Matted Fur?

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Matted Fur?

Post by werewolfpup » Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:56 am

I was watching a program where they save animals from bad owners (etc) and take them to a sanctuary, and one of the cases was about a dog with severely matted fur.
It said that mats occur without grooming and living in the wild sometimes.

So i want to ask why dont Wolves get matted fur? I mean sure they can groom themselves and be groomed by others, but so can dogs, what makes them so different?
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by Canidae » Sun Jul 11, 2010 7:55 am

But...wolves can get matted fur. If any sort of animal with fur decides to romp around in the mud, mats can develop.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by wolf at heart » Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:40 pm

Adding onto Canidae's post,Wolves will groom each other but it may not always help the matted condition of the wolf's fur.Correct me if i'm wrong,though I did get that information from a book.

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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by -Fen- » Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:40 pm

Although wolves do groom themselves, they can get matted hair when in extreme weather conditions.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by Songdog » Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:41 pm

werewolfpup wrote:I was watching a program where they save animals from bad owners (etc) and take them to a sanctuary, and one of the cases was about a dog with severely matted fur.
It said that mats occur without grooming and living in the wild sometimes.

So i want to ask why dont Wolves get matted fur? I mean sure they can groom themselves and be groomed by others, but so can dogs, what makes them so different?
Perhaps because it as a dog, and not a wolf. Dogs can have much different fur types than wolves; some considerably finer, longer, and more prone to matting. On top of that, dogs may not have the same grooming instinct that wolves have.

Wolves can get matted fur, but some long haired dogs are more prone to matting.

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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by -Fen- » Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:44 pm

Wolves can get matted fur, but some long haired dogs are more prone to matting.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by Blightwolf » Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:20 am

The texture of a wolf's fur changes throughout the course of its body.
For example, wolves' thighs are covered in short and velvet fur, their mane consists of thicker, harsher and longer fur, their ventral (stomach) hair is clumped and long, and their dorsal (back) hair is of a coarse medium length - wolf pelages don't consist of just one layer or texture, it's a mixture or several different types of hair and fur "material".

But, as Songdog pointed out, dogs have a even more greater variety of fur types.

I feel pretty confident to say that due to wolves' longish stomach hairs, their ventral fur gets the most matted - when wolves lie on a wet, muddy ground, for example, the underside of the belly is likely to become matted, but as for the entire fur becoming matted... seems quite implausible. It depends on weather conditions, I suppose. Wolves have two-layered double coats which repel dirt and run off water, but I guess that under heavy rain or in other conditions where the fur could get extremely dirty (after hunting, for example, when wolves' become soiled in blood and internal organs and gravel and whatnot, or when digging up the ground and they're covered in earth and sand, etc) it can be possible that wolves' would have a "matted" fur.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by scar face » Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:45 pm

wolves are very careful of where they go if they see any thing that looks like it was soaked in mud it will not hunt that animal or if it was a wolf that looked like that they would not go near it.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by Blightwolf » Fri Aug 13, 2010 2:21 am

scar face wrote:wolves are very careful of where they go if they see any thing that looks like it was soaked in mud it will not hunt that animal or if it was a wolf that looked like that they would not go near it.
Your post implies that wolves are "afraid" to get themselves dirty. This is not true. Wolves are not afraid of blood, internal organs, water, mud, or anything that might their their furs "soiled". They are animals; animals do not pay much attention where they lay. They can lie on a wet ground, muddy ground, bloody ground, cold ground, on grass, etc, etc.
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Re: Matted Fur?

Post by Masika » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 am

Hello werewolfpup,

Since I believe the orginal question has been answered enough, I'll be locking this. Thanks to those who helped out! ^^

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