Coat growth - need help from long-haired yorkie owners
 

My Bubba had a beautiful coat, then he got matted in the undercoat -I foolishly cut it out & it has never grown back - it's been almost 2 yrs :confused: He eats high quality food with missing link added - but maybe I'm not using enough ML - he gets 1/4 tsp a day - he weighs about 4 1/2 lbs.

I've attached a few pix of him. The coat thru the body is thin, with only one layer - the undercoat is about an inch long at most. I believe he has a silky coat.

I have spent hrs reading, I think every thread on YT about oils, long coats, etc. - but I'm still confused and have some questions.

1) If the coat isn't growing could it be because it's dry??
2) How do I know if Bubba's coat is dry - does it look dry?? it doesn't feel that way to me, but I'm not sure what it would feel like
3) How do I find the right product? -- I want to promote growth & healthy hair - should I go with a cream or an oil to achieve this result??
4) Should I add an additional supplement to the Missing Link?
5) Should I consider changing shampoos also?? Should I go to something with oatmeal?? I use a shampoo with these ingredients: Coconut shampoo base, aloe vera gel, essence of lavender, essence of mint, chamomile extract, sage extract, nettles extract, rosemary extract, wheat protein extract (natural deodorizing agent), tea tree oil, vitamin E, vitamin C.

From reading other threads, I have narrowed products to treat his coat down to these choices:

Plush Puppy Seabreeze oil
Emu or Almond Oil
Vellus Satin Cream
Pure Paws cream

Right now I'm leaning towards the Vellus because I've heard hair will grow with this. Have you used this?? Does oil help promote hair growth? Or should I use the Vellus & an oil??

Sorry for all the questions, just want to get this corrected in my sweet boy :aimeeyork

Ther is a good article on a Lowchen website about how to grow hair on a door knob. You might read that. Your boy is very pretty and looks to have a nice silk coat.

What is the under coat? Yorkies are supposed to have a single coat, not a double coat.

one more question
 

Will trimming his hair promote growth?? Even just trimming the tips??

I've thought of cutting him entirely down to see if that bottom layer would grow. But really don't want to lose the beauty that he already has.

Ok, all I know is his hair is not as thick as it was before I cut out matts. And he has a layer of hair under the long layer that is extremely short. So I guess I'm just trying to figure out why all the hair isn't growing :confused:

bumping this up, because I still need help!!!! Plus, now he's started scratching a bunch - began on Monday

A few months ago the groomer thinned Cali's really thick cottony easily matted coat out and it is so much easier to take care of and still looks thick enough. I am really happy with it I am just curious too what happened to her hair as it also is not really growing back?

I would have the vet check him out. It looks from the pictures that he is missing hair around his muzzle and eyes and if he is scratching he may have mites. The only other reason he would have shorter under coat is that you may be brushing to hard with the wrong brush and on a dry coat and simply breaking the coat.

well the scratching just started 2 days ago - and Roxie's not scratching & neither is the cat. So I think something else is going on.

I use a cc brush and I never brush a dry coat, and I am extremely gentle with him.

Do you have any advice for what I could use to help him if he has a dry coat?

How old is he?

he just turned 6

Well at that age I would for sure check with my vet and have a full blood panel done on him, just to rule out any health issues. Once that is done and everything checks out you can then start trying different things.

well, I think he is just reacting to something right now. I really need to find out how to treat his hair and any dry skin

Well, I think I've solved the recent scratching issue. I had been given some Natural Balance lamb roll samples and I had been adding a bit to his food & I looked at the label and it has wheat flour in it -- so I'm thinking he has an allergy to wheat.

I'm very confused about what you said about him missing hair around his eyes and muzzle. I see no missing hair. Some hairs were kind of stuck together in those photos - all taken the same day -- so I'm not sure I understand what you are seeing??

My Mandy lost lots of hair and it was fine and thin. I started using NuSalt shampoo and Relief Creme Rinse on the advise of my vet. Mandy's hair took about 6 months to grow back in stronger and healthier than ever!
I also use V3 Caps liquid on her food.

The first picture is now and the second shows when she just started to get thin hair. The second picture was just before she got bald spots on her back from dry skin.

Where do you get these products?

Thank you - I have not heard of these products before. Where did you purchase them? Your Mandy is beautiful, but what a difference in the pictures! How much time is there between when the photos were taken? What is V3 Caps??


I'm still hoping someone can give me some advice on which topical product would be best - these are the ones I am looking at:
From reading other threads, I have narrowed products to treat his coat down to these choices:

Plush Puppy Seabreeze oil
Emu or Almond Oil
Vellus Satin Cream
Pure Paws cream

I use the seabreeze oil not for dry hair so I dont know if it will help but I use it to give a nice shine to the coat

Have you ever tried cowboy magic? I didn't like it at first but, I was using the wrong brush! Lillie has a long silky (I think) coat. she matts too. I just rub some CM into her coat, lay her on my lap and with a slicker brush, sit and gently brush out any matts. I brush from the end of her coat in so I am not pulling from the skin, this could break the hair.And, I only take small sections at a time. It's easier to brush smaller sections. If I come across a stubborn matt I put a drop of CM right on the matt, rub it in and brush it out. As for their hair growing back once cut....I have to trim Lillies all the time. It grows so long that it drags on the floor...It seems to grow fast too! I have another furbaby that has never had 1 matt since I've had her (Sadie is 3yrs old) but, she doesn't have a pretty coat like Lillie (shhhh! don't tell Sadie I said that!) Sadie's coat is kind of coarse and doesn't grow long like Lillies but, the good thing is she is very easy to brush and never matts. I feed Canidae which, is supposed to be good for their coats.

I would ask my vet about a cortisone spray or shampoo with cortisone in it to use for relief of the itching..if its just one of those undiagnosable "dermatitis conditions" that has no origin...there is a spray at wal-mart for hot spots that has a mild dose of cortisone in it that I have used before with great success. Now that may not be the answer for assisting with hair regrowth but for itching, it will help almost immediately.A complete blood panel would be a prudent thing to do...just to make sure there aren't any metabolic problems going on..Thyroid problems have some of these same symptoms... Cute Cute boy!

The Original Questions
 

Wow, my questions have really gotten everyone off track. My dog does not have hot spots. Or any horrid skin conditions that I can see. He does have some hair breakage and some hair that is not growing.

I'm just trying to get some advice on helping him grow a thicker coat. He seemed to have an allergic reaction to something - and that is now under control. He is no longer itching. I did change his shampoo to see if that would help like someone mentioned.

I am only looking for the best product to help with hair growth. I did pm a member who has not commented on this thread and she offered me some valuable advice. And I realize that every dog's coat may have different needs

Thank you, that is good to know. It is so hard to understand what all these different products are suppose to do.

Well just from reading about your yorkies coat....I don't think there will be a product to make it thicker at his age. Was it thick when he was younger? With age I have found sometimes the hair will thin. He looks to have running gold and sometimes the gold hair will be different than the blue saddle. I have a show bitch that had a nice beautiful blue coat but her gold on her head was very thin and brittle. Nothing much you could do. You might try and find an older product called royal coatlin. It's suppose to be good for breakage. I like the Velus Satin Cream.
Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

Thank you. I hadn't thought of age being a factor, because this all seemed to happen after I cut the matts out about 2 years ago. And yes, his coat was much thicker before. His coat does not seem brittle. And I never thought it felt dry, but then I started questioning myself if I really knew what a dry coat felt or looked like.

I had sent a pm to Butterfly yorkie because there was an old thread I read where she commented on using Velus Satin Cream. Now hearing that you both have had good results with that, I will try it and see if there is any difference in his coat. I appreciate the help.

Another thing is if you let him outside to play and don't wrap the coat or put the coat in oil it will break off on the ends and look ragged. My show yorkies with "long" coat are kept in oil and in wraps and washed at least once a week. If I have too they are washed twice a week. Playing in the grass and leaves this time of year is especially hard on a long coat. All my pet yorkies are kept shaved. I have too many to keep in full coat.
Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers

Oh goodness, I never meant to insinuate that your baby had hot spots or a skin disease ect. I' m so sorry...I just mentioned the hot spot treatment because you said he was itching and thats the only OTC product with hydrocortisone for dogs that I know of..Itching can of course be for a million different reasons,dry skin, sensitive skin, allergies and it can all be remedied faster with the spray....So glad he is no longer itching...but ...apologize if I got off track::)

Oh, no offense! :) - I mentioned the itching and that got several people going in a different direction - it wasn't just you :p . But I was just trying to find an answer about hair growth and how to figure out if he has dry hair. It's interesting though that you and at least one other person mentioned a blood panel - I hadn't thought of that.