Been reading the string on whether or not to clip, and wondered.... what does a blown coat mean? It might help me make a decision on the 'castrate or not to castrate' debate.

Thanks

ok so fuddles said we shouldnt be afraid to post - so if I'm wrong dont laugh me off the board please


I think a blown coat is when, usually following neautering, the fur goes a bit awol - fluffy, coarse and generally a bit scraggier.

Poppys coat changed dramatically after bneing speyed - so much so that we now clip her every 3-4 months to keep it looking sleek - although that said, her coat itself is in great condiditon, just a bit wild if left unclipped
jasper also developed a kind of 'flyaway' coat about 6 mths after being neutered - not coarse or scraggy, just sort of withery - if that makes sense.

Some dogs coats dont change at all though

(scurries off to google 'blown coat' lol)

ok, so from the search it suggests a 'blown coat' is when a dog sheds excess hair - usually after a season

I've never heard it called a blown coat with regard to neutering, but yes, Springers do suffer with this effect and it makes it harder to keep them matt free.

HTH

Ok so blown coat = Ruby aka burst cushion

A blown coat can be caused by nuetering, the texture of the coat may change in some dogs, it looks like you've put the paw in an electric socket and the hair has 'blown', nothing to dio with shedding excess hair just means the coat no longer sits to the body but is sticking out all over the place and no amount of brushing combing will make it sit nice

have some photos that i took of Ruby yesterday and this is after i had spent nearly an hour trying to get this orange fluff out - seems that the more i try and groom her the worse she gets

Now I'm hankering to get me hands on Ruby Dooby

I got the Furminater at Crufts and have been amazed how much stuff came off all of them, even slick Jack but didn't want to sing its praises to soon, I wanted to see how the brown came back.

Very happy to report no ill effectts at all on the brown. Even Nicks noticed how shiny he is.

I'll try a shiny piccie later.

Ruby doesn;t have I;m glad to say a full blown coat, as you can still see some shiny coat, although if you can't remove the dead stuff, then go for clipping will take all the dead stuff off and give you a nice healhy looking coat

A blown coat?



You can Sleek Sam in the background!

The really odd thing is that the hair is really very fine, more like nylon fibres that coarse hair!

When she gets wet you can see virtually all her pink skin along her back!

Well Claire looking at rube's coat she is the same as Flo
Fudds whats a Furminater please

Strictly speaking a blown coat is when the dog actually sheds dead hair to allow for new hair to come through, this is seen in double coated breeds like the Siberian Husky, and when they blow their coat they can look really patchy as the new coat comes through. Ruby hasn't got a blown coat, she's just got fluffy hair that has changed in texture which could be down to hormones, diet or as the result of previous clipping where the hair grows back like this. If I were to leave the coats previously clipped out on mine they too would go just like this, always the liver colour hair goes this texture on mine. It can be taken out with a stripping knife, clipped back again as Mary says or sometimes if I'm just sitting in the evening with one of mine I spit on my finger tips , twirl the hair around in small pieces at a time and pull it out, it doesn't hurt them and they seem to enjoy the attention. I would do as Mary says in Rubes case, I would clip it out but it does mean you will have to keep doing it once the fluffy hair comes back again and it always will I'm afraid, still much easier to keep clean and dry off You don't need to clip her legs, ears or tail, she can still keep her feathers but you will have to do the rest of her because she's got quite a lot of liver colour on her and this is where it will turn fluffy, in the summer if left it will turn almost white where it will become bleached by the sun.

http://www.furminator.com/

And if Nick asks any of you, it was half the price Must admit, as far as gadgets go it's well worth it.

I did Gilly's Jess just after I got it and she lost near on two stone

In my opinion, having had Pip who was spayed and clipped and all brown, I'd go with the Furminator first, last resort clip, as Sandy said you have to keep up to it. Pip's ended up so wooly you could clip her without the guard

If Roobs hadn't been done, I would use a stripping knife as I do with Tobe, his liver bits go like this. The Furminator does the same but is easier to handle.


And no I haven't changed jobs and become head of advertising

Must admit Fudds I saw the furminator being demonstrated on one of the shopping channels one day and I was amazed at how much was coming out of the dog I had 2 thoughts, one was the dog had been kept totally ungroomed for at least 12 months for the Furminator to actually take out so much hair and the other was it certainly looks good but by heck what a bloomin price I wonder if it will come down in price or if someone will come up with a cheaper version, glad you got yours at half price though