# Blowing Coat question



## Hava Novice (Aug 30, 2016)

I suspect that Oreo might be blowing coat, at almost 20 months old. We really didn't have any significant increase in matting or noticeable change in the texture of his coat around 12 - 15 months as I had anticipated, but I am starting to think he might be a late bloomer. The strange thing is that the real matting is primarily in one area, right below his collar across the bottom of his neck/top of shoulder blades. His hair seems to have changed in that one area, much more dense and cottony. He has always had a combination coat, curly on his head, legs and rump, and straight on his back, but all of it was pretty fine and silky. That area on the top of his shoulder blades is very dense and hard to comb through even where there are no mats, while the rest of him is still pretty light and fluffy. His mats in other areas are more like tangles near the ends. My question is, will the rest of his body "catch up" to that area? The mats in that area are very tight and close to the skin, and really hard to comb out. He has always been in a fluffy puppy cut, but if he is going to get like that all over, I may need to keep him even shorter. Oh and any tips for working through the mats would be greatly appreciated. He is really not enjoying our recent combing sessions!
Thanks!


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## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

Good luck and well wishes. Kosmo matted in the way they call felting, next to his skin. I put my butter comb between skin and the mess, and sawed at it with everything in my grooming kit. He ended up shaved in sections. The collar may be the blame in your case, my problems were collar, harness and worst of all: humamma inattention. Hips also became matted in our case. Oreo is a little chocolate bon bon!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

There's really no saying how his coat will change... except that it is almost invariably EASIER after they finish blowing coat. DO NOT feel bad if you need to cut him shorter during this period. It's up to you and to him how much grooming the two of you can deal with. A shorter coat is always better than a heavily matted coat!


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## Tux's Mom (May 24, 2016)

I tried for too long to keep Tux in a long coat during his "matting" period. It was uncomfortable for him, and nearly impossible to prevent skin tight matts in many places. I gave up and scissor cut him to about two to three inches. I bought a good metal comb, and dematting spray in preparation for his new coat to come in. It has been much easier now to keep him tangle free. His coat has changed drastically from puppy days from dark black and white silky straight fur, to deep charcoal and white cottony fluff ball. His new bushy coat is still growing out, so I will post another comparison a few months from now. The standing photo was taken a year ago. The lying down photo was taken a few weeks ago.


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## Hava Novice (Aug 30, 2016)

Thanks for helping me not to feel like a total failure! I took him to our favorite groomer today, and even after I had worked very hard, and thought I had gotten the majority of the mats taken care of, she had to spend 2 hours removing mats. Bless her for not giving up and shaving him, although he is sporting a shorter than usual puppy cut!


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## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

He's a cutie patootie! People keep asking me when we're going to cut Shama's hair. We're not planning to, but I do think about it when I see all the cute puppy cuts in this forum! Shama's mats became fewer and further between after about 18 months, just as our groomer predicted. When she was little, I would soak her mats with spray-on detangler. That often helped. Be sure to pinch the hair between her coat and the mat so that when you're pulling on the hair, you're pulling against your own grip rather than against his skin.


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