mats in my dogs fur - oh noo...

Hi, to my horror yesterday I discovered that my dog has a lot of mats!! I was very surprised to see this as I really wash her and comb her regularly, I guess it is a lesson learned - when combing her with a brush I did not pay enough attention to comb from the skin (roots) to the outward direction. Her mats are just very close to the skin. Yesterday I have started a very tiresome and arduous task of detangling the mats. I think it will take a lot of time, and I am sure that her autumn dog clothes contributed to the state of her hair, material pressing the coat contributes to mats! And what are other reasons for mats to appear? The Daily Puppy:

Mats are caused by the tangling of fur and it happens for several reasons. When the dog sheds, the dead, shedding fur can become tangled in the live coat. If your itchy dog scratches herself often or bites at hot spots, the fur becomes wet, dirty and tangled. Tangling occurs when long-haired dogs are not brushed on a regular basis, much like a human's long hair would tangle after a few days of no combing or brushing. A mat begins as a small problem, but quickly grows into a much bigger problem if not addressed.

Mats, are not only a cosmetic issue, but they also pose a threat to your dog's health:

Mats not only make your dog look like a ragamuffin, but they present some very real health dangers. The skin under the mats gets caught up in the fur as the tangle becomes more severe, causing the dog agony. The flesh becomes irritated and inflamed, causing foul-smelling ulcers and pus. The circulation is cut off, causing the skin to become necrotic. Insects lay eggs under the mat because the warm, moist and dirty conditions create a perfect nest. Mats are excruciatingly painful and serious -- so serious that in some states, such as Florida, allowing a dog to become severely matted is punishable as a misdemeanor under the animal cruelty statute.

How to deal with them? Definitely, use of scissors is not recommended.

It's tempting to just take a pair of scissors and cut the mat off, but that's not the best course of action. If you are unable to shave the mat yourself, you will have to pay a groomer or veterinarian to do it for you. Mats must be shaved or combed out, never cut with scissors because the risk of cutting the skin is very high when you can't tell where the skin ends and the mat begins. There are de-matting tools you can use if the mat is not too big. Preventing mats is simple. It's so much easier to run a grooming brush through your dog's coat every day than it is to deal with matting. Your dog may hate being brushed, but he'll hate mats much more.

I have began combing the out, using my fingers and oil, I am sure it will take some time, but I want to save her hair, as I dreamt about long coat :-) below I post a link to a detangling, dematting tool: click here to go to amazon.com I don't have it yet, maybe it would help me?? Now I try on my own. However, even if I will not succeed this is a lesson for me and now I know better how to take care of my dogs coat :-)