Our Pledge

Just as doctors have the Hippocratic Oath promising to do no harm, groomers too have an oath of conduct that any moral groomer will follow. Our pledge says, "humanity before vanity." What that means is that no action should be taken to have a pet look a certain way, if that action will cause the pet undo harm, pain or distress.

Allow me to elaborate. On the surface, the pet may look fine, but next to their skin their entire coat has become nothing more than a pelt. Matts pull all surrounding fur into the matt, meaning every single one of the thousands upon thousands of individual furs on your pet's body are each pulling on their skin. Imagine grabbing a fistful of your hair and pulling- not gently- on your scalp. And never letting go. Not for one second of any day does the pet get relief from severe matting. If bad enough, it can inhibit movement, and cause skin irritation and infections, as any moisture that gets under the matts cannot dry out. 

Now, given the pain a matted pet is already in, ripping on their fur for hours is not fair to them. They also have no concept of "this is necessary for me to look a certain way." They simply know it hurts. It will lead to them fearing and hating being groomed, which will compound the problem of keeping up with their coat.

At Wags to Riches, we will not ever trade money for a pet's discomfort, and we will never de-matt a moderately to severely matted pet. We reserve the right to deny service to any client or potential client who refuses to shave a matted pet. 

Any time where a pet has matting on more than one or two small areas, the humane option is to shave, allow the coat to grow out healthy and even, and use Wags to Riches to maintain your pet's coat so that you can be happy with how he looks, and he can be happy with how he feels.

No pet should have to suffer in order to look a particular way. Put plain and simply- if an owner fails to properly maintain an animal's coat, that animal should never have to suffer through a painful, harmful de-matting session in order to remain "cute and fluffy." Shaving is the only humane option when the pet is moderately to severely matted.