A TM, in stages of blowout

[ruthcatrin]

I'm going to TRY to keep this updated, but no promises, I meant to do this last year and then last year's shed was such a crazy shed it just didn't happen.

Apollo appears to be FINALLY blowing out his coat. I was starting to think I ought to be seriously worried because he wasn't yet.

Anyway, here are pictures of his right side taken this morning:



In the first picture his coat has been brushed backwards, the 2nd picture he's standing normally. The oddly darker almost triangular area in the middle of both pictures: he's lost most of the undercoat in that one spot. That dark is his SKIN showing through the outer coat. Thats how much of a difference their blowout makes.

 

[Catia]

Thanks Ruth, i'll be checking these out for reference.

have some questions:
this last winter was Tessa's 1st winter-her coat was thick/deep--but not near as much as Apollo's-at what age did Apollo sport his 1st 'full' coat?

the hind leg area matts FAST when blowing, sometimes it seems over night or a day or two huge wooley lumps appear since the long hair permanent hair doesn't allow undercoat to just drop out.
I was able to work most of the matts out, & conditioner helped get extra slippage of the old wooley undercoat from the actual fur/hair.
There were some small areas I just had to cut out, but was so minimal you cannot notice it-it was mostly undercoat & not much actual hair.

My question is this: is there any type of product that helps loosen & give some extra slip when dry?
Conditioner with detangler worked miracles when wet/damp & I was able to separate a lot-but once rinsed out & dry has no effect.

For children there are spray on/leave in detanglers that are tested & 'kid safe'-but that leaves some chemical/product behind & not sure if I want to try it with Tessa & leave it in due to that.
Spraying on gives the ability to do a small area--like hind leg without having to submerge the dog & do a full bath-
-I'm sure there are similar products for animals-there's Mane & Tail for Horses & I have used it on Tessa ( & myself)but always rinse.
Is there anything safe to spray on & leave in for dogs so you can work a small area & not the whole coat?

 

[QY10]

How does a TM's tail blow out, or does it remain fluffy?

There is a homeless man that I walk by on my way to work everyday and he has a big fluffy dog... He looks as though he could be blowing his coat because part of him has relatively short hair and the rest of him has big, fluffy hair, just like your pictures... His tail looks like a skinny rat-tail though. The tail is completely covered in fur, but it's very short fur, like in your pictures and it just makes the dog look kind of sickly. Just wondering if I should be concerned for the dog's health, or if they typically blow out the fur on their tails, too. At first glance I thought maybe the dog had had a skin condition and was in the process of just growing the fur back because the contrast was just huge between the long, fluffy fur and the short fur.

I try not to judge because I have seen homeless people take excellent care for their pets and Vancouver does have some good services for homeless people with pets. We have pet food banks, shelters and housing facilities that are pet-friendly and I believe there are even vet services for pets of homeless people. There is a man that lives at the Supportive Housing complex I work at who has a dog and she is VERY well loved and cared for.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Apollo shed out the remainder of his puppy fluff the spring after he turned one, so his first TRUE winter coat was the winter he turned 2.

For the britches (backs of the rear legs) and tail (and occasionally the spots right behind the ears will also need it) I use Chris Christensen's Ice on Ice. My suggestion is to buy that Ready To Use bottle and pour it into a proper spray bottle like this:



as that makes it MUCH easier to spray it on as heavily as can be needed when they're blowing like that. You don't have to wet them down first AND you don't have to wash it out afterwards. I basically just soak the area I'm working on with it and it makes a HUGE difference. If you like it keep that original bottle as it has easy instructions on it for making it from concentrate and order a bottle of the concentrate as its MUCH cheaper that way.

I haven't worked on Apollo's britches in a couple days, so here's what they look like (though he's not really blowing there yet):



but what you're describing is normal. If she gets a ruff (some female TMs do and some don't, with her being a cross who knows) that area may also give you trouble.

 

[ruthcatrin]

How does a TM's tail blow out, or does it remain fluffy?

There is a homeless man that I walk by on my way to work everyday and he has a big fluffy dog... He looks as though he could be blowing his coat because part of him has relatively short hair and the rest of him has big, fluffy hair, just like your pictures... His tail looks like a skinny rat-tail though. The tail is completely covered in fur, but it's very short fur, like in your pictures and it just makes the dog look kind of sickly. Just wondering if I should be concerned for the dog's health, or if they typically blow out the fur on their tails, too. At first glance I thought maybe the dog had had a skin condition and was in the process of just growing the fur back because the contrast was just huge between the long, fluffy fur and the short fur.

I try not to judge because I have seen homeless people take excellent care for their pets and Vancouver does have some good services for homeless people with pets. We have pet food banks, shelters and housing facilities that are pet-friendly and I believe there are even vet services for pets of homeless people. There is a man that lives at the Supportive Housing complex I work at who has a dog and she is VERY well loved and cared for.

Oh they blow their tail, and it mats like HELL when they do it too. They're still, comparitively, fluffy though, even after blow out, just not as pluumy.

The tail you're describing COULD be a skin problem, or he might trim the tail fur. On an TM the tail fur has a different texture from the body fur (though its similer to the britches fur) making it a MASSIVE PAIN to brush even when its not matted. Apollo hates it, though he's learned to tolerate it. So I can totally believe that someone who's not a position to truely care for the dog properly might shave or trim the tail.

 

[QY10]

Thank you for the insight!

I always intend to talk to the man, but my timing is always off and I end up in a mad rush to get to work on time.


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[ruthcatrin]

BTW, according to Kathryn Ray (who happens to own a cousin of Apollo's, thank you Catia for pointing me at her blog), who collects her TMs' fur and spins it, the average adult TM sheds a literal FIVE POUNDS of fur every spring. That is a MASSIVE amount of fur. I saved about 2lbs of Apollo's fur last year (its still stored here, I'm collecting this year's shed too to have it all spun together) and that filled a 30gallon trash can, the rest of it got vacuumed out of the carpet or was tossed outside for the birds to use for nesting!

So the next time someone tells you that their 50lb dog "looses literally 10lbs every spring and its ALL FUR!!!!" feel free to laugh at them!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Thank you for the insight!

I always intend to talk to the man, but my timing is always off and I end up in a mad rush to get to work on time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Welcome!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Here's Apollo's left side today:



Nutball refused to roll over so I could get his right side, so you'll have to take my word for the fact that as of the 22nd his left side wasn't any more shed out than his right lol

 

[ruthcatrin]

Here's that same leg-britches after being brushed out today, he's still not shedding out much there yet, but if I don't keep up on it he'll blow them all at once and I'll regret it.

 

[Catia]

Ruth--what is a 'ruff'?

Tessa has those 'britches' out the whazoo!!
& that tail--you are not kidding it is different from the rest of their fur-the texture is like her britches & the texture is that kid of fur that doesn't brush easily.

I thought some of her tail fur got to be 6-7 inches, but I was wrong--some of it was 9 inches.--the britches were more like 6-7 inches.

She seems to have more fur tail/britches than the retrievers I've seen & petted recently. Also, her fur has a more hair like quality than the retriever, & tessa's individual hairs feel thicker in diameter --I tried to compare when playing with her buddy...
she's not shedding like any of them either, which I PRAY doesn't happen.
Tessa's undercoat is more of a wool, & looks squiggly/wiry when coming out.
The retrievers is more like a furry undercoat & smooth, & seems to come out more easily, although at a much more alarming rate & constantly for the entire season--or so I have been told from every owner I have questioned thus far.

 

[ruthcatrin]

ruff = mane, the "lion's mane" the boys all have. Some females get them as much as the boys, some don't get nearly as noticeable a ruff.

And yup, sounds about right! Well, most of Apollo's undercoat isn't really wiry, but its definitely wool-ish! The shed that comes out of the britches and tail does have a wiry texture though.

 

[Catia]

trying to describe while 1/2 awake--yeah--only the tail & britches is wiry. It seriously sucks up the conditioner too.

I can't wait til you have enough Apollo fur to make something-what are you considering?--I didn't know her's was a cousin of Apollo's--cool.
Nice to be of service--I just really liked the site.

I think maybe I got 5-6oz out of Tessa, tops, but seems like it was a LOT more. I saved the 1st attempt of brushing in a ziplock. She is NOT a fan of brushing.
Her retriever buddy LOVES to be brushed--I'm wondering if his owners would think I am too weird if I ask if Tessa can watch him enjoying it.
She learned to sit & wait at the entrance to the field because she saw him do it...she likes to emulate his actions.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Her gold male is a 2nd or 3rd cousin some such, I'd have to go dig out the pedigrees to tell you exactly, but yup!

My husband is voting for a pair of mittens, but I told him he'd have to make them himself. My knitting skills are about up to a scarf and that's it (not to mention that my hands think knitting is one of the more horrible things I could do to myself). I probly could have gotten a scarf out of the 2lbs from last year, but this way I'll know I have enough, and hopefully have enough to do two.

I don't see any harm in asking if you could have a joint grooming session. We do that sort of thing with Arty and Apollo all the time, Arty handles pretty much EVERYTHING better if he's seen Apollo handle it first.

Get the Ice on Ice though, it makes SUCH a HUGE difference in being able to brush out his britches and tail.

 

[ruthcatrin]

I swear this dog doesn't want to loose his winter coat! To be fair, it did drop into the 40's last night (my poor garden!)!



Front legs and shoulders are completely bare. Back legs are bare. Belly is bare (though he has one heck of a "skirt" doesn't he??).

Sides are getting there, hips are getting there. He still has a stripe down his spine, and his lower back above his hips isn't even loose.

His ruff is finally shedding, but his chest is only barely loose. Britches aren't even really loose yet, but I noticed while taking these pictures that his tail is looking matted, so maybe his tail is finally coming loose.....

 

[Catia]

The technical term for that tail is--muppet tail. From what I gather, it is magic & very potent, Tessa doesn't like hers touched.

by the way--Tessa has some fur I have been wondering if it is ever gonna come out-more on the rear end. Not much, but it'd hanging on.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Eventually I'm sure lol, but maybe she got the notice about the cool spring days later than Apollo!

 

[ruthcatrin]

On his right side, me holding the fur back so you can see the almost complete lack of undercoat:



On his left side, one of the stubborn spots just let go all at once, note the lack of undercoat on the right side of the photo and dead & loose undercoat on the part I'm holding back:



For contrast, this is the area on his lower back over his hips, full live undercoat all the way across, and its not even shed a single hair loose yet:



His left side after a 5 minute brush today, he's almost completely shed out on his sides:

 

[ruthcatrin]

I kept forgetting to take naked tail pictures, so here's a mostly naked tail picture:



Yes, I said "mostly". He's started to grow back in his winter plush.....

 

[Catia]

Tessa was done shedding. I changed the *flavor* of her food & bam, 1 week in, the fur starts to fall.
She was eating Orijen 6 fish, but with the warmer & more humid weather, I got tired of the smell of fish lingering...So I moved her onto Orijen Adult dog--it's not like it's a low quality food--what gives with the food induced sheds?

Just sucks because it is actual fur coming out, not undecoat. I am hoping it will stop soon, now am 2.5-3 weeks in. Matted up her britches something fierce & I actually had to cut some out.
When this happened with Canadae, I immediately put her back on Orijen & it stopped within about a week.
I didn't think switching flavors within the same brand & level of quality would do the same thing.

On a side note, while she is shedding-it's not like it was with Canidae--Her coat still looks wonderful, she's just shedding a lot--or lol, a lot for what I have been used to with her since she blew her coat...
-Canidae made her coat look awful pretty fast & she started loosing her wavy/cowlick thing & it took it months to come back.