Tilly was spayed just over a year ago so I thought I would post some 'before and after' pictures to show how her coat has changed.

The following two pictures are from just before she was spayed (the second one was actually taken the day before the op - the slightly bizarre leg angles are because she is standing on a steep hillside ... it doesn't do flat round here).





These next three pictures were all taken today, roughly a year since the spay. As you can see, Tilly is an awful lot hairier - this is in spite of regular sessions with a Coat King to remove acres of undercoat. You can see I still haven't decided what to do with her back legs so they are currently 'bouffant'.





She's mostly kept her rich red colour but has gone a bit gingery at the sides ...

Very intersting pictures...Fipps is heading that way too. I like to know, is Tilly's top coat hair getting longer and standing up? As Fipps' coat is getting like that and it's only five months ago she was spayed.

Looking at her coat I think she is looking great compared to so many woolly welshie post neuter coats.

I would just trim the length of her rear feathers and lightly thin the bulk, particularly to the front aspect of her hind leg, you should be able to trim some definition back in like her pre-spay photos.

Same under her belly, just trim up the length VERY slightly to get a crisper line but some of the additional length will also come from the fact that she is a year older too.

Freddy thinks she is stunning regardless

Having another look at the pictures...the difference is amazing, the slick flat lying coat has basically gone...but I quite like it TBH

i think her coat looks fab - i am going to post some of Ruby - she looks like a burst cushion now - really dull and horrid - dont know what to do with it really

Thanks Helen for putting those pics in - I was looking forward to them.

Tilly seems to have exactly the same type of coat as Rhian and (I think) Fipps. The top coat still looks fab, even if the hairs might be a little bit longer and rougher. But the silky gloss is still there!

The woolly bits certainly are longer, but aren't those the places where there's soft woolly hair anyway? Rhian is a bit woolly at the rear end and on her belly (ok, not now as she has been shedding the stuff ) and she is certainly woollier than Tilly around the ears - but that's also because I don't know how to trim them.

I think this is very encouraging - I was afraid she might look like a demented carpet now or like Goofy, whose pics I posted a couple of weeks ago. But there I can see a genetic disposition for a wavy coat, and Tilly isn't wavy at all. I agree with what has been suggested about thinning out those long hairs on her hind legs - she'd look much tidier.

What type of Coat King do you use? When I bought Rhians new bed, I saw a model in the shop with a width of about 4 to 5 cm and 20 blades - would it be that? And how do you keep those ears so neat-looking?


Susanna

Wow ....She's a stunner before and after.....After spaying I found the coat did change a little with ours but I give them a bit of cod liver oil in their feed now and then and the gloss seems to be still happening even on the liver patches . They don't seem to need much trimming and I like the feathering, the elastic band and comb works a real treat at getting the dead and loose hairs out.....that was a great tip thanks

Steve

But, I think it's just her adult coat come through as opposed to the woolly coat you sometimes see, I don't think you've got anything to worry about at all.

She looks beautiful.

Her coat is lovely, not blown at all, just need the feathery bits trimmed

Tilly says thanks for all the kind comments.
Thinking about it, the pictures don't show how her coat has changed very well at all - they just show what it looks like now after an awful lot of grooming!

Christine yes the top coat has got longer but it doesn't really stick up - maybe a bit around the curves of Tilly's neck but mostly it lies flat.

As Sue and Selina have said, it's true that the top coat might have got longer anyway with age - but what has really changed is the undercoat. Before, Tilly didn't really have any fluffy undercoat at all. Now I regularly remove handfuls of it in order for her to look like she does in the pics. If I didn't, you wouldn't be able to see that nice flat red top coat at all as it would be overwhelmed by gingery fuzz. I can show you what I mean with these pics of Tilly's legs. I haven't really removed much of the undercoat from the tops of her legs as they're so knobbly and bony it's a bit of a faff, so the fluff has grown through the silky top coat and out the other side (the same with the feathering actually - the undercoat has grown out over the silky fur and gives an overall much duller more woolly effect now). I think she would look like that all over if I hadn't used the Coat King regularly.

First picture is before spaying: silky smooth topcoat with no undercoat showing through.


Second picture: now you can see at the top of her legs the topcoat is buried under masses of dull fluffy undercoat.




Claire, have you tried a Coat King on Ruby?

Susanna, it's the Mars coat King 'extra fine' I've got. It comes in 16, 20 or 30 blade versions (basically different widths - I just got the 16). Tilly's ears ended up like that by accident. I tried to trim them all over and they looked awful so I have been growing them out for ages now and just trimming round the shape of the ear and using the Coat King to defluff them in the meantime.

Steve I'll come clean and say it wasn't my tip about the comb and elastic band as I have never managed to get that to work (maybe Freya?) - but Tilly says thanks for the compliment.

Mary, yes I think I've been very lucky with the top coat not changing too much.

And to all of you who suggested trimming - I will! I've been putting it off for so long thinking I'd just see how long everything grew first - but now seeing those pictures I have to get the scissors out I know ...