As I said Niko is blowing her coat like no time before which has been great we are dissapointed with her miserable shiba tail! It is so thin and itty bitty! Its so sad and pitiful!
I keep wondering when Jake is gonna blow his. Sure, we've had some shedding, but not in the clumps I have seen from other Shibas. Niko will get her tail back, but in the meantime I'm sure she's enjoying some fresh air
My now 6-month old Shiba has been shedding his undercoat (with a lot of help from daily furminator brushings) quite a bit over the last week or so. He seems to have almost no undercoat left. Is it normal for Shiba's who live in the northern latitudes (I live in NY) to start making way for their winter coat this early? I figured this wouldn't happen for at least a few more weeks. It is August afterall, and still very warm out. What environmental cues set it off if not the temperature? Shorter days -- e.g. less daylight hours?
Robert, you are likely OVER brushing your pup. He really should only be brushed weekly as he does need his undercoat to some extent. He is also likely losing the last of his puppy coat to make way for his big boy coat. There is no set schedule with coat blowing. Their bodies make the rules, shiba through and through.
Thanks Jessica. When I first used the furminator on him, not much came out, and I didn't really expect anything to. Just did it mainly to be sure he got used to it, but not every day. But one day about a week ago, a lot came out when I brushed him. So I just kept it up each day. Maybe it is just the puppy coat going, but I'll take your advice and lay off for a while.
I'd get a Zoom Groom to use in between furminator sessions, as the furminator should only be used once or twice a week at the most. The zoom groom is very soft and gentle (it's rubber), a lot of dogs really enjoy being brushed with it. Even during peak blowing, I don't brush Nemo more than 3 times a week, and when he isn't blowing, maybe once a month.
Well, it seems Koji is just going through some seasonal or growth-related shedding. Even since I stopped brushing him over a week ago, hair just continued to come out. The old shiba shake has recently been sending hair flying through the air. So I gave him a short brushing this morning to get rid of what was obviously already shed. So at 6+ months, would this mean he's losing his puppy undercoat?
I have no idea when that happens or if there really is such a thing. Other than a brief mention of that in one thread on this forum, I have not been able to find any information, anywhere, about blowing "puppy undercoats". Can someone weigh in on that? Is there really such a thing? Do they actually blow their coat, apart from seasonal shedding, as they begin to mature? Thanks.
Bob
P.S. Poor boy got neutered (and micro-chipped) yesterday. I hate to see him with that Elizabethan Collar, especially when it catches on things as he walks around, not being able to judge how far it sticks out. But he seems to have accepted it pretty well.
Both Miko and Moto blew their puppy coats. It was considerable and the puppy tumbleweeds were EPIC. As a shiba owner you may as well make peace with perpetual fluff balls floating about. Even when I vacuum 2x a day I still will encounter a tumbleweed here or there.
I don't think you have anything to be concerned about.
I have a house full of dogs in cones right now. I feel your pain.
Thanks, Jessica. Actually, the shedding itself doesn't really bother me. I was just trying to understand if he's going through normal seasonal shedding (but it seemed to early for that), or if he is losing his pupply coat -- something real that they go through about this age on the way to adulthood. So I'll take your response as confirmation of that. : )
I think blowing coat is conditional, seasonal (or climate) and age dependent. But eventually, every shiba blows his coat in some degree.. For instance:
Tsuki: when she blew her coat when she was about 10 months it was a very humid, hot spring here and you could tell where we brushed her, there was actually an indention of fur - it was like 3-D where it was blowing out, and smooth where the hair was already blown and brushed off.
Kitsu: he hasn't blown per se, but he does get a lot of hair during weekly zoom groom brushes and our monthly furminator with him has to be outside. I think for him it might be more seasonal - he's going to be 2 this winter
Hachi: She had a lot of her frizzy gray undercoat coming out when we picked her up this past May. Her coat seemed like she was a long haired shiba until we did multiple furminator sessions and continuous zoom groom pets, its like she lost 1/2 her body weight in fur! now tumbleweeds are coming out in chunks from her thigh area and butt fluff, so it seems never ending in this house!! She'll be 2 in october.
I'm attaching a picture of my ex-foster dog, Kobe (now adopted, named Yoshi) when we picked him up, he was blowing coat in a major way, you could pull his hair out in chunks! it was so sad, he was a stray and not groomed for some time. After we furminated him like every day for a week, he looked like a normal shiba. Kobe/Yoshi:
Bumping this thread to find out more about Kai coat blowing... Ki's is really thin right now - just finished brushing all the undercoat fluff out last week. I read on one of the other threads that kai's aren't even shown when not "in coat" - just wondering how long normally it takes them to fluff back up... ???
This is different for us as Mirra always has all her new hair by the time all the old hair is completely ready to come out, so she never has a "thin" coat. She's always a big fluff..
Kitora has a much dryer and coarser coat than Kunai - so she gets Salmon Oil and that seems to help. But she is more"itchy" than any of our other dogs - she does seem to itch more as her fluff starts coming out - She's just turned a year so this is her first coat blow....
I think i'll look into some salmon/fish oil. Toki has been rather itchy as of late, and has a weird especially itchy spot on his lower underbelly. I've pretty much come to the conclusion it is either a food allergy or he is about to blow his coat. Since he has never done such a thing, I don't really know what to expect.
Hmm I wonder if Ren's recent increase in itching (nothing crazy, just light increase) is her needing some more brushing due to undercoat shedding. I've noticed more stray hairs when just petting her. She has a very healthy, glossy coat so I doubt it's dry skin.
@jellyfart Get a pump bottle of salmon/shrimp oil. I have a big ass 32oz that I got from my Banfield vet called "EFA1N" ($45 iirc), for medium dogs you just do 1 pump on the food in the morning, big dogs 2 pumps. For Ren I've been doing one pump in the morning and one at night. Mainly because it smells tasty and stimulates her appetite, and I want her to put on weight so her ribs aren't distinct when out in the sun. I first got it for Tsune (skin issues galore) and it really helped him, both with his skin and helped improve his coat a TON. I got it back in June or July, it's November now and I still have about 3/4 of the bottle left.
@cezieg.... so will giving miscellaneous sea-animal oil make Toki gain weight significantly? I like the weight he is at right now, thus I don't want him to gain more.
@jellyfart On it's own it won't. Ren just goes nuts for the smell of it as soon as she can smell the oil haha. That way she's excited to eat the whole bowl of food vs having half or 3/4 of it. She doesn't like to eat the entire bowl of food on her own, I think it may be the food which she isn't 100% sold on. She'd polish off every little bit of Blue Buffalo salmon that she was getting after Tsune got rehomed. Now we're on Nutro MAX puppy food. Not just any sea-animal oil either haha, omega3 oils which are usually salmon or krill/shrimp.
Comments
I have no idea when that happens or if there really is such a thing. Other than a brief mention of that in one thread on this forum, I have not been able to find any information, anywhere, about blowing "puppy undercoats". Can someone weigh in on that? Is there really such a thing? Do they actually blow their coat, apart from seasonal shedding, as they begin to mature? Thanks.
Bob
P.S. Poor boy got neutered (and micro-chipped) yesterday. I hate to see him with that Elizabethan Collar, especially when it catches on things as he walks around, not being able to judge how far it sticks out. But he seems to have accepted it pretty well.
I don't think you have anything to be concerned about.
I have a house full of dogs in cones right now. I feel your pain.
Tsuki: when she blew her coat when she was about 10 months it was a very humid, hot spring here and you could tell where we brushed her, there was actually an indention of fur - it was like 3-D where it was blowing out, and smooth where the hair was already blown and brushed off.
Kitsu: he hasn't blown per se, but he does get a lot of hair during weekly zoom groom brushes and our monthly furminator with him has to be outside. I think for him it might be more seasonal - he's going to be 2 this winter
Hachi: She had a lot of her frizzy gray undercoat coming out when we picked her up this past May. Her coat seemed like she was a long haired shiba until we did multiple furminator sessions and continuous zoom groom pets, its like she lost 1/2 her body weight in fur! now tumbleweeds are coming out in chunks from her thigh area and butt fluff, so it seems never ending in this house!! She'll be 2 in october.
I'm attaching a picture of my ex-foster dog, Kobe (now adopted, named Yoshi) when we picked him up, he was blowing coat in a major way, you could pull his hair out in chunks! it was so sad, he was a stray and not groomed for some time. After we furminated him like every day for a week, he looked like a normal shiba.
Kobe/Yoshi:
Tsuki didn't blow her coat until after she was spayed.
(Silly, I know, but WTH).
This is different for us as Mirra always has all her new hair by the time all the old hair is completely ready to come out, so she never has a "thin" coat. She's always a big fluff..
Thanks!
@jellyfart Get a pump bottle of salmon/shrimp oil. I have a big ass 32oz that I got from my Banfield vet called "EFA1N" ($45 iirc), for medium dogs you just do 1 pump on the food in the morning, big dogs 2 pumps. For Ren I've been doing one pump in the morning and one at night. Mainly because it smells tasty and stimulates her appetite, and I want her to put on weight so her ribs aren't distinct when out in the sun. I first got it for Tsune (skin issues galore) and it really helped him, both with his skin and helped improve his coat a TON. I got it back in June or July, it's November now and I still have about 3/4 of the bottle left.