\nMany stray and neglected dogs go ungroomed, causing them distress as their fur becomes tangled and matted. But a haircut can make all the difference.\n
That was the case recently, after one dog covered in severely matted fur got a makeover that\u2019s given him a new lease on life.\n
On July 16, the South Plains SPCA shared a post about the \u201cworst case of dog neglect we have ever encountered.\u201d A 6-year-old dog was covered in extremely matted, thick fur, and was in poor shape.\n
\u201cThe dog has rotten skin spots, hair matted to the skin so bad it is in grown into the skin, the nails are 2 inches long,\u201d the SPCA reported.\n
\u201cHis hair growth was about five years of matting,\u201d said Kim Moyers, president of the South Plains SPCA, told KLBK-TV. \u201cIt\u2019s just awful that he was probably seen in different places and overlooked. I don\u2019t see how he hasn\u2019t been seen roaming in the condition he was. I\u2019ve never seen anything like him. It was shocking.\u201d\n
The South Plains SPCA took him in and named him Matt, after his matted fur. Despite the terrible condition they found him in, they resolved to fix him up and give him a second chance.\n
\n
Matt reportedly yelped with pain every time they tried to cut his hair, so they had to sedate him. They cut through a collar and leash that was embedded in the hair, and shaved off a whopping three pounds of fur \u2014 the result of five years of neglect.\n
\u201cThere were thousands of goathead stickers, sticks, grass and even beetles matted in his fur. He has severe bruises on his body from his fur being tight on his skin,\u201d the SPCA wrote. The dog was anemic and placed on medication, though he was found to be heartworm negative and free of tick disease (as ticks couldn\u2019t have gotten through his thick fur.)\n
\n
Matt still has a lengthy road of recovery ahead, and he will need dental work once his blood work indicates that it\u2019s safe.\n
But after removing all that gross fur, Matt\u2019s life has already changed in a huge way and he\u2019s looking like a whole new dog:\n
\u201cAfter we had one of our professional groomers \u2014 who\u2019s also an SPCA foster \u2014 groom him, he looked amazing,\u201d Houston told People. \u201cHe is the most gorgeous-looking dog I\u2019ve ever seen. He\u2019s just drop-dead gorgeous.\u201d\n
The SPCA said Matt was a \u201csweet boy\u201d after waking up from his grooming, and since then he\u2019s been getting a taste of a happy, normal life.\n
\u201cHe went for his very first walk without his bulk of hair in probably five years,\u201d Houston told KLBK. \u201cHis little bottom was just going back and forth, his tail was wagging and he was so happy.\u201d\n
Matt is currently being fostered by Tori Houston, and will be placed up for adoption once he has recovered.\n
What a stunning transformation! It\u2019s heartbreaking that Matt was neglected for so long and suffered with all that matted fur on him, but we\u2019re glad he\u2019s finally safe, groomed and on his way to a new life!\n
Please share this incredible story!\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shelter rescues neglected dog covered in three pounds of matted fur \u2014 he looks completely different after makeover Many stray and neglected dogs go ungroomed, causing them distress as their fur becomes tangled and matted. But a haircut can make all the difference. That was the case recently, after one dog covered in severely matted\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":77818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-77815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/57.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inovatestory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}