My Chow's coat

[Tamahomi]

Hi everyone, I have a 7 month old chow chow, and he's really friendly,I think he's more of a lion type chow chow. it's pretty obvious though. But my only problem is, his coat is not that shiny. I feed him with rice and some meat with eggs, but he doesn't eat as much as what he's supposed to eat for a day, which i believe 2 cups of rice per meal, that'll be 4 cups of rice a day. What am I gonna do to bring back his shiny coat?

[Ylaartim]

You say you feed him with eggs? I had an encounter with a Chow owner who accidentaly fed eggs to his Chow and developed allergy. His chow's fur was shedding heavily than normal until all was almost gone. When the coat came back it was not as beautiful as what it used to be.

Maybe try feeding him veggies. For us humans, veggies helps our skin to look young and stay healthy. Maybe it is also the same with Chows. they need sufficient nutrients to stay healthy and with that healthy and beautiful coat.

Did you stop feeding your chow dog food? I think there are some nutrients there that aren't found in rice and eggs alone maybe that's why your chow's coat isn't that shiny than what it used to be.

[Fozzbear]

Rice is Ok (with meat obviously) but I think that they need veggies too - mine has carrots and peas and squash and spinach. Spinach is good for their coat. I think that feeding a good quality natural dog food is better than making your own, as they add all necessary vitamins and get the nutritional values right.

[Tamahomi]

You say you feed him with eggs? I had an encounter with a Chow owner who accidentaly fed eggs to his Chow and developed allergy. His chow's fur was shedding heavily than normal until all was almost gone. When the coat came back it was not as beautiful as what it used to be.

Maybe try feeding him veggies. For us humans, veggies helps our skin to look young and stay healthy. Maybe it is also the same with Chows. they need sufficient nutrients to stay healthy and with that healthy and beautiful coat.

Did you stop feeding your chow dog food? I think there are some nutrients there that aren't found in rice and eggs alone maybe that's why your chow's coat isn't that shiny than what it used to be.

Yes, cuz i have read this article that the right food for the chows are the mixture of Rice, eggs and cottage cheese, but since it's hard to find cottage cheese here in the Philippines, so I just stick to feed him with rice and eggs only. I stopped feeding him with dog food, cuz, again, i read that feeding a chows with dried food is not a good idea. I also tried feeding my chow with dog food in can, it's like liver spread, but his stool is not firm. So I stopped.

I don't even know what recipe to cook for him with vegetables, is it just a simple sauteed vegetables? Thank you very much for the information. Now i stop feeding my chow with eggs.

[Tamahomi]

Rice is Ok (with meat obviously) but I think that they need veggies too - mine has carrots and peas and squash and spinach. Spinach is good for their coat. I think that feeding a good quality natural dog food is better than making your own, as they add all necessary vitamins and get the nutritional values right.

Yes, I will do the same thing with my Chow. I'am actually a first time chow owner. And i love taking care of him with the rest of my other pets, provided, that it's given, that my chow seems to have his own world. He's so LAZY! But that's what I like about him. Thank you very much.

[Ylaartim]

Wow you're Pinoy too? awesome! Hello, Kababayan!

Its okay to feed him dog food as long as it has a high quality I feed Apollo Hollistic recipe and he seems to like it
Its also okay to feed them with rice since they are an Asian breed and their ancestors are fed with rice. But I don't stick to dog food alone too and neither to rice and meat. I mix the 2 of them. try mixing the dog food with the rice and meat and veggies so he could get all the nutritional value he needs or if you feed him 3x a day, you can serve him the rice and meat and veggies during lunch.

Yes you simply sautee the veggies with ground meat. No need for cooking oil. Sautee them with butter add sugar and salt. Don't add vetsin! serve it with rice. Its better to cook in a large serving and just pre-heat the amount you'll be serving your pup.

Your Tamahomi is beautiful!

[Tamahomi]

Wow you're Pinoy too? awesome! Hello, Kababayan!

Its okay to feed him dog food as long as it has a high quality I feed Apollo Hollistic recipe and he seems to like it
Its also okay to feed them with rice since they are an Asian breed and their ancestors are fed with rice. But I don't stick to dog food alone too and neither to rice and meat. I mix the 2 of them. try mixing the dog food with the rice and meat and veggies so he could get all the nutritional value he needs or if you feed him 3x a day, you can serve him the rice and meat and veggies during lunch.

Yes you simply sautee the veggies with ground meat. No need for cooking oil. Sautee them with butter add sugar and salt. Don't add vetsin! serve it with rice. Its better to cook in a large serving and just pre-heat the amount you'll be serving your pup.

Your Tamahomi is beautiful!

Yes, Pinoy ako. You also live here? What a coincidence. And yeah, I'll try that. He used to look like this (attached pic) when he was like 3 months-old. Sometimes, he loses his appetite for food, but sometimes, he's just craving. Maybe it depends on the food i serve him. Or it has to do something with the climate where I live. knowing Philippines, it's a tropical country.

I will start to cook for him tomorrow for i still have work. Thank you very much kababayan. You've been a big help. Now I just gave my chow a big hug. So fluffy.

[Ylaartim]

Yes, I live in Manila to be exact how about you?

Pups do tend to lose appetite at times maybe because they don't like what you're feeding them anymore (madali magsawa sila) ) so what I do is I add a little twist to Apollo's food.

Our Chows change from puppy coat to adult coat where their mane starts to feel rougher than what it used to be or appears lighter or darker depends on the Chow maybe Tamahomi is undergoing that period that's why you think his fur is not so shiny. I just realized they may be a lot of contributing factors when it comes to coat shine. Haha. Brush him often! That will help and use quality shampoo.

Glad to be of help! stick around, this forum is great you could learn lots of things!

Xx Aly Mitra

[Tamahomi]

I live in Quezon City by the way. Yeah, i actually use pin brush to Tam-Tam (instead of Tamahome, they easily recognize 2 syllable words) almost everyday and I use perfect Coat ultra moisturizing shampoo. How old is Apollo? How often/rare do you give him a bath? With me, I give my Tam-tam a bath once a week. Is that very often? Yeah, and i finally i found someone who can actually assist me on this matter, for as i've said, i am just a new to chow chow. But i dont regret having him (kahit mahirap.. lol). Thank you again

I am Bhendz btw.

[Ylaartim]

Ahh, QC quite far! Haha. Are you still in school or working already?

I use pin comb and slicker brush on Apollo pin to remove tangles and the slicker brush to have that extra volume and fluffy look I believe! I wash Apollo once a week too! I've read here that Chows need to be washed only once a month, but man... That's not suitable for us Pinoys and our chows! We're kinda OC when it comes to our pets and our weather here is too hot for them not to take a bath. So I think, in our setting, giving them baths every week is normal

Apollo will turn 4mos this 23rd I myself is also relatively new to the Chow world. I'm quite worried on how will I able to juggle school, Apollo, and other several stuffs! I'm in my 2nd year college and boy it is grusome! Hahaha. But I will find a way

I don't think I'll be having any other breeds. Haha. Chows are so adorbz!

Where did you buy Tam-Tam?

[Tamahomi]

I am already working in Mandaluyong bro. Woah, I think apollo's so lucky to have you as his master cuz it sounds like you really love your Apollo. Since I started having Tam-tam as my buddy, ive been thinking of having a female chow too. I don't know why. But at the back of my mind, I'm thinking, it's really hard to control chow's temperament. And that's really like tge most challenging part of winning their trust and loyalty.

I think, we're doing good in terms of giving 'em a bath. Honestly, I just traded my 4 months old Lenovo laptop to Tamahomi. The owner was selling Tam-tam for 23K. Aw C'mon, where on Earth am I gonna get that 23K in an instant? But since I didn't find my laptop helpful for me, so I decided to just trade it for tam-Tam. And I love it. No regrets at all. (Here's the story: I posted an ads online selling my Laptop for 35K, till i brought it down to 30K, and i changed the offer to those interested in swaps). Nakaktuwa nga, kasi it was like the ads was there for 1 month, and have been negotiating to the people online. Then suddenly, one day, Tam-Tam's owner texted me If I am interested to swap my laptop with a Chow. I saw the pic of Tam-Tam and I agreed right away. We only talked over the phone for 1 minute and, booom, Ive got my Tam-Tam. I am so happy with it. It's just so hard to maintain 4 dogs when you work. It's so exhausting but most of the time it's so rewarding. They're just amazing dogs. I plan to get one again to make them 5. What the h*ll am I doing? I am working..... LOL.

Do you have pics of Apollo?

[Ylaartim]

I'm also lucky that I have Apollo my 1st chowling died barely a month with me before we got Apollo. We bought Skye at a petshop and that'll be the first and last time I'll be buying at a pet shop.

I never had problems with Apollo's temperament. He's very gentle and polite. Very behave indeed. I think the key is to socialize them early with other dogs and people so they won't be aggressive. I also want to have a girl chowling! Chows are playful naturally and I have this feeling that Apollo's longing for a playmate since he's the lone dog in the house. We would bring him to his breeder where he can play with the dogs there or we would stroll around The Fort, etc where he can meet new friends and just play with them! then I will feel Apollo's sadness By the time we have to leave I think one chow is not enough! Hahaha.

Tam-Tam's breeder must be heaven sent to you! Chows do come with a hefty price! And its too risky to buy Chows that aren't quite expensive lesson learned for me. Better to be safe than sorry right? Apollo and his littermates were for sale for about 40k to 45k, but I got Apollo for half the price. worth it though!

I do have pics of him you can check the chow chow photo gallery under my username, ylaartim. He's about 3 to 3.5 mos in the pics. I'm using my iPhone only and thus cannot post pics in our convo.

[Cam Atis]

Wow! I'm so glad to know another kababayan. First its Ylaartim, then Camickey, Queeniethequeen, and now you. Though i suspect J3ffry is also pinoy. But I am so far. im frm Palawan. I use to breed Dalmatians and last year my first bitch passed away and all her offsprings died before her so I was heartbroken I could not bring myself to buy another dal pup. As if I worry I'll compare her to my Cookie (that's her name). Then I came to know the Chow and I am definitely at ease with the breed's temperament. I noticed they have a lot in common with our native askals in attitude. Good friends but excellent guard dog if the owner is not home.

Now about your reading infos here. Not all you read here is applicable to us. You must remember to look where the poster lives. There are a lot of culture differences and sometimes they (our friends from other countries) went ballistic in how we deal with our pooch. Cottage cheese is one hard food to find and expensive to say the least! If kesong puti can be of use anyway. I am also a first time chow owner but been a dog lover and owner since I was a kid, and I can tell you that dogs in general have pretty much the same preference with regards to food. As long as there's meat. Since we live in the same country we can help each other out in raising our chows. My Cassie is now 6 months old. A female. I also trained Cassie to eat chicken bones at 10weeks. Which will be frowned uponin general here. But I reasoned, better train her than turn her into a dumb dog who'll get choked on a piece of chicken leg bone. Anyway I know you guys can relate to me as we feed our askals such.
One unique way to us is our habit of bathing our doggies weekly. And our use of the word "viand" and the lion type bear type thing to describe the physical appearance even though it is a rough coat one.
WELCOME TO CC.ORG!
Hey Ylaartim, how are you related to Gov. Baham?

[Ylaartim]

Its awesome right, Cam Atis? more and more Kababayans are falling inlove with Chows

Sometimes, I go to Palawan to visit relatives and to rekindle with the childhood memories of mine in the rancho

Its a very great idea to help one another in raising our beloved pooches. I believe at times we'll be encountering the same if not similar problems with our chows since we live in the same country!

He's my Lolo na! ) but he prefers us calling him Uncle or Tito. According to him he doesn't want to sound or appear old. hahaha. Ylaartim is my name spelled backwards

[Tamahomi]

Hi Cam Atis. How are you doing? It really feels great that finally I get to exchange ideas with you guys about our chows. But it sounds ridiculous, since I have an older Chow than yours guys and yet you seem to have a lot lot lot better ideas for Chows. Hahaha. Anyways, I really thank you for that and every comment posted just excites me.

Aw my GOD! I just seen the pics of Apollo and Cassie, super duper adorable dogs. Wish I was in makati to see Apollo in person. Was the pic posted taken in Makati? (the place just looks familiar...) Anyways, just foregt about it. Wish now i was in palawan with my to go for a swim with Cassie. Burf, just going crazy over the chows. They're just the squishiest thing ever.. Thank you very much Guys.

P.S. I actaully plan to resign from work to give Tam and the rest of the team enough time for bonding and playing.... Lol

[Ylaartim]

I think what you saw are taken in SM North and The Fort we live in Mandaluyong

This forum helped me a lot to know more about Chows. Pretty much everything I know came from here and these helpful guys from the forum

Tam and Cassie are lucky that they have playmates! Apollo's the lone dog in the house. I'm thinking of buying another one, but its a pretty big responsibility and I'm still learning the ropes of the Chow world. Maybe in the future but not anytime soon. hahaha.

Chows do make you go nuts, don't they?! Everytime I see other chows I just want to squeeze them! So adorbzzzz!

[Cam Atis]

Sure glad to have you guys around! Hehehe.
@tamahomi,
Really? You're that nuts you're gonna resign? hahaha. I've been into dogs for most of my life but I didnt own a dog to call my own until I graduated frm College 15yrs ago. Well, I do hope to see you all here in Palawan!
Just ask some questions as long as it is food I think I can answer. Some questions here are too strange. But nobody has answered my query yet with regards to how old or how long before a chow will have adult coat. Your chowie is also pretty. Did the adult coat thing in full body already?

@ylaartim
Wow small world. The ranch has becOme a tourist spot. I begin to wonder when I saw your photo with Apollo at SM north Edsa - you have a semblance with the Mitras and all the while i thought your bf was the poster and the owner of apollo before the photos.
My maiden name is Usman. But I don't mingle much with my parents political friends as I was in elementary then. I remember your greatgrandpa during their campaign trail in Narra. I was still very young then.
Dont worry about Apollo having no dog pals. It will serve you better. My experience with Cookie, I got her at 4weeks old so I taught her to lick milk by giving cerelac. She figured it out. Then she didnt know hOw to bark. She barked at 8 or 9 months old! I thought she'll never bark. That's the downside. The up side is she never learned to bite until she is on her 4th litter (about 6yrs old). She was never aggressive. Just playful. You can lay on her, pull her ears, her tail and all she'll give the kid is a grab. She'll grab but no hard bite. Her drool is enough to deter. She used to make "asar" all askals here. Good thing she was a fast runner. They never outran her or else she's pickle!
You know I even worry Cassie will pick an attitude or two from Blue. Unlike if a dog is alone with humans they tend not to learn to bite for anything. It's my observation and theory actually.

[Cam Atis]

With regards to food, did you train your chowling to eat bones at a tender age? Because if not, I may also worry about it. Chows being an expensive breed. You can mix the dogfood with rice and whatever goes with it, be it sinigang sans bones, adobo, mechado, afritada, bistek, pochero (hmmm... rattling these makes me hungry! )
By restricting your chow's diet to eggs, it has resulted in an imbalance.
Remove sharp splinters of bones if your chow doesnt know how to eat such as his mouth is now big and splinters are too small. He might gobble it up without crushing. Pork hocks could be good as it is bigger. when you go to a party and there's lechon, ask for the bones as pasalubong (gift) to your pooch.

[Tamahomi]

No Cam Atis, I didn't train my Chow to eat bones in his prime. In his first week with me (I got him when he was 2 months old), I let him eat dog food, after that I cooked him mechado and other tomato based food, and everytime I give him dog food, he refuses. Now, i want him to get back to eating dog food, sometimes he does but most of the time, he doesnt. I am more at ease when I see him eating a lot (2 cups of rice, but it's so rare). I refrain myself from feeding him eggs as instructed.

About the coat, the adult rough coat is actually on his back and on tail on only. And Im a bit afraid to see him losing his cottony coat. But It's gonna happen. What about Cassie?

Honestly? Yeah, sometimes it crosses my mind to resign just for my dogs, but the problem is, where am i gonna get money to sustain their stuffs.

Please gimme a perfect recipe for my Tam. Thank you in advance.

@Ylaartim

Hahaha, thought it was in SM Makati. Aw, feel so sad about Apollo, but I guess he's more than lucky to have you so long as you take good care of him, which undoubtedly I think you always do. I sometimes bring Tam to QCMC to mingle with other dogs aside from my 3 other doggies. Do you sometimes do that with Apollo? It's so funny, that I get tired more with my dogs than attending to my work.

[Ylaartim]

@ Cam Atis, Small world indeed. I heard that the rancho has become a tourist spot in Palawan. its been years since I've been to Palawan. my brother goes back there every summer. He races there for his Motocross and he gets to visit relatives! Ugh I miss Palawan and how dark I can get when spending summer there back when I was still a kid. I barely visit Palawan since my grandparents settled in Nueva Ecija right after they got married. But I still remember all the awesome memories I had there! Hahaha. Its flattering to know that somehow I resemble them. My Dad looks a lot like Tito Baham. They look more like brothers than with Tito Monching. Haha. They don't let us mingle with politics too. I guess its too complicated but somehow, at the back of my mind, I'm interested in joining the politics. Maybe that's why I'm taking BS Economics in San Beda now. Haha. I guess its true that you can never escape politics once you're family is implicated in it. Lol. You're maiden name sounds familiar to me. I think I know someone with that surname. Basta I heard it before! Haha. Just not sure when or who's the person.

Its good to know that its okay to just have one dog atleast but how could I not resist the charming aura of a Chow? Hahaha. I bet Cookie is an awesome dog! she'll always have a special place in your heart.

I'm scared introducing table food, other than rice, veggies, and meat to Apollo because he might like it more than his dog food and sooner will resist to eat it. I think that's what's happening to Tam. He prefers table food now more than his dog food. I'm scared feeding bones to Apollo. My bf is more paranoid than I am. He thinks Apollo might choke on the chicken bones.

Bhendz is right! Any recipe will be a big help! How do you feed Cassie, Cam? and what do you feed her?

@Tamahomi, we take out Apollo every weekend. we just got home from Mall of Asia and fortunately there was a PCCI Dog Show and Apollo got to mingle with others dogs and Chows too! taking care of Apollo can be tiresome and at the same time rewarding! Just a hug and kiss from him makes all the stress go away! Haha. I just pray everyday that he'll grow beautiful and healthy. I believe there are many more years and adventures instore for us.

[Cam Atis]

@Ylaartim
If a dog is not trained at a very early age to eat bones with finesse, they can kill themselves when they are older. So far, none of my doggies had incidents but because they are trained at a very early age. 6-10weeks old. In effect, their food repertoire is wider. they dont feel deprived. I thought about it with my first purebreed, Cookie when I was watching her eat dog food, she was around 2.5 months old. The idea hit me, since dogfoods are round and if she swallow it whole nothing's gonna go wrong. What if it is a bone? So I let her nibble chicken leg bone as it is the crux of "forbidden" food, with half of me dreading tomorrow she'll have bloody stool because a bone lodge and punctured her intestine and she'll die. That dread never came - thank goodness! So i proved myself correct in that aspect.
My method of feeding my dogs is really dogfood based as I have a busy sched and secondly, they will not eat dogfood once they are fed with human food - I learned it. Also, dogfood is easy to feed, the stool's consistency is also better. If it is years or months already...It would take willpower and days of hunger strike before they will be persuaded back to eating dog food. In the process, dogfood must never be served alone, it has to be in small quantities so the scent of dogfood will be masked by rice and viand at 2/3 or 3/4 of the meal. Gradually go by 50/50 until it is the reverse. It takes time I learned as one must not force the dog to eat dogfood especially if what you are feeding is low quality. Also cooking is time consuming so normally if Cookie or any dog have "lost of appetite" or sick, I delegate the task to our househelp. These are adobong sitao, adobong chicken heads de-beaked, or cold cuts saw-dust also adobo flavor, but the later is hard to find these days. I noticed they like adobo over tomato based like mechado menudo afritada. But if it is bistek , they love it also.
Cassie is on Holistic Lamb recipe for puppy. With Royal Canin she eats a lot! I refill her bowl 3x in one sitting! She looks like Oliver Twist "Please sir, I want some more" look. she gets fat and I dont want that, she being a chow and there are a lot of health problems that are weight related. she still like Holistic but when i transferred her from Royal Canin to Holistic, her nose twitches as if saying: "Hmmm is this edible?"
Our human food are like a treat to them, they dont get it everyday. When there's a party, lechon is always part of it so my pooches also feast on the pork bones. True, they like our human food better! They become picky eaters! Hehehe

[Cam Atis]

@tamahomi
I have no recipe specifics except dont put in Ajinomoto. If the vetsin is not cooked it can cause trouble for your dogs.

Cassie still has puppy coat very similar to Tamtam as per your description. I am, well, sad?, or whatever. Cassie is on heat already I noticed 4 days ago when I was scratching her tummy (actually it is my physical inspection but disguised as play) I was expecting it at 8months. She's so young and now going to adolescence already?!! Hmmm

[Rio]

The only thing that could maybe effect the non-glossy coat could be (from what I gather from other members in your area) maybe the ridiculous heat and humidity that you contend with.
Cam and Ylaartim would know more about that.
I think my hair would suffer in your climate!!!!!!

[Tamahomi]

YLAARTIM : Been wishing to get to watch Dog Shows. Cuz I really love to see dogs. It just makes me so alive. I also planned to take Tam to MOA but it's quite far from QC. So i'm just gonna bring my dogs to QC Circle again this Saturday for I will be celebrating my birthday with them. I choose to celebrate it with them rather than go out for some treats.

CAM ATIS : Just cooked sauteed spinach with carrots and a lil meat last Sunday, my Tam didn't seem to like it . I intentionally went to Puregold just for them. If Tam Tam only knew about that, He'll eat the whole thing. He'd rather eat Adobo flakes with rice, any tomato based food, but I observe he doesn't like to eat any tangy foods i.e. sinigang, etc.

RIO : I guess so, that's why the ACU is always turned on at home just for him. Is it true, cold weather helps their coat grow thicker? That's my what vet told me

THANK YOU ALL!

[Rio]

I will keep you informed as to whether fur grows thicker in colder weather, but not sure if England is cold enough to be called a 'cold' climate.
I am sure there are some Canadians on here, I had a friend who lived in Canada and she said the weather there was ridiculously cold.