Manage those matts
Dematting your dog regularly is something every pet parent should incorporate.
‘Matting’ refers to densely tangled clumps of fur in a pet’s coat.
If your dog’s coat is not properly or frequently brushed, both loose and live hairs accumulate in large masses called ‘mats’ that are really hard to remove.
It often can cause discomfort and even pain to the animal.
That’s why it is necessary before every bathing session to make it a habit to untangle your dog’s hair.
Matting is especially prevalent in long haired and double coated dogs and causes issues especially during seasonal shedding.
If not regularly taken into consideration, dematting can cause serious issues for your dog.
Routine brushing is key
Regular and frequent grooming- especially brushing is extremely necessary to not only prevent mats, but to keep your pet’s coat and skin healthy.
You need to purchase a good quality brush that matches your dogs hair type before you start trying to remove the mats and knots in your dogs fur.
Self cleaning slicker brushes are easy to use and help you easily dispose of loose fur and dead skin cells. They also get rid of ticks and fleas to some extent.
They are easy to use and getting fur off the brush is a simple feat.
It is best to use a slicker brush on a dry coat vs a wet one.
Natural oils are good for skin health
We need to understand that our dogs coats naturally produce oils that are healthy for skin and hair growth.
Regular brushing helps to distribute these oils evenly and helps blood circulation too. It leaves your dog looking shiny and healthy and makes their hair glow.
While your brushing and dematting your dogs’ fur it is important to be slow and gentle, they could have itchy sensitive skin underneath, or boils and lumps that you are not aware of.
Hence while you proceed with this activity keep running your hand along your pet to look out for any abnormalities.
Brushing is an excellent way to keep the health of the skin underneath dog fur in check.
If you do find any it is best to consult your veterinarian and get this treated immediately.
Shed those worries away
The main benefit of dematting is that is also lessens future shedding. Since loose hairs are often removed or fall off, the propensity to shed after is less.
The more hair you can get off your dog during a good brush down or grooming session, the less hair there will be around your house, on your clothes, and furniture.
After brushing your dog not only feels good, but looks good too.
It makes them feel closer to their pet parent and is a great bonding activity at the same time too.
The places matts are most commonly found and how to remove them
While matts can appear anywhere on your dogs coat, it is usually found near the back of the legs, on the underbelly in some small breed dogs, and below the neck in larger ones.
Always make sure that if you are detangling your dogs fur, you do it before you give them a bath, because matts are harder to remove when water hits them.
Never try to pull out the mats and knots in your dog’s fur with your hands, as that is dangerous and could potentially hurt and cause more damage to them.
Try using a coat conditioner, or detangling spray to help make the brushing process more seamless.
If you find this hard to do by yourself, take the assistance of a professional groomer.
