Someone who knows I deal with huskies called me today to see if I could rescue a dog that had come in at their place. It looks to be a wooly coat and it is so incredibly matted that the vet just told me the only option is to shave it because there are signs of skin infection under the mat, one of which covers the dogs entire back and hindquarters in one continuous piece. I know shaving is not good for huskies, but in a situation like this, I don't know what else to do. We are I a rural area and I took it to the best vet in the area. Suggestions to care for the dog as its coat grows back are appreciated. The vet said the dog looks to be an older dog and that there's a chance the hair won't ever grow back normally.

April, there are all sort of websites that will tell you to never shave a Husky and give all the reasons why you shouldn't - and all of them have the same caveat "unless it's a medical condition" ... so that's where you find yourself.

Obviously, I'd try to see if I could brush / comb out the mat before resorting to anything as drastic as clipping his coat but if the vet is right and you do have an underlying (pun intended) infection then that's the only recourse.

The major problem that I've seen from people who have clipped their Huskies hair is mentioned on the web - you have to be very careful about having the dog outside because it will get sunburned. The other consideration is that the undercoat always grows fast than the guard hairs - which is going to look VERY odd until the guard hairs all grow back in.  That, to me, suggest that a good soft brush is going to be a requirement as the hair grows back in. Something I didn't know and surprised me is that the guard hair may live for several years before they're shed (several sites mention this) so with an older dog, your vet may be right, the guard hairs may never have the opportunity to grow in properly.

Part of this I already knew from reading - I'd never shave my Husky's and I live in the desert - what does surprise me is that I can't find anything about how to aid in the regrowth.

Good diet (top notch food) fish oil and supplements will help with the regrow. Our vet had Sierra on this with her 2nd surgery where they had to shave her
Nutramax Welactin
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FB6ECQ/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

maybe you can clip the fur down but not to the skin and then use heavy conditioner and try to brush the mats out with them being short?

thank you for trying to help this husky

Thanks for all the suggestions. The mats were pretty much to the skin so there was nothing else they could do. Now she's sporting a lion cut with about 1/4 inch fur. She had all kinds of skin infection and one spot that was full of maggots wish I could help them all. While I was there someone else brought in a male that had been hit by a car and had a broken pelvis. A local rescue took responsibility for his care.

This girl has way more issues than I first thought. I've had her back to the vet every day, and they kept her overnight last night. The maggot infestation was way worse than we thought. She had them between her toes, under her front legs on her chest and near her vulva. We've got that pretty well under control. Biggest problem now is that she won't eat. I'm really worried about her. Anyone have any suggestions for getting her to eat? She hasn't had more than a bite of food since Monday and she's really weak.

My go to is ground turkey, high in protein, lower fat content, so as not to upset tummy. Turkey is a pretty bland protein, and have noticed a lot less issues than chicken, for some odd reason. Cook it up with some water, this will help in hydration as well. You can mix the liquid and cooked meat into her kibble and may entice her more to eat it. Another protein would be 80/20 hamburger done the same way(package hamburger should have the meat to fat ratio on it, I would go no lower than 80/20, and probably in this situation even go to a 85/15 or even 90/10, although fat content will help with her skin condition). Make sure it is for humans, and the turkey will be a cheaper option than the hamburger. Thank you for rescuing her, poor baby. It angers me to no end how people can treat animals so badly. Good luck with her, and please keep us posted on how she is doing.