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Stubbornly Dry, Coarse Coats


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We've tried the Chris Christensen coat link spray, topical alpha kerri oil diluted in 500 mls and sprayed on daily for a month (I think it's lanolin based) and her current shampoo contains coconut oil. Is there a particular product you recommend or have had success with Jules? This girl is quite a quandry! ????

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The area I circled looks like damaged coat, the rest looks healthy just coarse. The coat looks a little blown to me and might look better with more undercoat development, but with an entire dog the coat will cycle as you know and you just have to wait for it.

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Edited by blinkblink
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She has a funny kink to her coat in that spot you mentioned blinkblink. It has been like that for ages (6+ months). I dont know that it's particularly damaged as it feels ok. Where that funny kink is the wave in the top coat shows the undercoat which is much darker. Could that be what you are seeing?

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To be honest I'd stop with the product overload and just wash with a normal shampoo and conditioner every 2 to 6 weeks as you do now. Wash, blow dry, brush, leave it. I would not be putting sprays and treatments on after the bath. You need a chance to get to know this coat without product. I honestly think by looking at it that you're not going to change the texture with products. All you can do is feed and groom to promote healthy coat growth, which you're doing ok with by the sounds of it. Just drop all the extra product as it may be doing more harm than good,.

I reckon if it's ever going to change it will come with the natural cycle of the coat as the dog ages. I find they go from puppy coat to adult coat, but then get a sort of third coat change as they mature through three or so yrs old.

To me it looks more like a stressed coat. Is there any illness or medication in the dogs history, right from birth?

And have you used a coat King or furminator on it at all in the past? Those things are murder on coats. I try to describe the damage they do as like running ribbon over scissors to curl it. You get micro damage on the edges or the hair that leaves it looking all frazzled. Only time can fix that kind of damage properly with coat drop and regeneration of entirely new hairs.

And don't use a heated dryer if you are turn the heat off and just use the force of the air to get the water out of the coat.

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Get some coconut oil, the stuff you cook with. It is usually quite solid unless you live in a warm place. Rub it in your hands to warm it up. Smooth it on to the dry coat. Leave on for as long as you can before washing. That is probably the cheapest oil. Other oils would be jojoba, argan, avocado.

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She had a touch of demodex at 8 months (she is now nearly 16 months) which cleared up very quickly on invermectin with no recurrence. She has never had any other problems-she is pretty bomb proof tbh-just scruffy.

I've probably used a furminator on her two or three times in her life and not in the last 5ish months. And we have dropped any after wash treatments and sprays for the last 3 weeks, they haven't made a difference so I don't see any point continuing them.

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Hmm the mange and subsequent treatment may have done the damage. Thats at a time when caot change is looming, first season might be on the way, rapid growth happening, a lot of stress already on the body and coat around that age. Add the mange and it might have just stressed the coat development. If the coat was stressed by anything during development it may take a long time to recover, or never recover.

Do you use topical flea treatments? i have seen a few dogs have coat damage from them. If you do, and you can find an oral alternative such as Comfortis/Panoramis that might be worth a shot.

Of course any thing you change or try may take weeks if not months to yield any real change. By real change I mean permanent change as the coat renews as opposed to products momentarily changing the texture.

To maybe attract some breed specific interest You might want to go back to your original post, click on the edit tab at the bottom, and change the title of the thread to say 'Anatolian with stubborn dry coat' or such.

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No-i don't use a preventative and *touch wood* she has never had fleas. We use milbemycin monthly for a heartworm preventer. This was my last ditch try as multiple ASD breeders and I have not been able to improve her coat. Maybe cross fingers and hope that the dietary change will do the trick!

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you might just have to go with fingers crossed!

I actually get a bit excited when I see some breeds with nice coarse jackets and coats. It seems like today we want nice soft fluffy hair on all our dogs and forget what some were bred for and how the coats really should be. Collies and shelties with a nice strong harsh protective guard coat, Poodles with a nice strong steel wool coat, Beardies with a good coarse stringy coat etc etc. They seem to be all about soft and fluffy these days!

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I think you are going to have to wait it out. The coconut oil might soften it enough that you can show her now. Not sure if that is the aim.

My border collie girl did a massive coat drop after an illness issue. Like it looked like I had clipped her. Her coat was horrible and coarse. A couple of months later and it is all soft again. The top of her coat looked similar to your girl's coat. I did feel like she was having a reaction to Aloveen at the time too as she was worse after I washed her.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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