[ashes]

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???

[squirt1968]

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.

[blackrose]

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.

[briteday]

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.

[Corrinne]

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!

[ashes]

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

[Lorina]

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.

[allick06]

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.

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

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.

[suzukigirl]

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?

[peace36]

Originally Posted by Lorina

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!

[Lorina]

Originally Posted by peace36

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.

[pocky]

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

[Macky]

Originally Posted by Lorina

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.

[kendallj]

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!

[LeRoymydog]

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!!!

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

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.

[SFury]

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.

[Lorina]

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.

[justme]

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???