MATTING POLICY 

Under the animal welfare act 2006, we will not brush out more than minor tangles in your dog's coat. We will stop immediately if your dog shows signs of distress or aggression. Dogs' skin can become very sore, irritated and infected or itchy due to the nature of matting so we will use the mildest products possible to soothe the dog's skin.

 

When removing a matted coat, issues such as hotspots, hematomas and bruising can be revealed. We cannot be held liable for any issues such as these and cannot offer any medical care at the salon. If we find any issues like these on your dog, you will be given advice and also referred to your veterinarian for treatment if severe.

 

If the ends of a dog's ears become matted, removing the matting gently can sometimes cause blood to suddenly rush to the tips of the ears which feels weird to the dogs, causes them to shake their heads which then causes them to bleed. These are not caused by cuts. This also needs veterinary attention. 

 

Matting is caused by lack of correct brushing and combing (please look at our long coat care page for advice and demonstration of line brushing). It is worsened by bathing, swimming or rolling around in puddles.  Please never bathe your matted dog if you don’t have access to a blast drier to separate the knots… a human hair dryer is not strong enough to do this. Regular matting on a dog very quickly becomes what we call “cast matting” if the dog then gets wet repeatedly, this can restrict movement and cause a huge amount of issues. In severe cases of neglect, tight matting has been seen to amputate tails, toes and ears. 

 

We do not judge here and understand that life happens - things can get out of hand. Please contact us to get your dog clipped off safely and then on a regular schedule of between 4-8 weeks (breed dependant) so we can make sure they don’t get matted again.

 

Matting causes a huge amount of wear and tear on our tools, and also takes longer than a normal groom would to remove. Due to this, we charge a £20 matting fee on severely matted dogs to cover the extra time taken and to have our equipment professionally sharpened.

​

​

FLEAS

​

Please do not bring your dog to the salon if you suspect they have fleas, they need to be treated at home and at the vets. If your dog is found to have an infestation during the groom there will be a £20 charge to cover the cost of flea bombing the salon, flea shampoo for your dog and due to having to cancel any further dogs we had in after your appoinment. If your dog is found to have one or two fleas (could have just jumped on during a walk) we will use a flea shampoo to kill them.  It may take extra time as the shampoo needs to sit for 10-15 minutes. Minimal fleas we will use discretion when charging for treatment.