# Groomed the worst matted dog I've seen in 15 yrs. today



## Dieselsmama (Apr 1, 2007)

Hello all, My 10am appt. today was a maltese who the owner said had gotten quite matted staying on her friends farm while they were gone the past two weeks. She thought I might have to strip her down. OMG, was all I could say when I saw her and checked out how bad the matting was. Clearly this was not something that had developed over just two weeks. Her feet were giant felt clumps, about four times the size of her actual foot. I had to use a surgical blade to get btwn the felt and her skin. The rest of her body I had to strip with a 10 blade. I've never had to use anything closer than a 7 to strip with. Her ears were also giant felt balls I had to shave them right down as well as her tail. When I finally got her actual paw cleaned off, her toenails had grown right around and were growing back into her foot pads. Luckily none of them had actually permeated the pad, they just left their impressions as dents after I'd clipped the nail away. I know maltese can matt fairly quickly, but this little girl was so bad, it had to have been months with no grooming attention for it to have been this bad. Usually I can manage to at least save a short face for them, but her muzzle had to be shaved as well. The poor thing looked more like a hairless when she was finally done.


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## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

Poor little thing. That's a disgrace. Did this owner think you would actually believe this happened in just 2 weeks?


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

If I was you I'd have told her that when the dog's hair grows back that she needs to brush the dog's hair everyday because I don't believe this happened in two weeks as nails don't grow that fast.


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## Dieselsmama (Apr 1, 2007)

I told her when she picked her up that this was the first time in 15+ yrs. of grooming I've had to strip a dog down this close and about her nails. She was also told if she wants me to continue grooming her and get her coat back to a reasonable length I wanted to see her every 4 wks. and she'd need to maintain her coat at home as well. I sold her a greyhound comb and a gentle slicker so she has no excuses there. I told her it would be OK to go 8 wks for the next appt. given that her coat will not have grown much after 4 wks, but 8 should be enough to have a bit to trim on the face and feet.
I'm sure she knew, I knew, she'd been neglected a whole lot longer than 2 wks.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Good for you! If she ever comes back in that condition again I think you should call the spca or something to get something done about her, I don't see how she can let her dog get like that.


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

And yet there are people that do that to their dogs regularly. I will never understand anyone wanting a long haired dog and then not taking proper care of it. Then again I don't understand people not taking proper care of their dogs regardless of size, hair coat or otherwise. Some people just should not have dogs.


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Don't you just "love" those owners who bring in dogs who magically get matted in just a week or two???? I get lots of 'em, and it makes me sick...especially cause the dogs are usually such troopers about the process...poor things  I charge 20$ an hour on top of the normal groom charge on dogs like this...the owners usually get the point after I explain to them the extra charge, and why letting their dogs shouldn't be allowed to go that long without being groomed (it's bad on their skin, and coat, and potentially the dog will begin resent the grooming process altogether; plus it takes me alot longer than it normally should). They either get it, or they bring the dog somewhere else and try their luck there.


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## Dieselsmama (Apr 1, 2007)

Oh believe me I charged her for it. I charged her $75. A normal groom for this little girl would have taken me about 1 1/2 hrs., It didn't take me all that much longer, maybe 2 hrs. to strip her, but had she not been felted matted like she was stripping her should have been a 1 hr. job max. start to finish. As far as going somewhere else here, good luck!! Because I just started back grooming part time after several yrs. I am slowly building up my client base so I can get people in pretty quickly, everywhere else other than petsmart or petco its a minimum of 5 wks. wait


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## snowflake (Dec 12, 2007)

Ive had a few of those too. The owner really thinks we beleive that this happened in just a few short weeks... Silly them. 
The worst i remember was a cocker that came in. He smelt strongly of urine to begin with, you could smell him coming in the door. Well, when i got him on the table i was in dis belief and the state if this poor dog. He was so matted it was almost in dread locs. There was poop stuck all over the back of him and his whole underside was soaked in pee. He was in so much pain with the weight of the hair and me trying to shave my way through it that in the end the Vet i worked for had to sedate him because he became very upset and was biting and screaming. The Doc ended up helping me shave himdown and it took us almost 2 hours. The Vet who had been in practice for over 40 yrs said he had never seen anything like it...now thats saying something.The charge for the shaving, and sedation was almost $200. Well low and behold, here the lady came a year and a half later telling us the same story (she needed him groomed as she was making him a house dog) He was in just as bad a state and the Vet refused her service and told her he was reporting her to the SPCA.


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## 007Dogs (Aug 22, 2007)

I had someone bring me a dog to groom. It was not there dog, but they were keeping it for a friend/neighbor. It was grossly over weight and severly matted. I had to take it down to skin. They wanted me to leave a couple of inches, but the hair was totally dead, and there was no point to leave it. It had turds matte into its hind end. And was so matted that it could not properly urinate. I charged them a flat $100 to groom the dog, and told her to make sure she told her friend that if I ever saw this dog in this condition again, I would call the sheriff for animal neglect. We don't have an SPCA or animal control where I live. The sheriff has to handle these sorts of things. I am told the dog it on a diet. But it was just terriable for any animal to be left in this condition. And the smell was horrific when I was grooming it. YUCK


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## CrazyDog (Oct 16, 2007)

A cat came into the groom shop at the petstore I work at matted just like that. The matting was like four inches thick. It's nails were so long that they grow into the foot pad of the cat. The groomers did the best they could on most of the nails but some of them were so inbedded in the foot pad that they couldn't do nothing but suggest to the owner that she needed to take the cat to the vet ASAP to get them removed. It had poop stuck to it's bottom and when the groomer shaved it the cats bottom was red and raw. It was discusting! 

The cat was so happy it was getting groomed that it was just laying on the table purring the whole time. Didn't even give the groomers a problem not even in the tub. 

When the owner brought the cat in she said that the cat hadn't been groomed in two weeks. She can't be serious! How could the nails grow that long in to weeks? Umm they can't!!! The sad thing is that the lady is a regular with her dogs. She has three small long haired dogs and brings them in once a month to get groomed. We never even seen the cat and she told the groomers she always took the cat somewhere else. She claims she is going the start bringing the cat in more often. Lets see if she does.


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## snowflake (Dec 12, 2007)

People are so silly to think that we believe what they say... I MEAN REALLY...2 weeks!!!That cat probably hadnt seen a groomer in years.
Well i had a malty poo thats boarding with us until next wednesday. I actually didnt know what kind of dog it was it was so outgrown but i thought....ummm! I bet i'm grooming this next week. I took a look and sure enough it was down for wednesday. So anyway for the past 2 days ive been tackling this poor dog. After all my grooms were done for the day i thougtht i'd give some time to this dog. So yesterday i started to shave...and like youre cat crazydog, the matts must have been a few inches thick. I tried a #10...nope...#15, barely, i didnt want to go lower as this dog was pretty thin , it would have looked aweful. So anyway, today i bathed and tackled the head which was one big matt. I had to use a #40 on the ears. The whole time this dog was jumping around, scared to death. Probably never seen a groomer in its life. I,m guessing it was about 2 years old, and mosty had the maltese coat but with a little curl.
So anyway 2 days and one pretty cute dog later. I managed to save some hair around it's muzzle and cheek area but the rest had to go.
I just hope this lady brings it back in a decent amount of time.
I told the receptionist that this had to be the most matted dog ive had and she said the lady had said "i think it may have to be shaved and i'll start all over again, but maybe the groomer can save some".....lol. Who was she kidding.


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