Removing Mats From New Puppy

[julietravels]

I have a new puppy with a cotton coat. She has some small undercoat mats. What is the best way to remove these without hurting her, and prevent them in the future. Thank you for your help.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by julietravels

I have a new puppy with a cotton coat. She has some small undercoat mats. What is the best way to remove these without hurting her, and prevent them in the future. Thank you for your help.

My almost eight month old pup has a silky, rather than a cottony, coat — which is lucky because he’s awful about holding still for brushing or grooming. Because he’s so wiggly, I don’t try to use scissors on his coat, but I’ve read that it’s better to cut out matts rather than try to brush/comb them out because yorkies have very sensitive skin.

Probably the only way to prevent matts is regular brushing, which often takes a lot of practice for these babies. I hope someone with more experience chimes in.

[Lovetodream88]

I absolutely hate puppy hair no matter how much I combed and combed I ended up shaving them. So I guess I really have no advice lol.

[nanajoy]

I have never had a cotton coated yorkie until little Gus. He is now 4, and my only solution is to keep him in a short puppy cut. He is a wiggly little imp, and even though he will tolerate brushing, his racing around, hiding toys from Tyrone under the sofa, and general shenanigans throughout the day immediately tangles his coat if I let it grow out! Luckily our hot weather in Florida allows him to be comfortable in a short cut all year long...and everyone who sees him ask how old our "new puppy" is, lol.

[Andy A]

Divide and conquer, I try as much as possible to break any knot up first by hand if possible, then working with brush/comb and possibly some small scissors at small sections until the knot/tangle is clear. Some knots/mats are impossible and require cutting out. If the ordeal is painful for the pup it can turn them off to brushing. Alot is dependent on how well the dog tolerates working on him or her.
As others mention keeping a short coat really helps. If you want to keep the coat long it may require that you just have to get in the routine of brushing/combing on a daily basis or there abouts.

[Bella7808]

When Bella was 5 months old she was a little black ball of fur and matted. We didn't know about de-matting. About a week before her being spayed at the vet, we took her to the groomer for her first appointment. The groomer told us she needed to be de-matted before grooming. She told us that if she were to de-matt Bella she would have to charge us more $$ to do this for the time and labour. She sold us a de-matting comb and showed us how to do it at home. Bella didn't like it of course but we slowly and gently de-matted her and removed as much as possible over the next couple of days. Yes some hairs have to be cut off if it's tough to comb out. It worked out fine. The groomer said we did a good job. So I would like to suggest you purchase a de-matting comb from Amazon or some Pet store. Bella had her first grooming at 5 months and she looked so pretty, especially compared to that black ball of fur before, lol. Yes I agree with the others. we keep her in a puppy cut or tidy cut now on. Also I never have to use the de-matting comb anymore. Hope this helps.