatever she needed. There was a sore on her chest that I was concerned about. Until I got to the vet I treated it with antibiotic cream. Then I saw the sore pulsating. Holy cow! I called the vet and they took her in right away. The doc said it was a large maggot. Now I know the proper name for that creepy thing! I'm glad I found her when I did.


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## kendallj (Apr 22, 2007)

I'm not a groomer but I did volunteer at a shelter and did initial exams (just a once over) of the animals as soon as they came in. Well this little siamese cat we named Zach was the sweetest little thing, until I tried to put him back in teh crate. Well once I got him back in I noticed blood on my hand... checked me over.. no scratches.... than oh my goodness it must have come from Zach!!! I took him out and looked him over there was massive amounts of blood runnign down his leg, we cleaned up the blood and found the source... he had had an infected abcess on his leg that was BONE DEEP!! literally!! when we got it all cleaned out and disinfected we could see the bone!! needless to say we ran him to the emergency vet to make sure there was no further infections!!! he was fine, gave him 2 weeks worth of twice a day antibiotics and was adopted pretty much the day he went out!


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## LeRoymydog (Feb 25, 2007)

I'm not a groomer, but when I rescued my english bulldog, his nails were so long that they wrapped around his foot. He also had such a bad yeast and bacterial infection in his face and wrinkles that it went into his ears and swelled his eardrums up. I thought he was deaf when I first got him. When I got him undercontrol, he could hear perfectly. He passed away 2 years later and I still didn't have his nails undercontrol.

UGH,,, I hate people sometimes!!!


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## Amaya-Mazie-Marley (Apr 15, 2007)

One of the worst things I've had to deal with is ringworm..one of the cats we adopted had it, and we didn't know, so of course all of our other cats got it. Then we got it on our arms and hands, and I had a spot on my leg. It was a PAIN and took forever to go away.


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## SFury (Apr 12, 2007)

I groom my own pets. With some effort I can trim their nails easily, and brushing is a breeze. Baths, while unpopular, are easy to give now.

The worst problem I had cam this past weekend with them blowing their winter coats. Both of them developed nasty mats of fur right behind their ears. Little Buck was first and I was able to easily cut them out. There was no way to untangle the mats easily.

Kiba on the other hand had the mats on go right to his ear. I had to cut off as much as I could and have been going through the mat remnants and combing them out daily so they get worked out. Thankfully one is almost completely gone with the other rapidly disappearing as well.

Hopefully when they both finish growing out their adult coats there will be no more mats of hair behind their ears again. The joys of dog ownership aren't always that great. At least that's the only extent of my dog troubles aside from a dead patch of grass.


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

Beavis gets behind-the-ear-matts, too. I have no trouble with his left ear, which is his blind side, but he gets weird when you try to get behind his right ear, probably because to do that, his hair or my hands cover his eye and he can't see anything. It's just something we have to work on little-by-little.

If he didn't have trust issues with strangers, I'd take him to a groomer, but it takes him a long time to warm up to someone. At least he's great about baths, and we walk so much that there hasn't been a need to clip his nails.


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## justme (May 1, 2007)

sorry, but this is my first pup... what do you guys mean when you guy say matted???? or in other words... what does matted mean???


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## ashes (Apr 15, 2007)

matting is when the hair on a dog forms really tight tangles. usually its refering to a tangle thats too tight to brush out and usually has to be cut out


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## allick06 (Mar 13, 2007)

So far the worst I've seen is a pom that was so infested with fleas immediately took it to our vet where it later died the same day


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## siberian mom (May 27, 2007)

ive only been at it for about a year and a have and this farm dog came in, it was about the size of a smaller border collie. it was so matted and the mats held so much dirt that where ever he walked ther would be a trail of dirk that followed. the poor things eyes were so encrusted that they would not open and his tail was stuck to the front part of his back leg. his nails were so long we took about an inch off each one of them. we saved the mats and wieghed it all when we finished him and there were 6.9 lbs of mats on him. and to think of all that on a medium sized dog.


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## tinasavirgo (May 27, 2007)

Those worms you saw are warbles, the will and can killl a dog I have seen them many times when I worked at an animal hospital,..mostly in cats, usually there is a preexisting wound which flys lay eggs in,...and they become warbles or maggots,..but they poison the animal. Thank the Lord you reprted it to the owner!!!!


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## Jen D (Apr 23, 2007)

I am glade I ate my dinner before reading this! It is to bad there is so much neglect when it comes to keeping dogs clean.


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## DivaDog (Jun 10, 2007)

I remember a long time ago grooming a bichon who was fairly old and very matted - I clipped off what I could and put him in the bath, as I was bathing I could feel something on his face so washed it really well and had a closer look while I was drying - was just this huge gaping sore, was disgusting weeping and the scab stuck to his skin - I kinda dont think about it to be honest it was so disgusting I try not to - I hate to think people can leave their pets in such a state.


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## Coriona_Vanleigh (Jun 5, 2007)

The worst I've ever seen was about only 2 weeks after I got my full N.G.A.A certifications, it was already a crazy day in the grooming salon, when my 4 o'clock arrived. Based on where I live there's really not a huge variety of pets outside small dogs ,shepards,labs,hunting dogs etc. Every once in a great while we'll have sheepdogs, but this lady takes excellent care of them. So my appointment was a bouvier des flandres, the 1st I had ever seen in my life.....what a horrible condition it was in. The owner insisted I was just trying to be lazy when I told her the coat had to be shaved. Not only are they like the size of a young bear but this poor animal was nothing but a giant mat and I told her she was lucky that the mats weren't close enough to the skin a vet had to remove the hair.So after convincing her I got to work, I felt so bad for this animal I wasn't about to charge this woman for any extra services. The coat was horribly matted and just oily filth, the smell made me want to gag it had so much fecal matter entangled in its mats, once I finally had it shaved the poor thing was so infested with fleas and ticks, I gave it a complimentary flea dip and frontline treatment.Then there had been ticks, so big around its anal cavity that they where actually embedded 1/2 way inside and was bleeding. After removing those and applying antibiotic cream and lathering her up pretty good with skin and coat lotion to lesson the irritation because of the excessive mats and fleas,tick bites. Its teeth where in fairly good condition but the ear had mites and I used an entire box of ear wipes to get them clean and gave the owner a free bottle of ear wash. To save her alot of money at the vet, and because geeze that poor sweetheart, and can you believe she had the nerve to complain about the price when i only charged her for a regular large groom,otherwise that would have been a good couple hundred! But hey the dog needed help bad and immediately and I doubt she would have taken her to the vet. The dog was so sweet though, an absolute angel for the amount of time i spent grooming her, not to mention by the look she was in she was probably never groomed at all. She just stood there putting her noise on the window, didn't bark,didn't fuss,not even with the the other dogs,nail cutting,or teeth brushing, truly one of my best customers 



briteday said:


> My biggest issue are the dogs who come in with nails so long that they are walking on their heels or the toe is sideways. People think you can clip them right down to the proper length in one visit. At that point I refer them to a vet for doing the nails under sedation and with pain meds.
> 
> Although I'm not a professional groomer I voluteer at a shelter doing grooming. I also foster some of the dogs from the shelter. And all my neighbors eem to think that my dremel like tool for doing my own dogs is the best thing sinced sliced bread. They actually offer to pay me if I will do their dogs.


We get alot of dogs at the salon like that, and we do manage to cut them to proper length in 1 visit, we just apply a cooling agent and wait a few minutes in between sessions, kinda like a dentist a guess, lol and yes the dremel tool is amazing! I have never met a dog that doesn't prefer it over regular nail cuts, some thats the only way its going to get done.


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## Jen D (Apr 23, 2007)

Coriona_Vanleigh said:


> The worst I've ever seen was about only 2 weeks after I got my full N.G.A.A certifications, it was already a crazy day in the grooming salon, when my 4 o'clock arrived. Based on where I live there's really not a huge variety of pets outside small dogs ,shepards,labs,hunting dogs etc. Every once in a great while we'll have sheepdogs, but this lady takes excellent care of them. So my appointment was a bouvier des flandres, the 1st I had ever seen in my life.....what a horrible condition it was in. The owner insisted I was just trying to be lazy when I told her the coat had to be shaved. Not only are they like the size of a young bear but this poor animal was nothing but a giant mat and I told her she was lucky that the mats weren't close enough to the skin a vet had to remove the hair.So after convincing her I got to work, I felt so bad for this animal I wasn't about to charge this woman for any extra services. The coat was horribly matted and just oily filth, the smell made me want to gag it had so much fecal matter entangled in its mats, once I finally had it shaved the poor thing was so infested with fleas and ticks, I gave it a complimentary flea dip and frontline treatment.Then there had been ticks, so big around its anal cavity that they where actually embedded 1/2 way inside and was bleeding. After removing those and applying antibiotic cream and lathering her up pretty good with skin and coat lotion to lesson the irritation because of the excessive mats and fleas,tick bites. Its teeth where in fairly good condition but the ear had mites and I used an entire box of ear wipes to get them clean and gave the owner a free bottle of ear wash. To save her alot of money at the vet, and because geeze that poor sweetheart, and can you believe she had the nerve to complain about the price when i only charged her for a regular large groom,otherwise that would have been a good couple hundred! But hey the dog needed help bad and immediately and I doubt she would have taken her to the vet. The dog was so sweet though, an absolute angel for the amount of time i spent grooming her, not to mention by the look she was in she was probably never groomed at all. She just stood there putting her noise on the window, didn't bark,didn't fuss,not even with the the other dogs,nail cutting,or teeth brushing, truly one of my best customers
> 
> 
> 
> We get alot of dogs at the salon like that, and we do manage to cut them to proper length in 1 visit, we just apply a cooling agent and wait a few minutes in between sessions, kinda like a dentist a guess, lol and yes the dremel tool is amazing! I have never met a dog that doesn't prefer it over regular nail cuts, some thats the only way its going to get done.


Lucky for that dog it went to you, was the owner happy with all your hard work?


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## tinasavirgo (May 27, 2007)

the worst rhing i have seen i see almost daily some of our most regular customers,..and tippers i might add, allow their dogs teeth to be sooooo gross,..and wonder why they are grumpy and listless imagine 3 or 4 abcess teeth in your own mouth for a day let alone months at a time. some of the worst things i have seen are from just plain ignorance,...not lack of love for the pet.


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## ryan820 (Jul 16, 2007)

pocky said:


> oh my god !!! Maggots, worms,holes..Disgusting !!! Poor poor doggie. Obviously the owner is not very responsible with regards to his/her pet.


I'm sorry-- but nothing is ever "obvious." You have no idea about this dog-owner background. is I found larvae in my pups skin today and was repulsed! However, my dog gets the best care and everything she needs and it still happened to her. I'd hardly call my ownership "not very responsible."


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## wolfsoul (Feb 28, 2007)

I see some pretty horrible things all the time. We also groomed a dog covered in maggots. It was a little shih tzu the SPCA seized from a backyard. It had been tied to a chain outside and was severely matted and covered in dried urine and feces. The smell was horrible. My co-worker started swiping down his back and when he got to his back end, maggots started falling onto her table and crawling toward her. We actually had to stand around the table and wipe away the maggots that fell because there were so many of them. The shih tzu had a gaping sore on his bum and another that looked like a ruptured anal glad and they were all over them. 
Maggots are actually a good thing -- they eat the dead skin and bacteria and actually clean wounds. Hospitals use them on burn patients quite often to eat away at the dead skin so that infection does not sink in. Maggots do not eat healthy skin. However we couldn't exactly send a dog back with maggots crawling all over it, so we bathed him in an antiseptic shampoo and put some ointment on his sores. 

One time we had a dog whose skin was so infested with speargrass we had to shave him off and spend a great deal of time digging awy at his skin with hemostats to remove the speargrass. 

The usual neglect I see is severely rotting teeth and gums, severe matting, hot spots left untreated, overgrown toenails, speagrass infections, etc.


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## ryan820 (Jul 16, 2007)

wolfsoul said:


> ....hemostats to remove the speargrass.
> 
> The usual neglect I see is severely rotting teeth and gums, severe matting, hot spots left untreated, overgrown toenails, speagrass infections, etc.



What is speargrass?


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Hmmm...yumm...the old maggot thing...accckkk...I've had a few of those over the years...

Let me see here over the years I have seen flea infestations that were so bad that the dog, or cat had a 'second' coat, that was actually fleas; Actually did one of those today. It was a kitty, that was just rescued by a very loving family, and they brought her in and asked if I could help them get rid of the fleas before they traveled home! These people were from out of town, and were up visiting some people when the kitty showed up...

Skin infections of varying degree...some of course are just unsolveable issues; I do a few cockers, and couple of smaller mixes that have allergy issues, and their skin is always bad; their owners have tried every thing, and things just haven't helped...they DO keep them clipped down though so that the extra coat doesn't cause further irritation, infection, or hot spots, due to the 'wetness' from the skin problems already there. However, some...well, some are just nasty gross, and you know the owners just don't do anything about it. I did a little dog this week that had some pretty bad chew marks where he is chewing on himself...result of fleas, and possibly something else in his environment; in his file, the dog has a history of coming in with fleas and skin problems...so it's doubtful the owner does anything about it. I did another dog this week that had HORRIBLE urine scald on her hind legs...and even after her baths still smelt bad back there...poor thing. She too has a history of coming in with 'skin problems'.

Horrible teeth...I think that HAS to be number one on my list of top ten; so many people just don't care about dental hygiene in their dogs...especially little dog owners. 

I have alot of matted dogs...another top ten; these, of course are to varying degree too; some smell AWFUL!!! Those ones I hate even touching my clipper blades to them before bathing (but it's a must, cause you can't possibly get it entirely clean when it's matted to the skin). I did a Shih Tzu this summer that took me AN HOUR to prep for the bath...that dog was in BAD shape! The owners got charged for it too, though...Lol; I don't put up with people's 'stupidity' when it comes to matting, fleas, etc...I charge extra...Unless it's a 'special case'...like I did a kitty today, that was just rescued; I didn't charge the new owners extra, cause it wasn't their fault this kitty was a 'flea bag'...but special cases are usually few and far between. 

I was grooming a dog once that was snarly nasty and stressed that he actually partially popped one of his eyeballs out...not joking here; NOW that was weird! He was trying to grab at me while I was trimming one last foot and all of a sudden 'there it was'...we greased it up with eye lube, and calmed him down (although he was still a crank!), as he was done; his eye ball went back in, and the vet checked it out...no damage... that one will always remain in my 'odd' things that have happened at work! 

I have had plenty of dogs come in with varying amounts of maggots; including one dog that was almost literally plastered in them under his coat...yuck!

But the absolute worst thing; a dog dying on the table. No warning, no fussing, nothing...I was drying the little guy and he just flopped over dead in the noose; the vet figured he had a blood clot, or heart attack. Now that is something you don't want to happen more than once on the job...I didn't want it to happen ever...and was not prepared when it did; especially because it was a young dog...


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## Jak (Sep 17, 2007)

Holy moly! Those are some crazy stories. Eye ball popping? Worms? Gyah. I could barely handle it when my dog got ticks. If this ever happened to my guy I'd freak out. I have so much more respect for groomers now x_x;. Brave brave souls..


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## dusty&lulusmom (Jul 30, 2007)

After reading this there is no doubt that my groomer will get a tip each and every time I bring my dogs in.


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## Ella'sMom (Jul 23, 2007)

Ughhhh. I am speechless at some of these stories!


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## barksalot (Oct 27, 2007)

ashes said:


> ok a few days ago a dog came into the grooming shop completly matted. he was about 13 years old, over weight, some kind of standard poodle mix, lived outside, and hadnt been to the groomer in 7 years the woman told me. i told her right up front that due to the dogs age and coat condition i would have to just shave it all off. she was fine with that and just said whatever you have to do. i brought him back, put him on the table and began shaving. i hadnt gotten 3 strokes in when i noticed a sore of some kind on the dogs back. i went around it for the time being since old dogs get stuff like that. but then i found another and another. upon closer examination i was appauled to find that the sores were actually HOLES IN THE DOGS SKIN and what had created these holes? MAGGOTS.. the holes actually had woms crawing in them. -shudders- so we called the owner.. he went right to the vet and was treated. the owner called us the next day in tears thanking us for helping her dog. it turned out in total he had five holes in his body and would have surely died if we hadnt found them.
> 
> but what i want to know is.. has anyone else ever seen anything like that before???


I've been fortunate enough to not have it happen in my shop - although once when I was shaving down a pelted Labradoodle I thought for sure maggots would fall out. But when I use to work at the Vets office we had a German Shepard come in whose entire hind end was matted and full of maggots. I can't imagine why anyone would let their dog get that bad, but people are nuts sometimes.

My worst was when I first opened my shop. A guy called and said he had a poodle who had a few burrs on him. I told him to bring the dog over since I wasn't to busy, and when he walked in the door my jaw dropped to the floor. The dog didn't even resemble a dog and his entire body was one giant clump of matted up burrs, including all over his eyes and mouth. That didn't happen overnight. That was a good years worth of matting and rolling in burrs and I have no idea how that dog managed to eat anything, much less walk. I had to shave that entire dog, from nose to tail, with a #10 blade. That was over a year ago and he's never came back. I would lay money down the dog hasn't been groomed since then.


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## LadyoftheOrb (Oct 27, 2007)

peace36 said:


> How likely is this to happen. Does it only happen when dogs are unclean? They sound just disgusting!


All of the cats we have in my house are adopted strays, and every single one had at least one of these incidents. Our vet called them "warbles", but apparently they are EXTREMELY common in outdoor animals. I mean, I'm NOT a vet, it's just what my vet has told me countless times. I'd hope it's correct, since we've been using him since I was a little girl.

The cats haven't gotten them since they've been with us, however, and none of our dogs have, either. So, I'd have to conclude it's from neglecting to spend time with your pet and notice things properly.


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

Warbles are a common name for the cuterebra larva, which eventually turn into botflies. It starts out as a tiny, tiny, tiny larva that live on grass and burrow under the skin, then grow to be about the size of a large grub before they exit the skin. 

Creepy and gross, but not a sign of neglect. Any pet that goes outside _could_ get one. People can get them, too. My vet's dentist had one on his head.


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## dane&cockermom (Oct 16, 2007)

well, as just a bather i don't see as much as the actual groomer does, but i did have a golden not too long ago who needed a flea bath. i didn't think much off it so i got the flea shampoo ready, put the dog in the tub, get him wet, and discover just how badly he needed that flea bath. it looks like someone poured a 5 gallon bucket of fleas on this poor dog. i wanted to slap the owner.

that's the worst, when you just wanna hit the owner for what they let happen to their dogs kwim?


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

I am not a groomer but with my rescue project I run into the dogs covered in mats, flees, ticks and maggots all the time. I have also come across a little Poodle mix that had it's eye literally rotting out of it's head. It was truly disgusting. The owner said, "Well you can't get near him he is so mean" Imagine the poor thing sitting in so much pain and then being expected to be all happy go lucky. Some animals suffer so badly at the hands of man. It makes me so sad and Angry.


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## Tico (Jun 13, 2007)

Ok I have heard alot of things. Not maggots on a dog oh my god. How in the world can that happen. I have a lab. How often should you brush your dog or bath him to keep this from happening. I give him flea drops and take him to pet smart once a month. I am going to start to try to bathe him on my own is this not a good idea I am not a groomer and may not do the same as pet smart. I hope I never get this problem how to avoid this?


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Usually maggots are going to be on long coated dogs who have been allowed to stay wet; the heat from the dog, along with the moisture enable flies to lay eggs on the dog's coat, and they hatch; the dog's skin, which is getting irritated by the moist conditions, enable good 'feeding' for the new hatchlings. 

Other instances include untreated wounds on the dog. The dog doesn't have to be long coated either.


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## ACampbell (Oct 7, 2007)

I am not a groomer, but I think the grossest things I've ever seen as far as that goes was when I was about 16 we had a stray cat show up, she had a bit of missing fur on her leg but wasn't too friendly so nobody got up close enough to see it. About a week later, she was laying in the sun in front of our barn, so I approached her to get a good look at her leg, which was now the size of a rawhide bone. She was so sick she let me touch her, so I brought her down to the house and got some gloves (I lived on a ranch, they are a pretty basic item along with syringes etc) and pressed on the sore spot to see if it was tender...well it obviously wasn't tender, but the infection was so bad that it ruptured in a stream about the size of a pencil of green chunky goo...the smell would have gagged a maggot! I flushed it out with a large syringe and saline and before I could get her a shot of penecillan before taking her to the vet, she had died from the ruptured infection I'm guessing. 
That and I found a dog once in a burned down building that had gotten into a fight with another, he smelled so bad I thought he was dead when I saw him, he wasn't moving, covered with maggots and flies...so I walked by him and he wagged his tail...he was so disgusting I didn't even know how to pick him up, I ended up getting a blanket and rolling him onto it and using it like a sling to get him in the truck and to the vet...luckily he survived.


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## oscars mum (Aug 29, 2007)

When i got my dog you could see the fleas crawling on him. I held him for the drive home and i was crawling with fleas too.I bathed him and deflead him a.s.a.p. The water was black he was that filthy. I thought he was in bad shape i can't believe what those other dogs have gone through-the poor things.
Why would these people even pay to get their pets groomed when they don't even care about them. I would never let my dog get in that state. Some people should be banned from owning pets.


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## Alison (Dec 2, 2007)

I once groomed a cat that had so much poo matted to her bum that it covered her butthole, so when she relieved herself it just got stuck and got more and more compacted. It smelled like a trash bag full of food left sitting out in the summer sun. Ack, i normally have a strong stomach but man... and her poor back end was so raw and infected under that, she died not long afterwards because the infection ( the amount built up on her bum had to be at least 6 months worth) was so bad it had gotten into her blood stream.


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## misspr85 (Nov 13, 2007)

I'm beginning to itch as I read this post.


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## digits mama (Jun 13, 2007)

Lorina said:


> Warbles are a common name for the cuterebra larva, which eventually turn into botflies. It starts out as a tiny, tiny, tiny larva that live on grass and burrow under the skin, then grow to be about the size of a large grub before they exit the skin.
> 
> Creepy and gross, but not a sign of neglect. Any pet that goes outside _could_ get one. People can get them, too. My vet's dentist had one on his head.


Thats what we call the wolf worm here. Yea Ive seen them on cats. Oh it is so nasty.


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## Fluffypoms (Dec 7, 2007)

I have seen a lot of severely matted dogs, some which I have been unable to complete as they needed sedation at the vets to be finished. The worst one I can remember was a black dog, a collie cross, that came to me to be groomed. They came up with a story I didn't believe, that the dog got out for 2 weeks and they just got her back. There was no way the coat had got that bad in 2 weeks. I sheared it all off and underneath the dog was suffering with terrible mange. I felt so so sorry for her and really drove it home to them that the dog needed urgent vets attention.
There have been so many I can't even think now, but I do get saddened on a daily basis by peoples lack of care and attention for their faithful companions.


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## rubyjewel (Nov 15, 2007)

Wow... what a great diet I'm on here... I started out hungry but after reading this forum, I'm just not hungry any more! Lol 

The worst thing I saw was a dog (a cocker) that was badly matted with hair and mud, the condition was just repulsive and no excuse for it... but the owners said she was matted like that because she got left out side over night (ohhhhh blawwww blawwww blawwwwww) I was thinking, did it get left out side over night 10 years ago and you just now realized you have a dog... but anywhooo I did not say what I was really thinking lol. As I was trying to shave the dog... and revealed what was underneath I was just shocked, the dog had tons of fleas and sores, it was bad... I was thinking that that was the worst thing I ever saw and was pretty grossed out after shaving the dog I was glad to have the worst over with and the poor dog would get some relief... but then I got to the ears... OMG, they were rotting, yellow and green pus... the ears looked so painful and the smell was bad... this dog was so good and handled it so well, I just could not understand how some one could treat such a nice dog so poorly...


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## scintillady (Dec 13, 2007)

I guess I don't understand why someone who took such awful care of their dog would pay to bring it to a groomer. If I neglected my pet that badly, I would be embarrassed and ashamed to bring it to a groomer.


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## Alison (Dec 2, 2007)

Unfortunately the people who do allow these sort of things to happen are a.) uneducated about the kind of care that pets require-yes they can be educated but to me there is no excuse, just like you research the features of a new car before you buy it you should research the needs of an animal before you get it. b.) they see nothing wrong with treating and care ( or not rather) for a pet in this manner after all it is "just a dog".


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## snowflake (Dec 12, 2007)

Most people that bring in dogs or cats that are severley neglected do try and make up some story about how they got that way so i do think that most are embarrassed. I'm just glad that at some point they have decided to bring the animal in for some care. I get the once a year dogs wether they need it or not... I get the dogs and cats that have never seen a groomer in their lives (or barely) . I don't listen to the stories the owner tells. They are pathetic and not worth listening to. I get my joy from cleaning up these animals and knowing they feel so much better...just a shame that when they leave me they will probably be thrown back into the yard and i wont ever see them again or i'll see them next year.
There are too many WORSTS for me to remember... Ive seen all sorts.


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## imagroomer (Jan 10, 2008)

While I was in grooming school, I had a dog come in for a shave down. The whole dog was matted to the point of a #40 shave, and so covered in fleas that the bath water was blood red. The dog was a 3 1/2 year old shih tzu that had never been groomed before. He was so scared he peed on me twice and pooped on my table.


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## Shanette Peters (Jan 14, 2008)

ashes said:


> ok a few days ago a dog came into the grooming shop completly matted. he was about 13 years old, over weight, some kind of standard poodle mix, lived outside, and hadnt been to the groomer in 7 years the woman told me. i told her right up front that due to the dogs age and coat condition i would have to just shave it all off. she was fine with that and just said whatever you have to do. i brought him back, put him on the table and began shaving. i hadnt gotten 3 strokes in when i noticed a sore of some kind on the dogs back. i went around it for the time being since old dogs get stuff like that. but then i found another and another. upon closer examination i was appauled to find that the sores were actually HOLES IN THE DOGS SKIN and what had created these holes? MAGGOTS.. the holes actually had woms crawing in them. -shudders- so we called the owner.. he went right to the vet and was treated. the owner called us the next day in tears thanking us for helping her dog. it turned out in total he had five holes in his body and would have surely died if we hadnt found them.
> 
> but what i want to know is.. has anyone else ever seen anything like that before???


the worst i have seen so far has been, a golden retriever so aggressive it ended up doing an alligator roll on me, a chihuahua that needed 4 people to hold it down while shaving its pads, i found a fish hook in a dogs bum area also another dog had one in the lip, peice of glass stuck in the paw, then countless others who come so matted it is just crazy. Thats been about the worst so far. 
Shanette Peters/ Aunty Noah's Pet Styling.


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## Pawper (Dec 28, 2007)

I gotta ask....with all that you guys see and hav eto deal with, how much do you charge an hour??? What is the annual salary for a groomer? My cousin wants to be a dog groomer, so I want her to know what you guys make and what she'll have to put up with....


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## LittleMoonRabbit (Jan 7, 2008)

I can't believe some of these stories. Heartbreaking and gross at the same time. When I got my dog as a puppy, I realized very quickly she had a bad flea problem. I didn't realize HOW bad though until I actually gave her a bath. It was disgusting. I immediately went out and bought some advantix. The vet told me to get rid of the fleas in the beginning, I should use the advantix again after only 3 weeks of treatment. Eventually, the problem was under control, and now she is flea free. I can't believe that I received her in such condition... on top of carrying fleas, she was also sick, under weight, with goopy eyes and she was carrying kennel cough. Very sad... but I am glad she's healthy now. I have a ton of respect for you groomers! You guys must see a lot of crazy stuff, and it's obvious how much you guys care about the dogs that come in.


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## Shanette Peters (Jan 14, 2008)

I have worked for other grooming salons who have their own set prices wither by size or breed. Now that i work for myself at home, each dog i groom i set a price that fits the breed, size, work needed, and at the same time affordable for the owner. Then to groom the dog depending on what i am doing it could take as little as one hour to a few hours (if the dog seems to stressed i will do the grooming in more than one session/day or have the owner assist if the dog feels more comfortable with them there). So i don't have an hourly charge, but say for a dog that takes me 3 hours if i charged 30$ i'd have been paid 10$/hr. The annual salary for a groomer is hard to say as it depends on how many dogs are groomed that year. If some one wants a set pay i'd say work for another grooming salon for an hourly rate or by commission (which i have done myself) and see if that is what you want. Since I work for myself at home I don't have a set salary. There are other costs involved though...such as utilities.



LittleMoonRabbit said:


> I can't believe some of these stories. Heartbreaking and gross at the same time. When I got my dog as a puppy, I realized very quickly she had a bad flea problem. I didn't realize HOW bad though until I actually gave her a bath. It was disgusting. I immediately went out and bought some advantix. The vet told me to get rid of the fleas in the beginning, I should use the advantix again after only 3 weeks of treatment. Eventually, the problem was under control, and now she is flea free. I can't believe that I received her in such condition... on top of carrying fleas, she was also sick, under weight, with goopy eyes and she was carrying kennel cough. Very sad... but I am glad she's healthy now. I have a ton of respect for you groomers! You guys must see a lot of crazy stuff, and it's obvious how much you guys care about the dogs that come in.


Thanks Emily, Its always great to hear when someone appreciates what we groomers do. I can say with great certanty that it is knowing there are so many animals out there that aren't being cared for properly that causes me to want to continue, I have always had a love for animals and now i can share that and inspire my kids to show the same repect for animals.


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## mastiffmama27 (Nov 18, 2007)

Lorina said:


> I don't see very many of them. Maybe a couple a year during the summer? From what I've read, they're more common on (in?) livestock and wildlife than on pets.


My mom's cats used to get them all the time....mostly the kittens though. None were fixed, no shots ect. Actually they were mostly feral. I think I was the only one that could get ahold of them. She REFUSED to take ANY animal to the vet, period. A friend of mine lived on a farm and she taught me how to take them out and clean them up.


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

Lorina said:


> Warbles are a common name for the cuterebra larva, which eventually turn into botflies. It starts out as a tiny, tiny, tiny larva that live on grass and burrow under the skin, then grow to be about the size of a large grub before they exit the skin.
> 
> Creepy and gross, but not a sign of neglect. Any pet that goes outside _could_ get one. People can get them, too. My vet's dentist had one on his head.


We get them here. I've had seven and I'm reasonably well cared for. Down here we call them beefworms. The dogs have had many. We don't cut them out though, as long as it's not in a sensitive spot like inside the orbital ring we just squeeze them out. It's like popping a zit. I can tell you from personal experience, it's really painful when they feed. If you leave them in it takes about 6 weeks from infection to when they drop out. Full grown they're about the thickness of a pencil and about 3/8 inch long.


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## Oxyrep (Jan 22, 2008)

OMG - call me overly sensitive but maggots living on these dogs? That is the sadest thing I have ever heard! That just kills me. I couldn't even read through all these posts. I think I am a pretty tough guy but hearing of this just kills me.


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## birdmommy (Jan 24, 2008)

My mother and I own a dog grooming shop and we had a groomer that was grooming a matted up maltese. (You all know hoe that goes) well she was a really great groomer. Fast, did wonderful haircut and had only ever cut a dog one time in the who 6 years she had been working for us. (You know it happens to everyone at one time or another). well to make a long story short... this dogs legs were matted soo badly that the was scissoring down by her fee to get the mats loosened up enough to use her 10 blade down by her feet. She was scissoring and she cut what she thought was a mat out and it turned out that she cut the little dogs doo claw off. (I think i spelled that wrong) it was one of those little floppy ones that was held on my nothing but a TINY little flap of skin. but still it was kinda nasty. The owners still come to her to get thier dog groomed and still tell her thank you for not charging them for the doo claw removeal. hehehe


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## matthelimech (Jan 25, 2008)

Lorina said:


> I don't see very many of them. Maybe a couple a year during the summer? From what I've read, they're more common on (in?) livestock and wildlife than on pets.


We call them warbles, and normally see them on cattle. I had a cocker once that love to hang with the cattle and he got one. I noticed the hole in his back, then saw movement... I got tweezers and pulled it out, wife almost fainted.


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## Darkmoon (Mar 12, 2007)

Excuse me while I go throw up... My goodness!! How could people do that to their pets? Bah... and people wonder how I hate human kind... blah...

The worst thing I've seen was with a ferret. Our neighbor found her in their garage eating a dead possum. She was covered in fleas and 75 ticks. 75 ticks on a 2 lb body! Poor thing was so anemic that the vet didn't think she would make it. She lived about 4 years after that. My parents get ferrets in all the time in bad shape. One ferret came in and you could swear that its skin was black. It was covered in fleas. Poor thing died later that night.


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## tnmg2008 (Jan 30, 2008)

Wow, some of the responses is just WOW. Poor doggies......But, I would have to say, I live in Maryland and the worst I have seen is a groomer beaten the life out of the dogs while grooming!!!!!  That is the worst for me.

Here, we have these helpless animals come into a shop to get cleaned up and already nervous about where they are and what they are there for, grant you some of the dogs are out of control or afraid so they may loung at you but why, why why if you can't handle such a situation why would you be in this field........We are in hospital, if you can't handle the dog then get it sedated. But this has happened too many of the dogs just because it won't sit still. 

I have seen it first hand. I work in a kennel where this happens and it continues....and continues this person must have some kind leverage, we have all complained about this groomer and I don't know where else to take it....I need advice, I don't want to lose my job, but the hospital even knows this has been taking place. FOR A LONG TIME. GET RID OF THESE MEAN ASS GROOMERS. 

Please give input......


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## Shanette Peters (Jan 14, 2008)

tnmg2008 said:


> Wow, some of the responses is just WOW. Poor doggies......But, I would have to say, I live in Maryland and the worst I have seen is a groomer beaten the life out of the dogs while grooming!!!!!  That is the worst for me.
> 
> Here, we have these helpless animals come into a shop to get cleaned up and already nervous about where they are and what they are there for, grant you some of the dogs are out of control or afraid so they may loung at you but why, why why if you can't handle such a situation why would you be in this field........We are in hospital, if you can't handle the dog then get it sedated. But this has happened too many of the dogs just because it won't sit still.
> 
> ...


If you have all complained about this groomer and nothing has been done to prevent/stop it, only four things come to mind 1) everyone who knows about this groomer and has complained - get together and confront the owner/manager and state you will all walk off the job if nothing is done~but you've stated you don't want to loose your job so that could backfire...2)can you allert authorities/police of animal abuse to see if they can do anything? 3) pull the owners of the dogs aside and tell them yourself ~ yes they might take their business elsewhere but at least you allerted them to the problem and prevented it from happening again or they could very well cause that groomer to loose their job.4)Next time you see this person take it 'too far' step up and remove the animal from the person or out right say LOUDLY 'What the heck do you think you are doing?!' Has anything happened as a result of the complaints?


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

matted is when the dog has knots in its hair to the point that they can not be brushed out. when a dog is severely matted it gets matted down to the skin and all over. agian, these can not be brushed out but have to be shaved out. never use scissors to get rid of matts it is very dangerous.

the best way to avoid matts is to brush your dog everyday and get it used to be brushed out so that it is an enjoyable experience for your dog. that makes it easier to keep the coat clean, healthy, and matt free, but will also make it easier when it comes time to have the dog groomed.

hope that helps 

(the worst thing i have ever saw was a shit tzu's eye pop out. i have been paranoid ever since.)


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## Shanette Peters (Jan 14, 2008)

lenagroomer said:


> (the worst thing i have ever saw was a shit tzu's eye pop out. )


I've heard of this happening, thank goodness haven't seen it yet.


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## FriendsOfZoe (Aug 7, 2007)

lenagroomer said:


> (the worst thing i have ever saw was a shit tzu's eye pop out. i have been paranoid ever since.)



Oh my GOD! Ahhh! I have to stop reading this thread!
I definitely know now that I will NEVER be a groomer and I will never own a dog with a coat that requires intense upkeep!


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## Shanette Peters (Jan 14, 2008)

FriendsOfZoe said:


> Oh my GOD! Ahhh! I have to stop reading this thread!
> I definitely know now that I will NEVER be a groomer and I will never own a dog with a coat that requires intense upkeep!


No worries, even with all the possible bad things that can come with being a groomer, the benefits and the personal 'good feeling' for doing a good job over powers the bad things. Perhaps if you don't want to become a groomer you can still work with them as a helper/bather and still have the pleasure of being with wonderful dogs. That is why I have stayed working in this wonderful feild, no matter how many bad things I might come across whether it is the owners or the dogs, the feeling I get after I finish a dog is more than worth it.


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

yes, thats very true. i have definitely seen horrible things, dogs that were neglected, that had been fought, etc, but the thing to remember is that at least you are showing them kindness and helping them out for that moment. you know that they are going to feel better for a little while if anything. 

i remember once, a lady brought her yorkie to me and it was matted all over, it had burns all over it where her ex husband was burning it with cigarettes, and it had cuts and scrapes from where he was beating it. she said he was trying to get back at her for the divorce or something. she was in tears and the poor dog was the most pitiful thing i think i have ever seen. the worst part was, the little dog naturally stuck its tongue out all the time, so that made it look even more pitiful. it was scared and obviously in pain. 

i took the dog and cleaned it up, shaved it down, treated its wounds, and just gave it some love and attention for a while. by the time she picked the dog up it was happy, wagging its tail, and showing signs of affection and life again. she was so happy she couldn't quit thanking me. but for me, just to see how much better the little dog felt and how much happier it was, that reminded me why i am in this profession.


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## amynrichie (Sep 3, 2008)

Lorina said:


> The most shocking thing I saw was the first time I saw the vet extract a cuterebra. It was from a pet rabbit, and the poor thing had about seven of them. I was aware of gross things like sores & maggots under matted fur, but never knew such a thing like a cuterebra existed.
> 
> I'd only been working as a tech for a few months, maybe less, and I was restraining the rabbit for the doc. I remember telling a more-squeamish coworker, "Don't look. Just don't look," while I couldn't look away. It wasn't until after it was extracted, that the vet explained that he stopped removing cuterebras in front of owners because too many of the passed out or threw up. Might have been nice if he'd warned me beforehand, but I guess I passed the test.
> 
> For those lucky enough to not know, it's a grub-like larva of a botfly that burrows under the skin when it's tiny, then grows to be about the size of a large bumblebee. Reminds me of that worm they put in the guy's ear in the Star Trek movie Wrath of Kahn.


Those are so gross, our siamese mix cat had one once! We were told she picked it up while out hunting! It was the nastiest thing I have ever seen!


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

I have only been working in the grooming field now for about 6 months. Im currently just learning. so I deal with all bathing, ear cleaning, brushing, all the basics basicly lol.

I have seen quite a bit of horrible lookin dogs just in a few months.

The other day thought was the worst for me. 
This 10 year old golde retriever came in. First one of the worst parts of it was what the owners said 

"Our lab died a while ago, and we have just been so grief stricken over it, that we totaly neglected this dog." I couldnt belive they neglected this dog just becuase another died. I have never neglected one of my dogs when I have been so upset when I put one down. If anything the living dog made me get up every day.

So any way.
this GR had mats so bad that it took me 30 mins to cut them all out and briush them all out, and that was just his back end. His nails were a good 2 inchs long, poor boy could harldy walk. He was so obeese that it hurt my arms to help hold him up (as he could hardly walk due to nails, and I assume very bad hips) He was so filthy, I bathed him 3 times and he still stunk. Im surprised he didnt have any fleas or ticks. And his ears...omg....They were just SOOOO bad. Full of blood and puss. (The owners DID take him to the vet a day or 2 prior to have them fixed up and he was on medication for it. But still there was no excuse) it was so bad that there was littlery HUGE mats just full of blood below his ears. and his teeth...looked like some one gave im caramel to chew or painted them brown/Black. I just couldnt belive that they let this VERYYYYYYYY sweet old man live like this for so long. He never once stopped wagging his tail, even when getting his nails down, or being forced to stand for so long. When I brought the dog out, I just wanted ot ask them HOW they could NOT look after this very sweet old man.

They did say they have started walking him again and properly looking after him. hopefully they have. They really did have a lovely wonderfuly tempered dog who just wanted to be loved.


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## TFTpwnsYou (May 22, 2007)

Wow. Some of these are just aweful!!! I'm just a bather brusher, but I'm there to see what comes in. There are 2 that stick out in my head. A bigger mix came in one day and was totally matted. So of course the dog had to be shaved. Well, the groomer began the shaving, and once she started getting underneath it was horrific. The skin was aweful, covered in fleas underneath, and the dog was sooooo dreadfully skinny. I almost broke down into tears. I had never seen anything like that. The 2nd was a little Toy Poodle. He was matted all over, had poo I don't even know how thick crusted all over his bum, and his poor little wee was matted over as well. I have no idea how this poor little thing peed or pooped!

I haven't seen maggots yet, but a few groomers have. The ones that get me the most are these little toy dogs that are a full mat, poo all over their bum, and just in horrific condition. It makes me wonder what these peoples houses look like, because the dog obviously has to live indoors because it's so small. I mean if the dog is in that kind of shape, what does the house look like!


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

i am not a groomer and i do not even work in the field but i did work at a humane society and i heard a story of a cat that was so badly matted that when the vet tech started to shave it the first layer of skin came off! that poor cat. i am not sure what they had to do to help the cat. i just remember that story every time i think of a poor animal getting mats. 

iorek got mats behind his ears and i had to cut them out. they are so hard to see/feel because when i brush there the fur on top fluffs out over them and it seemed like there was nothing there. since i had to cut out the mats there are now short areas of fur back there. i am combing out behind his ears every day now with a rake. i don't want that to happen ever again!


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## 8Mandy8 (Jan 23, 2009)

It really sickens me to read some of the posts here. I don't understand why some people neglect their pets and let things get completely out of hand. The worst part is that they rarely own up to the fact that they have been neglecting their dog, and will make up the most ridiculus excuses. I'm a veterinary assistant and have also seen some pretty astonishing things. I gotta admit though, maggots definately make the top ten. It's so sad. It's not as bad when people catch it early and the dog turns out okay, but I've seen cases where the dog is completely covered in holes and the maggots have eaten away so much that there is nothing the veterinarian can do and the dog dies because the maggots have eaten away at it's internal organs.


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## deege39 (Dec 29, 2008)

The worst thing I have experienced personally, is when I was about 15 my mother, sisters and I lived with her ex-boyfriend of, unfortunately, three years... 

He had an outside dog that I fell in love with. Max. He was what looked like a German Shepherd/Husky mix. Gorgeous! However... Since he was a puppy my mother's ex just let him run lose. We were way out in the country, and that's the excuse he used for not controlling him. When we moved in the dog was about three years, and his right front paw was badly mangled from a car running him over, and he hardly if ever put any pressure on it, so he hopped everywhere he went, (unless chasing the cattle next door!) He was never taken to the vet for it! So by this time it was too late to do anything but amputate. 

Anyway, when we moved in I took over the dog. I did my best to train him, fed him regularly, because before I took responsibility, he was left to fend on his on; and once we moved in and I started owning the dog, the dog stopped disappearing, he kept close enough to the house to hear his name. 

He was covered in fleas and ticks and took me several weeks to get him comfortable coming in the house as he was _never_ allowed in before! Not even in the winter! Anyway, a couple months later he was flea and tick free, coming the house at night to sleep with me for a couple of hours... He was a wonderful guard dog, and would come running when he saw us come home.

My mother and I managed to give him at least one set of his shots, however that bill came to $900!! They insisted on x-rays and all kinds of other tests, fortunately they let us make payments, but my mother's ex refused to let us take him back.

Over the course of the couple years I tried hard to keep Max in our yard... I chained him up, but after him having free range for three years he didn't like that one bit! I kept him chained up TWO WEEKS and there was no sign of him conforming, so I was ordered to let him lose. I later found out that Max was a nuisance to the cattle farmer that owned the cattle next to use and lived a few houses away. He would playfully chase the cows and calves, but it would stress the cows out; The owner kept complaining and unbeknown to me would aim and shoot at Max every chance he got!


Shortly before we left there was spat with that gentlemen and my mother's ex, he still refused to do anything with Max and I was terrified he was going to be killed... About a week later I went to give Max some bones to chew on. I called his name for about fifteen minutes, and just when I was about to freak out, I heard whimpering and whining coming from under the porch... I about dropped the bones and ran down the steps. Max came crawling out on his stomach... He could hardly stand let alone sit! Upon farther inspection, underneath his tail, an eight inch slice had nearly dismembered his tail! It was to deep, it wasn't bloody at this point, but I knew it would cause infection and there was no way I could treat it! EIGHT INCHES DEEP! There were flies buzzing around and I knew it was matter of days before Max would die if he didn't see a vet...

Did my mother's ex let us take him to the vet? NO! I cried and screamed, begged and threw a fit, my mother tried talking him into letting us take him but he said, "_Ahh, it's probably just a cut he'll be fine._". He was in so much pain, that was not the case!

Well, because of family disturbances we left a few days later and I never saw Max again... : (


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## MoonStr80 (Oct 9, 2006)

I'm SO glad I started self grooming Misty at age 8 ... Hearing these horror stoires, and sickly stories! Makes my stomach turn! Never again bringing my dogs to a groomer EVER


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## mostlymutts (Jan 10, 2009)

What???

The groomers are the ones sorting these messes out.

What did any groomer say that would make you decide to never take your dog to a groomer?


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## MoonStr80 (Oct 9, 2006)

If you're talking me .. The answer is that as far as I can remember Misty was always coming back with burn marks, & cuts ouch! I've never made those marks when I did Misty EVER either to Frankie etc

And then when I switch to another groomer, the groomer wouldn't get her lazy ass UP to groom my Misty! These groomers were in home business 

I'm not paying for someone be lazy nor be harmful to my dog



mostlymutts said:


> What???
> 
> The groomers are the ones sorting these messes out.
> 
> What did any groomer say that would make you decide to never take your dog to a groomer?


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## mostlymutts (Jan 10, 2009)

Oh, gotcha.

I wouldn't take my dog back to someone who injured them repeatedly either. Maybe not even after just once. On the other hand, I am not perfect and understand that an accident can happen. And yeah, it would serve no purpose to take your dog to a groomer that, um, doesn't get up and groom.

I misunderstood your post. I thought you were talking about the groomers here. These guys, for the most part, have been telling stories about the condition the animals were in when they got them. The horror stories are the owners fault.


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## MoonStr80 (Oct 9, 2006)

Ditto .. 

No I was speaking about the experience that I had 



mostlymutts said:


> Oh, gotcha.
> 
> I wouldn't take my dog back to someone who injured them repeatedly either. Maybe not even after just once. On the other hand, I am not perfect and understand that an accident can happen. And yeah, it would serve no purpose to take your dog to a groomer that, um, doesn't get up and groom.
> 
> I misunderstood your post. I thought you were talking about the groomers here. These guys, for the most part, have been telling stories about the condition the animals were in when they got them. The horror stories are the owners fault.


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## Pit_Bull_Lady (Feb 4, 2009)

ashes said:


> but what i want to know is.. has anyone else ever seen anything like that before???


I've seen maggots a few times during my groomng career.

I've seen dogs with flea infestions that were so bad the water was red when I bathed them.

I've seen a dog covered (and I mean covered) with engorged ticks.

Hands down-the most disgusting thing I've EVER seen was a dog with a roundworm infestation so bad that LIVE worms kept coming out of his rectum.
NAASSTTY.....!! 

Needless to say, I had to call his owner to come back and pick him up....


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## dansamy (May 15, 2007)

Can I gross ya'll out with nurse stories about human infestations of assorted critters?


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## Pit_Bull_Lady (Feb 4, 2009)

That's okay by me....Although my sister is a nurse, and I've heard some very nauseating stories from her......


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## midge0413 (Mar 5, 2009)

first of all (and this is just my opinion) i don't see why anyone wouldn't want to bring their dog to a groomer. (if you can groom your dog yourself then that's one thing) most of us go to school or are taught by someone who was taught by someone etc. i hate to say it but accidents do happen. (i used to cut hair and i can honestly tell you that i cut three peoples ears that i can think of and one of them was a gentleman who's ear bled for almost 3 minutes straight and came back the next day to have his haircut finished). sometimes you can't go to at-home groomers (no offense to those of you who work out of your home and actually do your job). but anyway, i'll get off my soapbox...lol

now to get to the bad things at work... there are a few that i can think of.. there was a chinese powderpuff mix that belonged to a well established doctor that was so matted that he had to be shaved with a 15 in places and when i got the matts off he was so skinny there was a lot of skin pulling/stretching that i had to do to get the hair off. when we confronted the owner about it his wife said the breed is supposed to be skinny... i was in tears... i felt so sorry for the dog and he still comes in at times, and still skinny

then there was a lab/poo mix named dixie. when she came in it looked like she had mud caked to her hair. on further inspection it was ticks. i pulled ticks off for over an hour and a half. i actually had other people helping me at one point. there were THOUSANDS of ticks on her and i'm not playing it up any. there was so much blood on her and the table that customers were beginning to ask questions. when i called the owner to tell her about it she said that she knew and that she would come and pick her up to take her to the vet. when she got to my salon i found out that she lived in the "nice" part of town and dixie lived in her backyard that the woman allowed her children to play in! she said she hadn't bombed her yard yet or gotten her dog on a preventative because she hadn't thought about it. she was just going to get rid of her and thought that might get rid of the ticks. i was so upset i didn't want the dog to go home with her!

then there was a poodle that i groomed that was so matted that he hadn't been able to "go" properly and had a(excuse my wording) turd stuck half-way in. i had to pull it just to finish the groom!

then my last story just happened recently. there was a matted schnauzer that came in and it didn't look any different than any of the other matted dogs that come in daily. when i shaved him down he smelt funny and had a weird color to him... he was GREEN! he had mildew all over him. and he was an inside dog! the owner said she had been bathing him almost every day and with the matts that he had he probably hadn't had dry skin in weeks.

i've never seen maggots or larvae or any of that... only matts, ticks, fleas, ingrown nails, and mildew. i've only been grooming for almost two years though so i'm sure not too long from now i'll have some more stories


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

I had a Frenchie in recently that had two severely ingrown nails...The nails were encased with the pads...I had to peel the pads away from the nail in order to snip the nails off...poor girl! It's not that she isn't in very often either; we see these guys (there are two of them) pretty much every month...her nails just grew in really quickly this time, and their owners had been gone for a time, and someone else had been watching them...


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

So sad....

Yet as we undo the months of neglect, many of the owners have nothing to say except that they are angry you cut their dog's hair too short.


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## blackrose (Oct 7, 2006)

Here is what I just had happen recentally...

Four puppies (all under six months) came in to get a bath. They were from the humane society and had been there for around, eh, two months. These puppies were caked from head to toe in POOP. The smell was enough to send you gagging. Two of the pups were short hair, two were long hair. The short haired dogs had cuts on their pads, one had mange, and the poop was almost a tar like consistancy on their hind ends. One was underweight. The long haired dogs were not only one solid mat, but had poop meshed into the mats. I pulled a chunk of plastic out of one of the girls' fur. All of the dogs had long nails that were withering away because of the filth they were in. I scrubbed them each for a good half hour, and they still reeked. 

I can not get over how disgusted I am. These were puppies from a SHELTER that is SUPPOSED to CARE for their dogs, not let them sit in their own filth for two months! How do you report neglect when the people doing the neglecting *is* the shelter!


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Ouch...That just makes me cringe to visualize that.

One of the towns I lived in, and actually adopted a few pets from, has been heading down that kind of a road too, especially where the cats are concerned. I'm not against no-kill shelters, but this shelter is housing cats with FIP and FIV (etc), right next to healthy cats; Now, these are illnesses that CAN NOT be cured and are extremely contagious, and yet they are trying to keep them alive and get them adopted out, while the rest of the cats are exposed to the illness, because there is no where else to keep the sick cats. It makes me sick... I know it's hard to put an animal to sleep, but when you are risking the health of other cats??? They also keep dogs that are unadoptable (due to illness, or unchecked aggression, or age-and not 'healthy' old dogs either), and turn away younger dogs who have an excellent chance of being adopted if given the chance. The vet clinic I had worked at in the town, wound up with all the 'overflow' dogs and cats, and sadly, many of them had to be put down, because they didn't have room for all of them either, and certainly couldn't keep them forever, because that's not what they were there for.


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## jfinner1 (Mar 4, 2009)

I'm not a groomer myself, but I have a habit of taking in any animal that needs help, so I have two stories.

The first is from when I was a kid, about 14-15. I found this dog wandering around the woods behind our house, that kinda looked like Benji. He was so matted that the mats were starting to pull his skin apart.  We didn't own electric clippers, or if we did, my mom wouldn't let me use them, so over the course of three days I cut away at this poor dog with a pair or scissors. When I finally got all his fur cut away the best I could, you could just see the fleas crawling all over him! Plus he had some sores cause by the mats, I think, that luckily weren't infected. I took 5 flea baths to get all the fleas off of him! When he was finally clean, I realized that he was white and cream, not brown! Poor guy was such a good sport about the whole thing. I later found his owner, which was really good. He'd been missing for over a month, and everyone thought he was dead! 

The second happened a few months ago. One of my good friend's parents are going through a messy divorce. They can't fight over the kids, since they're all grown up, so instead, they're fighting over the pets. Well, the one that won custody of the rabbit had never really taken care of the rabbit before. Within a month of having him, she started noticing some bunny-allergies. After two months, she couldn't go near the cage, and had to have a friend come over to feed him. That's when my friend called me, and I offered to take the rabbit, Patrick. When I got him, he was filthy. He was insanely overweight to the point that he couldn't clean his own hind-quarters. He had hock-sores on both of his back legs that were starting to get infected, as well as badly inflamed skin on and around his butt and genitalia. It took a week of butt-baths to get the area clean, and a few months before he dropped enough weight to clean himself... Poor guy. At least I know he's much better off now!


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## PaintedPretty33 (Mar 4, 2009)

Wow, it's for those very reasons that I bathe my dog regularly and she sees a groomer in the summer. She HATES being brushed, and I mean hates it... she gets mats behind her ears and on her back legs... she's a working dog with longer hair so I just have her shaved in the summer... she is so much cooler and easier to keep clean. I'd do it in the winter also, but she's freeze! Baby shampoo is an awesome thing on a dog... keeps their coat soft and helps with tangles and mats and it's great for dogs with sensitive skin.

I'm gonna start tipping the crap out of my groomer!


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## PlushPupsGirl (Mar 10, 2009)

The worst i have ever seen was a little mini schnauzer that came in and his entire coat was matted to his body in a thick layer of urine, feces and dirt. You could not even see or feel his body under the coat. The woman DARED to ask us to put him into a schnauzer cut!!! We blatantly told her that there is no way we could do anything but shave everything. even the coat on his face was as matted as the rest of his body! Apparently he had had a UTI for a while which the owner of course didn't know. The dog just reeked of bodily fluids....

I have to let you know that we have this thing called the Wall of Shame, where we hang up things we have found on dogs, or cats, bodies, pictures if nothing else. Well we shaved the dog down and the entire coat STAYED TOGETHER, so we had this thick blanket of his fur left and we laminated it and stuck it on the wall along with the owners name. It may seem mean, but we tell the owner that if the dog comes in next time and doesn't look like that their name will be taken down but the coat will still be there. Needless to say, it really does work...


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## blackrose (Oct 7, 2006)

Here were the pups I bathed. 

This photo is of Aladdin and Jasmine, pre bath:









Post bath of Aladdin:









Post bath of Jasmine:









This is Star, one of the short haired dogs:









The other short hair, the one with mange, (my favorite) was taken off of petfinder and I saw her Monday back in at work over in the vet section. I hope she got adopted.

I might just stop by the shelter sometime this week and say hi to them. They were such good little pups. Jasmine's attitude reminded me so much of Chloe. LOL


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## killbride (Apr 16, 2009)

we just apply a cooling agent and wait a few minutes in between sessions, kinda like a dentist a guess, lol 

What kind of cooling do you use?


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## SMoore (Nov 9, 2007)

This was probably the worst, the dog was matted, covered in fleas and smelled awful.


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## tismyself (Apr 21, 2009)

I have seen a chow that had come in for diarrhea. They had asked about grooming prices for when he was 'better'. Well there was no better. The dog was infested with maggots. They were literally eating the flesh from the inside out. That was the worst I've ever seen. Words cannot describe. I don't know how they didn't notice it. His skin, once you looked into the under coat, was crawling. It was bad, and I'm saying this compared to I have seen working in a hospital treating severe nursing home abuse cases involving stage 4 bedsores. 

I've seen a dog so pelted his legs were matted to his body and his ears were matted to his head. He could barely move. Nails were about an inch and a half long AFTER the techs trimmed them back on the check in. They couldn't get further until the pelt and feces were clear. 

Seen a dog pelted and when the groomer started shaving him we found he was covered in fleas under all the matting. He was anemic and had to have a blood transfusion. 

Not the worst but so sad..a standard white poodle, sweet as anything, came in for his OAY shave down. It took nearly two hours and looked like a sheep shearing. It came off all in one piece and looked like a sheep-fleece rug, albeit filthy as all get out.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Here's poor Gus, who hadn't been professionally groomed in a year and a half. His owner hacks at the back coat now and then, and he of course has just terrible allergies and skin. He felt SO much better when he was done. Poor old guy.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

I must say a good groomer is worth their weight in gold! I love my groomer. She is awesome. Working for a vet I can't tell you some of the terrible, neglectful owners that come in. (Maggots, mats, skin infections, dogs with "cat claws" etc.) We try to encourage them to have their pets groomed on a regular basis but.....


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

OMG...the nails on poor Gus...that is just... <sigh>

You are such a mean groomer for shaving that poor dog !!


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## 0hmyd0g (Aug 18, 2008)

PlushPupsGirl said:


> The worst i have ever seen was a little mini schnauzer that came in and his entire coat was matted to his body in a thick layer of urine, feces and dirt. You could not even see or feel his body under the coat. The woman DARED to ask us to put him into a schnauzer cut!!! We blatantly told her that there is no way we could do anything but shave everything. even the coat on his face was as matted as the rest of his body! Apparently he had had a UTI for a while which the owner of course didn't know. The dog just reeked of bodily fluids....
> 
> I have to let you know that we have this thing called the Wall of Shame, where we hang up things we have found on dogs, or cats, bodies, pictures if nothing else. Well we shaved the dog down and the entire coat STAYED TOGETHER, so we had this thick blanket of his fur left and we laminated it and stuck it on the wall along with the owners name. It may seem mean, but we tell the owner that if the dog comes in next time and doesn't look like that their name will be taken down but the coat will still be there. Needless to say, it really does work...





The wall of shame is an interesting idea. I don't know if I like the idea of the dog owners name up there though. As if they aren't embarrassed enough. I think I prefer pictures of nicely groomed dogs up on my wall when people come in. I defiantly do keep some "samples" of mats that come off in one piece to show people, but I keep that in a bag under the desk, out of view of the nice clean shop.


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

I kind of like the wall of shame too...maybe putting the dog's name only; it's not like the owners won't know who it was.


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## Dunixi (Mar 16, 2009)

I'm not a groomer...but I saw something that made me sad the other day. I was out shopping with my mom and got to meet the cutiest little Maltese looking dog. Her owner said she had just come from the groomer. Her fur was sooooo soft and this pretty grey. She had a cute blue bow in her hair. Then I looked at her feet, her nails were so long they were almost curved into the bottoms of her feet. I almost started crying. I don't know what groomer her they took her to, but I can't believe they left this little dolls nails like that.


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

Dunixi, I'm sure you already know this - but dogs have a "quick". If the nails are neglected for a long period, usually the quick grows out with the nail. If a dog comes into the shop with overgrown quicks, there is not anything we can do besides cut the nail to the quick. Otherwise the nail bleeds. While some dogs don't seem to notice, some dogs find it very painful. I personally, never cut the quick intentionally just to shorten the nail. 

Its the owner's job to keep the nails at a proper length. You can always bring your dog for nail trims in between groom visits. Or you can do it at home. The groomer cannot fix this in one visit. If the nail is already too long, the dog should start coming in for a trim or dremelling every week or so to try and recede the quick.


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## Dunixi (Mar 16, 2009)

Yeah I understand that Groovy. The poor doggy just looked so sad with those long ol' nails. I'm hoping its a case of she was an adoption and came to them that way or something like that. I really didn't get ask much more about her then where she got the pretty bow. She was a really sweet dog too.


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## Ruby_S (Apr 26, 2009)

Im not a dog groomer and havent seen anything bad on dogs other then what thay show on the animal planet but im a hairstylist and i gotta say it can be just as gross sometimes...we've had clients come in with lice in their hair which somehow they didnt know they had...crusty thick dandruff stuck to their scalp and it flakes off everyime you move the hair...some people are just as neglectful with their kids as with their pets...i had a client not to long ago that took her 2yr old son(he was really cute) to get his hair trimmed and his head smelled pretty bad and he had that crusty yellow dandruff his nails were so long that all u could see was the dirt underneath them...same thing happened with a little old lady that was brought in by her daughter it looked like they hadnt brushed or washed her hair in more than a week...i work in a nice salon and most of the clientele are well off so you would think they would take better care of themselves and their loved ones...


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## sizzledog (Nov 23, 2008)

I think the worst I ever saw was a sheltie whose rear was so matted, maggots had actually eaten through the poor dog's tail - we soon found out that the dog's tail was ONLY held on by the matted fur... so the poor dog's tail fell off as soon as we started brushing.

It was...horrific.


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## Best*In*Show (Mar 14, 2009)

Oh, my, gosh!!!  That poor dog!!

I didn't know hairstylists had to deal with this stuff, too -- how shocking!!


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Oh lord. Well, it's a tie. There was the couple who brought in their Collie who was horribly matted. We could do nothing but shave him, and once we shaved him, we found hundreds of ticks. I literally mean hundreds. Some were the size of quarters, they were so engorged. We flipped up his gums and they were pretty much white. I don't know how this dog was alive. Luckily, there was a vet next door, who took the dog in immediately for treatment. When the owners picked the dog back up it turns out he is an outdoor dog, but they have never treated him or their yard for ticks and other parasites. They were warned that animal control would be called if we ever saw him in this condition again.
And the guy who brought in a 15 year old blind and deaf Cocker. He was greasy and matted around the face, which the owner was ADAMANT about having them shaved out. Checking the mats out we found they were over/tangled with bleeding, inflamed ulcers. When we called the man to pick up the dog and advised it see a vet immediately, he just screamed at us to do what we were being paid and shave the mats out and that he wasn't paying a hundred dollars (random figure?) at a vet to take care of them when he could pay 60 here. We found out he's been told several times at different salons that he must see a vet and was apparently just hoping we wouldn't notice and shave the mats. After we explained several times we would in no way do that, he stormed into the grooming area, ripped his dog away, and dragged it out while it was slamming into tables and completely disoriented. I called animal control immediately.


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## chilee1 (Jun 6, 2009)

I am not a groomer, but today I encountered something that to me was horrific, so much so I called the vet near hysterical and in tears...we've changed dog foods and my queenie's tummy has not been happy about it, she's had the squirts for several days, so much that she was making huge messes in the house, so we have had her outside on a bland diet (pumpkin, boiled chicken, rice) until it clears up a bit. Needless to say, I went outside this morning to give her a quick bath, and discovered to my horror that her entire butthole was covered in a mass of wriggling little white worms! What I thought was part of the diarreah was actually live worms! Needless to say she has been hosed down and is now sectioned off in the living room until the diarreah passes!


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## PoodlePerson (Jun 5, 2009)

ashes said:


> ok a few days ago a dog came into the grooming shop completly matted. he was about 13 years old, over weight, some kind of standard poodle mix, lived outside, and hadnt been to the groomer in 7 years the woman told me. i told her right up front that due to the dogs age and coat condition i would have to just shave it all off. she was fine with that and just said whatever you have to do. i brought him back, put him on the table and began shaving. i hadnt gotten 3 strokes in when i noticed a sore of some kind on the dogs back. i went around it for the time being since old dogs get stuff like that. but then i found another and another. upon closer examination i was appauled to find that the sores were actually HOLES IN THE DOGS SKIN and what had created these holes? MAGGOTS.. the holes actually had woms crawing in them. -shudders- so we called the owner.. he went right to the vet and was treated. the owner called us the next day in tears thanking us for helping her dog. it turned out in total he had five holes in his body and would have surely died if we hadnt found them.
> 
> but what i want to know is.. has anyone else ever seen anything like that before???



OMG... Does this woman run a puppy mill??? I've seen that before and it was on a puppy mill dog.... it also was soooo badly matted that it couldn't poop... I had to shave his butt just so he could go to the bathroom... there was poop and urine soaked into the matts - so you can just imagine what it smelled like.
Poor guy!!!! This is heart breaking!!!!


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

this thread.....wow..just wow. 

you know...I deliberately avoid getting dogs that require extensive grooming...Im not a person who can really handle more than a good regular brushing/wipe down/nail trim and the occasional bath...

you would THINK if people weren't the type to do extensive maintenance...they wouldn't get a dog who needs their coat maintained....


apparently not.


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## Raggs (Jan 10, 2007)

I had a guy bring his cat into me to be shaved.. When I saw the cat I freaked out and called the SPCA, humane society and animal control...

The cat had been matted severely for so long that it had actually ripped the skin off this poor thing.. And I'm not talking about a small area. It was the entire back and sides.. The belly was fine... So were the front legs, but the back legs were also gone..

How this poor thing didn't die of infection is beyond me.


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## six pack (May 10, 2009)

I had one incident with a dog with maggots. I had a cocker come in with an open abcess on the side which was under about three inches of pure matted fur. I had a GSD come in with so many ticks in his ears, I could not see any skin on the inside of his ears. I had another cocker come in with her collar embedded in her neck. Times like these my job upsets me and the entire time I am on the verge of tears. And what was amazing about the dogs, they were so very sweet. I swear I could see relief in their eyes.


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## Kina_A (Jun 8, 2009)

OMG, the stories in this thread are just horrific!! I have not read every post in this thread, but have read quite a few.

Can the owners of these dogs and cat not be reported to the authorities and be charged with animal cruelty?

People who can not commit to brushing their dog should not be allowed to own a dog. Long haired or not!! Even if you own a short haired dog, they still require to be brushed!!

This thread is just heart breaking!!


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## Loving Touch (Oct 15, 2009)

I am a mobile groomer and went to a ladys house one time and her little sheltie had maggots. She didnt take care of the dog and needed it shaved. I took it in and began to shave and alos noticed a horrible smell. Started shaving and made one pass with the razor and she was full of maggots. Called her vet and they said she had been there and forgot the med the dog needed. It was awful. I never went back there.

check out my grooms @ ruthieslovingtouch.spaces.live.com

$5.00 off new clients until October 19th.


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## Jen D (Apr 23, 2007)

Today I stood in Petco waiting to cash out and these people were dropping off their poodle to be groomed. The dog was matted and I could seee it had sores on its butt. After taking the rest of the info from the people the girl went to take the dog from the people and they had the balls to tell her to be careful she is our baby. I looked at the girl after they left and asked her how do you do it? She just said some days are worst then others.

All you groomers on here I never gave it much thought on all that you do but you have my respect. I would never be able to do what you do for a living and these dogs that are at their worst are lucky to end up on your table.


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## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

Kina_A said:


> People who can not commit to brushing their dog should not be allowed to own a dog. Long haired or not!! Even if you own a short haired dog, they still require to be brushed!!


Sorry, but I have to disagree. Some breeds simply do not require it. I rarely get out a brush (generally just after bath time once a month, so that all the shed hair doesn't end up in my house). My dog's coat is nice and shiny and she gets compliments all the time on how soft it is, even if it's been a month since she's had a bath. She's pretty ambivalent about being brushed, so it's not something I would do for her enjoyment. I know that brushing and grooming (particularly of the professional kind) is not something I ever want to deal with, so I'll never get a dog that requires it.

I agree 100% regarding the longer-haired and curly-haired breeds. If you don't want to put in the effort or pay a groomer to do it for you, then you shouldn't have one of these breeds, simple as that.


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## azh25 (Sep 27, 2009)

I have a long haired or "plush" Shiloh Shepherd. I have groomed him since he was 8 weeks old. Not everyone needs to see a pro groomer. On recommendation of my vet, gets bathed 1 time a year, but when we swim or play in mud he gets extra baths. He is combed, brushed and raked just about every day because tiny mats start forming almost every day. Thanks soo much for the tip on the quick being extended. This is something that scares me because my pups nails are black and I have a tendency to leave them a little longer than they should be.
These stories are beyond comprehension and have seen a little of this on animal planet.an I post a pic of my pup?


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