# Matted Ears



## Joey's Mom2 (Aug 24, 2004)

Fendi's ears are really matted right at the skin (but it's not matted where it is visible) I should have caught it sooner, but I think somehow as she's being groomed, I must have not brushed her ears well enough. Is there anything I can do? At this point I can't think of anything except shaving the matted parts of ears... but boy, she'll be a strange looking Maltese. Is there anything else I can do?


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## Elly B. (Oct 27, 2006)

Nick had some pretty bad ear mats and he would look dumb as h*ll if I shaved them there. I just resigned myself to him being mad at me, bathed him good, soaked the mats with detangler, and went at it with a comb. It took a long time because I was being gentle, and he was furious about it, but they DID come out with enough patience.

It took us the better part of 2 hours. He got tired arguing with me and lay quietly for the second hour or so.

I think that's probably your only option other than shaving.


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## Joey's Mom2 (Aug 24, 2004)

Thank you so much! Yay!!







There's hope after all!


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## Andrea&Luci (Jul 30, 2006)

Wow I know what you mean!!!!
About a month ago I was giving Luci her daily grooming session, and all of a sudden as I was brushing her ears, my brush got caught. So, I started touching it with my fingers, and




























her ENTIRE ear was matted to the skin on both ears!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so upset and mad at myself because I somehow missed this in her brushing session, so I sat on the couch with her ALL night and detangled those awful mats. I am so happy they came out!!!
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!! and I hope Fendi has more patience than Luci because she was SOO mad at me!!


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## Elly B. (Oct 27, 2006)

One other thing: I had decent results with adding more detangler whenever the ears dried out. His ears were kind of slimy and oily with the stuff by the time i was done, we had to wash them again, but I think that was better than pulling.


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## wagirl98665 (Jan 5, 2006)

> Fendi's ears are really matted right at the skin (but it's not matted where it is visible) I should have caught it sooner, but I think somehow as she's being groomed, I must have not brushed her ears well enough. Is there anything I can do? At this point I can't think of anything except shaving the matted parts of ears... but boy, she'll be a strange looking Maltese. Is there anything else I can do?[/B]



Maybe clipping really close rather then shaving if you can. Yikes!!







I'm thinking that maybe you could completely soak the matts in conditioner and just pick away at getting them out. Good luck!


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## Joey's Mom2 (Aug 24, 2004)

> Wow I know what you mean!!!!
> About a month ago I was giving Luci her daily grooming session, and all of a sudden as I was brushing her ears, my brush got caught. So, I started touching it with my fingers, and
> 
> 
> ...


Yes...that's EXACTLY how I discovered her mats. I was mad at myself too because her coat is growing out so beautifully! It took me a couple hours, but I managed to get her mats out (not without a couple snips here and there, though







). I sure learned my lesson...and I'm never going to forget to brush those ears again!!


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

I've had that happen too, they will come out if you work at them. I use The Stuff or Vellus detangler (with silicon) to get the bad ones out but you have to bathe them right after or you'll ahve coat breakage. Altho that may not matter to you, but I was dealing with show coats. I seperate with the end of a rattail comb, which seems to work pretty well. Good luck!!


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## patsan (Mar 2, 2006)

A little bit of corn starch is great for working out the mats too.


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