“The dog has rotten skin spots, hair matted to the skin so bad it is ingrown into the skin, and the nails are 2 inches long,” the SPCA reported.

“His hair growth was about five years of matting,” said Kim Moyers, president of the South Plains SPCA, told KLBK-TV. “It’s just awful that he was probably seen in different places and overlooked. I don’t see how he hasn’t been seen roaming in the condition he was. I’ve never seen anything like him. It was shocking.”

His matted fur earned him the name Matt at the South Plains SPCA. Despite his horrible state, they decided to cure him and offer him a second opportunity.

Matt yelled in pain when they cut his hair, so they sedated him. They removed a collar and leash entangled in the hair and shaved off three pounds of fur after five years of mistreatment.

“There 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,” 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’t have gotten through his thick fur.)

Matt has a long rehabilitation ahead and will need dental work when his blood work is safe.