The Ultimate Guide to Tangled Fur

Wet and Humid = tangled fur! Here's what you can do!

Anyone with a medium or long coat on their dog or cat has had to deal with matted fur and knots in the fur. Annoying, right? What can you do about it? It depends on how matted your pet's fur is and your pet's tolerance level.

Here are a few solutions:

1. The fur is tangled in several places and knots very close to the skin:
Where there are unfixable knots, trim them all the way to the bottom, where hopefully there is a bit of fur left to trim. You can do it at home or take it to a dog salon. If you do it at home, use an Oster blade 30 or blade 40 on your trimmer. This blade will trim it very short. If the skin is pink or irritated after trimming, use a hot spot cream.

If you have to trim tangles and areas with knots in many places, you might as well trim the whole dog/cat down so he doesn't look like Frankenstein. You don't need to use Oster shears 40 over the whole body. You may use the standard blade that comes with the clipper together with a short guidance comb after you have trimmed away the filter and knots. This way there will be no areas in the fur that are cut all the way to the bottom, and other places where it is several centimeters in length. 

2. Fur is tangled in some places, but not so close to the skin and no knots:

In this case, you don't need a clipper. You need a good detangling comb and detangling spray.

Spray the area with the detangling spray, wait a few minutes and start combing. Your dog/cat may still feel the pulls and may not like it, so do it gently. Do it when he is calmer, not when he has excess energy.

After the dog/cat is fully groomed, wash your dog with a good shampoo and conditioner, dry the dog thoroughly, and brush him weekly to avoid future knots and tangles.

Faeces stuck in the fur?

If your long-haired dog/cat tends to have dry patches of feces in the fur, and drags it around the house, a hygienic trimming of the hair may be a good idea.

How to do it:

1. Wash your pet's bottom
2. Wait for it to dry (can also use a drying cloth)
3. Go to an enclosed area where he can't run away from (For example, a corridor)
4. Turn on the clipper and let your pet get used to the noise
5. Distract and trim the rear when it has its tail up
6. Be very careful when trimming

Observe fur and skin!

Spend time looking at your pet at least once a week. You can spot many possible problems.

→ Are there hot spots?
→ Areas with missing fur?
→ Signs of fleas such as black sandy dots (which are flea feces) and white sandy dots (may be flea eggs)?
→ Dry fur? (try giving it salmon oil, it usually works wonders and you will notice improvements within 2 to 3 weeks)
→ Irritated skin? (can be a food allergy, lack of certain minerals and vitamins, or fungus)

Invest in a quality shampoo and good dog food and you will see a huge improvement in the health of your dog/cat's skin and coat.