Shave bia myself, or let the vets do it?

Health topics and issues with Chow Chows.

Moderator: chowadmin

Post Reply
DeadIrishD
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:27 am

Shave bia myself, or let the vets do it?

Post by DeadIrishD »

Bindy AKA Bia is some what skittish with other people still, although she has been around a few diffrent people, with the bad rep around these parts of the woods (NH).

I was wondering would I be better off shaving her myself, or bringing her to a place, having them drug her up with ACE?

I do feel more comphortable with me doing it myself, and know how to some what, but I would like to know what everyone thinks.
User avatar
Boggled
Rank 2
Rank 2
Posts: 890
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 1:26 pm
Location: New Jersey

Post by Boggled »

Jeff just had a groomer come to his house for Pekoe - Maybe you could look into mobile groomers.
There are some groomers that have a large sink for do-it-yourselfers.
Image
vicster605
Rank 3
Rank 3
Posts: 4304
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:20 pm
Location: New Orleans,La.

Post by vicster605 »

Maybe you can TRY IT and if you can't handle it take take her some where???
User avatar
Victory
Rank 3
Rank 3
Posts: 3658
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:03 am
Location: North Chesterfield, (Right outside Richmond) Virginia

Post by Victory »

Why do you want to shave her? Does she have a lot of mats or something? Can you not groom her? If you can groom her, and she doesn't have a lot of mats shaving her isn't really necessary. Even if you live in a hot humid environment, just combing out the undercoat will keep her comfortable for the summer, with out the shaving.

I never shave my chows, and in the summer here, can and does get to 85-105 degrees with humidity running 60-80% and it can stay like that for weeks. The only thing I did a few summers was cut my LiChi's mane down from the 9inches it normally was to about 3, it did make him cooler. (and yes I felt better about it)

If you have to do it, I'd recommend doing it yourself and evening it out with scissors if nec. If you don't HAVE to give them drugs then don't.
Victory, Darkwind, (our angel), Firesong, and Dreamdancer
Image
Thank you SweetPea!
User avatar
Jeff&Peks
Rank 4
Rank 4
Posts: 8386
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 10:29 am
Location: Los Angeles,, CA

Post by Jeff&Peks »

Yep I had a mobile groomer come to my house, I should have thought of that a long time ago. How ever skittish your Chow is nothing could ever top Pekoe at a groomers or Vet. I highly recommend a mobile groomer but make sure you tell them about what's going on, I laid it all out for my groomer and said my Chow is a Chow from hell, she is the devils own guard dog are you sure, don't even come to my house unless you are absolutely sure you can do it, She came a split second from changing her mind when she met Pekoe but then went ahead and did a good job. I say the same to vets, before I even walk into the office I make sure I tell them up front, My Chow hate's you and she will kill you plus i am not druging her, can you handle it.

What ever you decide to do be real careful with the Ace, there are articles all over this sight you should read before giving the ace..

If you can do it yourself and she will let you then doing it yourself is the best and I feel the safest way.
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK

ImageImage
User avatar
kingalls
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3513
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:09 pm
Location: Central California

Post by kingalls »

Shiloh is "skittish". I brought her to Mr. N's groomer once. She was too nervous and was constantly trying to "climb" up on me. (As it is with Mr. N, I stay during the grooming appt and hold on to them during the session.)
She was brushed out (no bath - just like Mr. N) and looked great. When we got home the first thing she did was jump into her kiddie pool - so much for the groomer's past 2 hours of brushing and grooming.
For us, it's not worth bringing her to the groomers. Shiloh is okay with me brushing her. My problem is the time to keep them both brushed out on a regular basis.
Mr. N goes is groomed regularly. His first visit was hell but after one year plus - we can get thru the grooming without too much grumbling from him. Again, I stay the entire time plus I do his mane...he gets a bit peturbed if the groomer is within close eyesight :roll:
I'm just curious about the shaving part. Do you really need to have her shaved?
Karen, Kohana, Takoda, and our Chow Angels Nahkohe and Shiloh
User avatar
chowdad
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:07 am

Post by chowdad »

We have had to have our chows shaved a couple of times because of hot weather and matting, but if you stay on top of brushing and clipping shaving should be unneccesary. We have had bad luck with anesthesia, they lived through it but it wasn't pretty. We use an andis clipper I got online for trimming the rear area. It takes two people but it's no big deal for us to do.
User avatar
TJordan
Rank 3
Rank 3
Posts: 3300
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:51 pm
Location: Amarillo,Texas

Post by TJordan »

You should also be careful about shaving because I heard long ago that it is harder on them. Also, they can get sunburns if you shave them too close.
Image
SweetPea Rocks!!
Post Reply