dogs coat question?

ok so i have a male cavalier king charles spaniel and will be 2 years old on nov 2nd. and he has like i guess "puppy fur" on his sides. its all light and fluffy. and on top of his head he had a bunch of long hair. my grandma works in a animal clinic and she said all the cavaliers that have come into the clinic, shes never seen it before. i heardsomewhere that they dont get their 'adult coat; till 2 years old but i dont know. if i got him groomed and get it cut off would it grow back as normal hair? ima post some pics too

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg62/fishlover301/DSCF8036.jpg

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg62/fishlover301/DSCF8037.jpg

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg62/fishlover301/DSCF8038.jpg

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg62/fishlover301/DSCF8041.jpg

Oh bless, the last one made me laugh, how cute is that picture

Well I've seen this long hair especially on the head on a lot of Cavalier pictures here on Cavalier Talk. My Dylan has long hair on his sides but not and nice and even as your boy. Don't worry about it.

Thought I'd display your pictures for you. Actually it does look a little like puppy coat, others may have a better idea.

thanks! sorry bout that :/

I'm not too sure what you think is wrong about his coat? -- that's pretty normal for certain kinds of coats as far as I can tell from your pics though it looks a bit dry on the sides but dogs inherit coat type so outside of a health/dietary cause or sometimes a neuter, he got the coat he has from his parents' genes. He doesn't look like he has a particularly heavy coat and what you see is pretty much his adult coat -- that wispy hair is normal for lots of coats, and all mine have that kind of long hair on their heads; perhaps your grandma hasn't seen a large variety of cavaliers? It will grow back the same if you cut it or perhaps in a poorer way -- sometimes cutting seems to make coats go cottony so I sure would not cut it. Coats tend to improve with a high quality diet, sometimes a good supplement like wild salmon oil, etc so if you want to try changing his food or adding a supplement that might make it a bit less dry-looking on the sides but won't give him a heavier coat. Also regular brushing to take out dead hair cleans up the coat.

I have two with light-ish coats and two with heavier coats -- all in the genes.

cavalierlover301 said:

thanks! sorry bout that :/

Click to expand...

My pleasure, Charlie looks very sweet.

thank you very much Karlin. yeah he hasnt been groomed in awhile and im probly guna do it tonight. he'll lookj all pretty again . and im going to get some supplements for his hair. thanks again!

omg that head shot really made me laugh, how adorable. I wouldnt cut that tuft of hair on his head for nothing, its the cutest thing.

lol. yeah people always mess with his lil 'fro'. sometimes it turns to devil horns, gets brushed to the sides so he looks like a lil business man lol, and then spiked lol

What a beautiful boy! Frankly, he looks fine to me.

Sasha's coat was always sort of dry and wispy (she's 3 now), but since I started her on salmon oil (thanks to this board!), her coat has become more lustrous and actually a little shiny.

Love the last two pictures! You could fashion a really good Donald Trump combover.

Our 8-month old female is starting to grow the same type hair on top of her head and I have wondered what that was about.. It's only the white hairs on her blenheim 'blaze.' Looks odd, if you ask me. I told the DH that I think she's growing a 'Mohawk.'

I've always secretly hoped that Daisy will get that long hair on her head! I think it is so, so cute. They look very intellectual, I think, with the combed back long hair on top. (For some weird reason, I think of Mozart or a rock star. Ok, I'm weird.) I fostered two girls this summer and one of them had an awesome little shock of hair on her head. It was about 6 inches long and if you smoothed it back, it just stayed that way and looked so elegant.

So far, Daisy has a huge, ruffly mane all around her neck and shoulders, but no rock star lock of hair, alas! I think people assume Daisy is heavier than she is (OK, she does need to lose a few...), but with all that hair she has, she kind of resembles a wooly mammoth sometimes, and I don't think people realize just how much hair she has.

I may try some salmon oil, too, because Daisy's side hair seems kind of dry to me, although I think that's mainly because it's lighter in color.

He's really cute -- enjoy him and his rock star looks!

lol thanks. hmm well seems to be a good thing then lol.

I think he has got a very nice coat nothing a good grooming session won’t sort out. Just get rid of all the dead hair. My Ebony has the same sort of hair it sort of looks all over the place. Ebony’s brother gets his hair cut and it grows back really woolly so she has to have him cut all the time now. It is certainly the genes they inherit from the parents.

I agree, every dog has a different coat. All three of mine are completely different ranging from super long and silky, to soft & short, to long in the feathers short on the body. Yours looks totally normal and nothing to worry about!

Sabby,

When you say "get rid of all the dead hair," how would you go about doing that? Clippers? Scissors? I'd like to get rid of similar hair that Daisy has on her sides (although Daisy's is longer and less dry looking. It mostly looks bad because it is lighter in color than the blenheim color higher up on her back.) I've used the Furminator on her quite a bit in hopes of pulling out dead, dry hairs, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference on those long feathers.

I've been tempted to just cut that lengthy part off with scissors, or have a groomer clip that part short till about halfway down her sides, but I'm really afraid that that hair would then just stick straight out on her sides, where it now lays down at least. I'm also afraid she would come out weirdly shaved looking on her sides until the bottom of her stomach, like a cocker. I swore I'd never get her trimmed, but there are times when I look at her that I think it might be worth a try. She is a complete furball!

I may take her to a good grooming place in town here and just see what they think. But I do not want to get into a routine where I have to keep getting her clipped every couple of months, so I would be more willing to do it if it were a one time thing or a once a year thing. I do like her hair long and I don't really like the look of trimmed Cavaliers in general. There is one in my neighborhood that they keep shaved pretty close. Another one just naturally has very short hair and hardly any feathers. I have trimmed Daisy's feathers back a few inches a couple of times this summer. Otherwise, she has feathers dragging the ground all the way around! I think people think she's a show dog with a show ring hairdo, but they are just not exactly sure what type of breed she is!

++1 On the Salmon Oil, our little Yoko loves it on her food and it really does a great job on the coat! Her sister a 5 month old Springer Spaniel also loves it and her coat is so very shiny and is so manageable!

uh oh

well i tried the fish oil but charlie is disgusted by it. he wont take the capsule (hes very hard to get to take meds) and he dont like it on his food....(picky eater..) now what??