Safari Dog Mat Remover

This product works well. It would work even better if my dog was not so hyper, but that is our issue and not the products. We have both this model and the longer/larger model. We own a Samoyed and he loves to play outside on the farm, row around, and shed endlessly. Being that he is a long haired breed, these activities allow for the creation of new mats on a weekly bases no matter how often we comb him (which is daily). My wife and I read in a person's review that this product hurts the dog by pulling out its hair. I honestly feel that person must have just not been patient enough with the tool or their dog must pull away often. We have found that the best way to utilize this product is by placing the desired area of fur between your thumb and finger (as if making the Okay symbol) while your dog is relax, and gently start at the top of the mat, and slowly work your way down as it releases. Rome wasn't build in a day, so don't expect the mat to disappear if you don't take the time to do it right and in increments. By holding the fur in place with your fingers below the mat (or at its base), this prevents the fur from pulling up from your dogs skin, thus taking away any pain. Granted, we have had one mat that was even too bad for this tool that needed cut off, but that was 1 out of at least 40 thus far. Overall, we love this product and its larger version too. I hope this review helped. Update (11-13-14): This tool just became a lifesaver for us. Long winded History and Situation: First off, my wife and I went on our anniversary trip and left our parents puppy-sit out beautiful Samoyed. He had full range to run the farm (which is safely fenced in) with their playful dogs and was very dirty upon our return. Since they live out of state, our parents convinced us to take our Samoyed to the local Petco for a quick bath, saying they did good would on their dogs (all short haired). Before entrusting our Samoyed with the Petco groomers we explained their need to be dried and how they shred a coat immediately in warm bath water which can result in mats if they are not combed out immediately during blowdrying. They stated that they worked with Samoyed before and they would dry him completely without incident. Long story short, they took 4 hours to finish him (we had to pick him up when they closed) and it cost well over $100. Worse yet, he was still wet in his undercoat and looked like he had licked himself in aggravated areas. Furthermore, they must have only washed him without combing out the excess shed fur since his fur was matted all over his body. There were literally hundreds of mats (that is not an exaggeration). A Petco manager agreed he was poorly bathed and dried, and said they could redo him the following day, but would not refund us nor fix him then since the grooming staff just left. As such, quite perturbed, we drove home late and placed him in an inflatable cone/collar since he started biting at the areas. We noticed hot spots were forming (he was in pain) so I broke out the Mat Remover. Outcome: I spent 6 hours utilizing this tool to get the mats out while simultaneously blowdrying him since every mat was wet inside. After getting out the mats (which I cannot stress how great this tool was, much better than the larger version), I noticed one hot spot in particular was getting bad so we took him to our vet. Our veterinarian had to mildly shave the area, gave us medical ointments for treatment, and said this commonly happens with matted dogs that are improperly dried. We told her about our Petco experience and she said she had a similar case with a Sheepdog that had to be almost completely shaved down via the amount of hot spots it developed from matting. She further stated that many of these chain pet stores are utilizing shampoos that are great for quick cleaning of fur, but extremely irritating to their skin if not removed quickly. After showing her a before and after of our Samoyed on our phone, she stated that if we hadn't removed the mats in such a timely manner, our Samoyed might have had to be shaved to the same degree as the sheepdog's treatment. She was shocked at how poorly Petco did and was extremely impressed with how well the mat remover worked. Upon our visit today, to check on the hot spot, she showed us how she recently shocked her office with the tool and said it is working wonders for pet owner education. That being said, this tool is undeniably worth every penny and more than 5 stars. Lessons learned: 1) we will do all our bathing from now on (like we always did prior). 2) we are buying more of this product to place in each car and dog bag since without it, we most likely would have had a completely shave our suffering dog bald for treatment of many other hotspots (very inhumane). As mentioned in our initial review, you need to work slowly and kindly with this tool to avoid coarsely pulling out the pets fur (causing pain). However, if utilized properly, it can make a significant and humane difference in the maintenance of your fluffy friend.

I'm a mobile groomer and this brush has been an absolute game changer! It goes through mats like butter. Where I used to have to shave a cat or dog to get the mats out, now I can brush them out and the owners are much happier not having bold spots and the animals don't seem to mind being brushed out as it doesn't really pull, but it breaks up the mats like no other. It's comfortable to hold and owners have given rave reviews watching me use this brush as it works so good (some have even gone out and bought one themselves after seeing how great it works)!

This works great on my long haired Pomeranian's. They sat still while using it and it easily removed mats. Very happy with this dematting comb.

I have two cockapoos, a full size and a toy, who are both wonderful and warm dogs with that fluffy, curly and soft mix of the cocker spaniel and poodle coats without any undercoat. Unfortunately, this also means that they have high maintenance hair and are very prone to getting matted - especially after time spent at the dog run or in the rain. For a long time, I struggled with a comb and a brush to get their matts out and the really tough ones I had to carefully cut out with scissors. Fortunately, I can ditch the scissors and dealing with matts is less of a hassle now that I have the Safari Mat Remover. This brush does a great job of cutting right through the matts and pulling out the tangles. It is also sturdy and has grip on the handle as well as a grip above the blade area for when you need to get in close or use with caution (like around the paws or ears). It seems very well built and hopefully the blades will last a while. The only I reason I don't give this a full 5 stars is because it can sometimes be a hassle to get the dead/trimmed hair out of the blades on this brush. It would have been nice if they built a retracting mechanisms of some sort - similar to the Safari Self Cleaning Slicker Brush. There are a few things to keep in mind with this brush and using it to deal with matted areas of your dog's coat: * The brush has blades, nested inside the curl of the brush head, and therefore you must use caution when getting close to your pups skin or paws. Between the blades there are dull metal "twisties" that seem to be there to further break up tangles. These will definitely pull hair out - as opposed to cut or thin out - if the area is really matted rather than just tangled. So you don't want to pull too hard with this brush or a matted area could just get ripped out causing some pain to your dog. * Running the brush through out your dogs coat will thin out their coat and reduce the volume/body, this could be desired around their paws or belly if those areas often get matted but the brush is really meant for spot treatment of tough tangles and matts. * I find it is best to isolate the matt with a grooming comb, then use this to thin the matt with the blades and ease the dematting brush out without pulling too hard. Then you can use a the grooming comb or pin head brush to finish off the rest of the matt. * I always finish with a slicker brush and plenty of leave in conditioner spray. I usually use a brush spray while brushing and then finish with a leave in conditioning spray. This really helps to reduce the amount of matts my pups get aside from their usual trouble areas (paws and behind the ears) which always seem to get matted.

I had ordered a larger sized, 2 sidded dematting and undercoat care tool. It did an excellent Exellent job removing matts, tangles, and any shedding from the undercoat. I was happy, except that a 4" wide rake on a toy or small dog is too big. I came across this one, which is small enough to work with. It has an ergonomic handle. It has different types of cutting blades that work wonders on legs and those really knotted up pieces from their collar, or from daily play where the saliva mixes in, and there is no brushing that mess out of its tangled state. The dogs like this tool better also because it does not grab as much fur. As careful as you work at being, there will be tugging on their soft skin and small hairs, which hurts. I hope this product will continue to be made. Many excellent products for toy size dogs end up being discontinued.

I've tried--and keep trying--just about everything that comes along for matted fur for my elderly, long-haired cat with sensitivity issues, and this mat remover is the best thing I've found so far. She runs (well, shuffles quickly) every time she sees a comb coming her way because it is generally such an ordeal. She has the usual mats-under-the-pits problem of most elderly long-haired cats, and this does a very good job on them. Not perfect, but nothing will be. Sometimes the mats are just a bit too thin and slip between the teeth on this comb, so the blunt scissors still have to come out; but in general, this works very well to get the vast majority of the mats, even in hard to reach places and on her belly, which she is particularly touchy about. It would be nice if it were easy to change the direction of the blades for left-handed use. Four stars on ergonomics only because this is designed only for right-handed use, and I don't see a way to reverse the blades. Even those of us who are right-handed need to switch hands to reach some spots more easily.

This brush does a good job of loosening the matted hair from deep in my cat's fur, but the mat will remain tangled at the ends of her fur, and from there the brush just snags and can't get it out the rest of the way. But it is much easier to thoroughly cut the mat out once it's been brought to the surface. So my cat still ends up with temporary bald spots from fur cutting. I do think this brush is helpful and does a better job of lifting mats than any other brush I've tried. You just have to meet it halfway with the scissors.

Very happy with my purchase. I have a Cavapoo (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel & Toy Poodle mix) and when his hair starts growing out, it gets tangled quite easily. His fur is thick and the brush just won't work sometimes. The Mat Remover has smaller blades than the Dematting comb, so the Mat Remover works better on small tangles and for smaller dogs. Many people get both the de-matting comb and the mat remover, and use the de-matting comb first, to break up the larger tangles, and then use the mat remover to tackle the smaller chunks. PROS: - Able to be used left or right handed - Removes mats and tangles easier than brush - Soft, ergonomic feel CONS: - None. TIPS: - Do note that this is made of small blades and it will cut out some of your dogs hair, and may cut your finger if you rub it on the sharp side. - You must be patient getting the larger tangles out. Start from the outside of the mat first, and work your way inward. Don't try to tackle the whole mat at once. - Always comb in the direction of the hair growth - To get the fur out of the comb (while saving your fingers from getting cut), simply rub the back of the comb onto the carpet or a paper towel in a motion away from the base of the comb. The hair will come out easily.

Works awesome for my long haired cats to thin the undercoat. Well worth it when the furm Ator brand comb won’t even grab the coat. Haven’t tried it to break up mats because they Haven’t got any with regular use. Also no more hairballs because the coat is coming out with the brushing.

Esta genial para quitar nudos, pero si llega a lastimar un poco al animal, hay que tener mucho cuidado a la hora de usarlo. No es para gente tosca.

This is the best de-matting tool I've used. There's nothing sharp on it, just a row of hooks and two rows of little catches that will gather bits of matted fur as you skim from the top of the mat and gradually work through it. I bought from the US, quite painless - no UK VAT or Duty as below £15.

Liegt sehr gut in der Hand,leicht und formschön. Shr gut für die Fellpflege geeignet.

Works great! My dog’s favourite