Take a comb and put it teeth down between the mat and the animal's skin, then cut the mat away. Then brush the remaining hair out. This keeps you from clipping the skin on your pet.
By Danialle from Polson, MT
This page contains the following solutions.
For anyone that has a long haired kitty, I use this product and it works great. No need to shave kitty down anymore. Use this on your kitty every other day and the mats/knots will come out.
If your dog is matted, before bathing them, use cornstarch and a wide tooth comb to un-mat them. The cornstarch absorbs the oil that sticks to the dirt and creates the mat. Trim all fur once doggy is dry.