Matted fur, again

[MinatoandChili]

Hi, I had a previous situation where my chinchillas hair was matted from the previous owner. I was told to either try to tug on it (carefully) or to use a brush comb that’s special for his fur. As much as I carefully and patiently try tugging on it, it won’t loosen up. I used the comb with many spikes (I also have a comb with less spikes, didn’t work) and it seems to bother him a lot. This issue has been going on and I really don’t know what to do. My last option is cutting the matted spots, to get a closer and easier trim. I believe cutting it isn’t the best option, but I don’t know exactly what to do. A little background on my chin Minato: He’s my first chin ever. I’ve researched various amounts of information on chinchillas, but he’s A LOT different than usual ones. He doesn’t have a lot of instincts that I would expect a usual chin has. For example, (1) he doesn’t spray at all. If he was ever scared or nervous, he never sprayed or let off a smell of urine. (2) He doesn’t have any “fur slip”. I was told that by tugging or brushing the matted hair, he would have fur slip and it’d be easier for him to drop the fur. But like I said, he doesn’t have many instincts as usual ones. I know him fully well, but he’s a little different haha. If you guys have any recommendations or advice towards me cutting some matted fur or any other opinions, please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

[tunes]

If you cut the fur, be absolutely sure you have someone there to restrain him while you do it. Many years ago a member tried to do this and ended up cutting through the chins skin into their stomach. Chins are wiggly and do not like to sit still, so you must have someone help you if you try to trim him up. I'm not against trimming out a mat at all, I'm just warning you to take precautions.

Once you get the mats off, frequent dust bathing should help keep them away.

 

[Amethyst]

If you end up having to cut the mats out I suggest going to the vet, unless like tunes said, you have someone to help restrain him so he can't move. The vet will be able to sedate him if needed and then shave the mats out.

Depending on how bad the mats are I've used a double sided comb to break the mats into smaller pieces then tug out the little pieces. No need to get a professional chinchilla comb made of needles if that is what you mean by "special for his fur", those combs can really hurt the chin if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Chins will bark and be upset with being combed and having the mats tugged out, but it shouldn't really hurt, it's more like someone tugging on your shirt. Don't try to pull a whole clump out, first break it up into little pieces like finger width or less no bigger. If it's over a large area you may need to work on it over several days. It doesn't just release in your hand you do need to give it a little tug, sometimes I will grab a hold of a little mat and as the chin moves away basically have them pull it out. Yes the chin will bark and may even look at you like "what the heck?!" and will not enjoy it, it's annoying, but it shouldn't be painful.

Just a couple things to point out, your chin doesn't sound unusual at all. Males don't normally spray like females do, some males can spray but it's not common or normally very accurate like it is with females. It normally takes a lot more (like make him fear for his life) to get a male to the point of trying to spray. Second thing, the fur slipping response is not something some chins have and others don't, it's a physical response, they have no control over it. The fur roots are very shallow so if pulled the fur comes out much much easier then with say a cat or dog, and with little (if you actually pull the fur out) to no pain (if the chin releases or "slips" the fur). Some chins are more skittish then others and will release fur at the first sign of even perceived danger, others on the other extreme it takes them feeling like they can't get away (like when you hold on to a piece of the fur and don't let go) or really fearing for their life to slip their fur. So yours is probably one that just doesn't as easily get scared.

 

[MinatoandChili]

If you cut the fur, be absolutely sure you have someone there to restrain him while you do it. Many years ago a member tried to do this and ended up cutting through the chins skin into their stomach. Chins are wiggly and do not like to sit still, so you must have someone help you if you try to trim him up. I'm not against trimming out a mat at all, I'm just warning you to take precautions.

Once you get the mats off, frequent dust bathing should help keep them away.

Thank you for the response! Yes I’ll be having my husband carefully hold him to make sure! I don’t want any accidents to happen.

 

[MinatoandChili]

If you end up having to cut the mats out I suggest going to the vet, unless like tunes said, you have someone to help restrain him so he can't move. The vet will be able to sedate him if needed and then shave the mats out.

Depending on how bad the mats are I've used a double sided comb to break the mats into smaller pieces then tug out the little pieces. No need to get a professional chinchilla comb made of needles if that is what you mean by "special for his fur", those combs can really hurt the chin if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Chins will bark and be upset with being combed and having the mats tugged out, but it shouldn't really hurt, it's more like someone tugging on your shirt. Don't try to pull a whole clump out, first break it up into little pieces like finger width or less no bigger. If it's over a large area you may need to work on it over several days. It doesn't just release in your hand you do need to give it a little tug, sometimes I will grab a hold of a little mat and as the chin moves away basically have them pull it out. Yes the chin will bark and may even look at you like "what the heck?!" and will not enjoy it, it's annoying, but it shouldn't be painful.

Just a couple things to point out, your chin doesn't sound unusual at all. Males don't normally spray like females do, some males can spray but it's not common or normally very accurate like it is with females. It normally takes a lot more (like make him fear for his life) to get a male to the point of trying to spray. Second thing, the fur slipping response is not something some chins have and others don't, it's a physical response, they have no control over it. The fur roots are very shallow so if pulled the fur comes out much much easier then with say a cat or dog, and with little (if you actually pull the fur out) to no pain (if the chin releases or "slips" the fur). Some chins are more skittish then others and will release fur at the first sign of even perceived danger, others on the other extreme it takes them feeling like they can't get away (like when you hold on to a piece of the fur and don't let go) or really fearing for their life to slip their fur. So yours is probably one that just doesn't as easily get scared.

Hi Amethyst, thanks for the reply And thank you for the useful information, I didn’t know that and it comes in very useful! I apologize for not getting to you sooner, I was writing to you a few days ago but I got distracted and totally forgot And yes, I have used a double sided comb (I believe you were the one who recommended it to me when I first made another post about his matted fur) but it didn’t do any changes to him. I tried combing it from small pieces and working my way up, but the matted fur seems to be glued together (I’m exaggerating). It just seems like the fur doesn't want to be split apart by brushing it. With the help of my husband, I was able to cut his hair (not too close to his skin) and I could see the matted fur just stuck together. I’ve actually being seeing him scratch himself a lot less and there’s actually rarely any matted fur. I decided to leave the bigger pieces alone to see if, by time, it would grow out since I don’t want to use the scissors to close to his skin in case of any accidents. Would you recommend more or less baths after cutting the matted area? Lately, I’ve been showering him around once and at most twice a week. Thanks in advance!