[ab1028]

I was wondering if the hair detangler sprays that pet stores sell actually work. Lately my miniature poodle’s ears have been very matted (even though we are constantly combing them). We don’t want to keep pulling knots out of his ears and continuously thinning out his hair. If anyone has had any experience with hair detangler sprays, that would be great if you could share!

[Leah12345]

I have been wondering the same thing. My girl gets matted no matter how much we brush. Also, I would be interested in knowing if the leave in conditioners are a better choice for dogs who get matted more easily.

[Dori]

ab1028. I’m wondering what food your feeding your miniature poodle. In my case I have three tiny toy dogs. Until I switched their food to a grain free, poultry free their ears were always matted. Typically the mats around and behind the ears is because they scratch their ears a lot when their ears are bothering them. I didn’t put it together for quite some time. It wasn’t until I was doing elimination diet because one of my girls has lots of allergies/intolerances to foods, and environment that the first thing I did was remove all poultry including any type of foul. Then I switched to grain free. After a while was when it dawned on me that because she was not scratching her ears anymore she no longer had the matted ears.

I guess I should actually answer your question on the hair detanglers. I’ve always had long haired dogs (I’m 65 so there have been quite a lot of them) and the detangled never ever worked for any of the mats. I tried a lot of different brands, followed the directions, etc.

They do make detangling combs and such and they seem to work pretty well. I comb all my dogs out probably every other day or so and none of them have mats behind the ears. My Maltese will occasionally have a mat somewhere on her body but that’s because I keep her hair long (show coat) and at 15 years old she still playing and running hard with the other two.

Leah12345. I don’t use the leave in conditioners. I’m not a fan of them. The dogs seem to attract more dirt for some reason. I bath my girls every 7 to 9 days and professionally groomed probably around every 6 weeks. Some times less. Depends on how my health is doing.

[theBCnut]

Horse detangling sprays work, but I don’t ever leave them on the dog. I spray, brush, and then bathe the dog. Laser Sheen works best.

[Shasta220]

I’d definitely agree with the above posts. If you want to get adventurous, possibly try a really cool DIY detangler. I’ve never tried it, but I know people who swear by it (for themselves), not sure if it’d work on a dog. It’s easy as pie tho – a cup of water and 1/4c flax seeds in a saucepan, heat until it begins to thicken, then strain out the seeds.

I use Showsheen on my dogs sometimes as well. I know it’s geared towards horses, but it does say that it’s safe for dogs – as well as pigs, camels, goats, sheep, and cattle lol!

[ab1028]

Jasper is on a grain free rotational diet. Right now he is eating acana Pacifica. He has never been one to get matted before, however he is losing his puppy coat right now and growing in his adult hair.

Thanks for the recommendations on use of detanglers and brands!

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