I would have thought Dante’s nine circles of hell would be sufficient, but then I never experienced coton coat change. That additional circle was created just for groomers of coton puppies.
Yes, that’s where I was, the Tenth Circle of Hell. It’s the only way to describe the change from puppy to adult coat in a coton. I could only hope things returned to some semblance of normal once they were done.
When I first heard of “coat change” in breeds other than shelties, I’d heard experts say new owners would be in tears over the mess. I thought, smugly, Pfft! Really how bad could it be, just keep up with regular grooming and all will be well.
Yeah, no…
After initially settling on a weekly bath for the pups to try to keep their white coat, white, I noticed at first a few small mats underneath the not-so-dense coat.
No biggie.
Bathe, condition, de-matting spray and we were good to go. Until Sir, who was close to a year old ended up with a massive mat over his hind leg. Fine, I thought, just up the ante. Bathing/grooming was now every three days with daily brushing.
O. M. G.!!!!!!!!
That lasted all of 3 more days before he had fistfuls of matted cotton balls all over his body in spite of my efforts. Then two other dogs started in.
I don’t think I’ve ever had to deal with mats between the toes before. shelties were never like this! Oh, how the mighty have fallen, I thought! I understood the stories of other owners’ weeping and gnashing of teeth over coton coat change.
Methods Used To Survive Coton Coat Change
First Method
After a week or so of hours and hours of de-matting, I came to the conclusion that it was insane to continue this way for both me and the dogs. Out came the clippers. Time to learn how to trim these guys down. I really didn’t want to, because I was still working on which products best reduced staining on their beard and feet. They needed sufficient coat to experiment on but I was in the tenth circle of hell. I was crying uncle. It wasn’t a way to deal with the problem so much as it was a way to avoid it altogether but I didn’t care.
My first attempt was to keep some length to the coat but that was impossible with the mats’ locations, so it was down-to-the-skin short and pretty gnarly looking. My plan was to continue keeping them in a short style until I can see the coton coat change was over and it is safe to let everything grow in again. I have to say, short coats are easy-peasy grooming!
Over the following weeks, as the coats grew in, I’ve managed to practice clipping coats with a little length and spent a few hours on YouTube watching groomers clip all sorts of small breed dogs including cotons. Kudos to those groomers. They make it look easy. I can’t say I’m any good, but I’m getting a little better. The dogs still look stupid, but they don’t know that.
Shhh! Mum’s the word.
Second Method Used to Survive Coton Coat Change
I had to wait for my first few litters in order to experience coton coat change again. That meant holding back puppies that normally I would be selling to pet homes. This was the only way to get additional first hand knowledge and experience in the trenches.
Tools And Supplies
I had been experimenting with different shampoos, conditioners and brushing sprays and found that even if not going through coat change, using certain products made my grooming the coton coat easier. Each breed’s type of coat has different needs.
I also found a different mat breaker that works better for coton de tulears. I was familiar with the tool that looks like a row of curled claws but found that it was difficult to get underneath the mats if they were close to the skin and it was unable to grasp the mat further away. The one I settled on are straight teeth where I can lightly pick away at the mat.
Here’s what I’ve settled for the moment:
- Chris Christensen’s Spectrum Ten shampoo AND conditioner
- pin brush without the little balls on the end for initial brushing while drying the coat after a bath
- iGroom’s Wonder spray to help loosen the mat
- small and large mat breaker for clumps too stubborn for the pin brush
- small slicker brush for after I use the mat breaker in order to pick up the smaller mats still stuck to the coat
- weekly baths
It still takes a lot to keep the mats at bay during this time period, but it can be done.