As you know I just adopted a new Chihuahua. I've noticed a difference in their coats I know that they a both pure bred Chihuahua's so it got nothing to do with that but I have notice that Charlie's coat is dencer and maybe slightly longer than Taz's with Charlie's coat when I give him a scritch I can bury my finger tips into the fur on the back of his neck with Taz his hair is not nearly as thick or as soft Charlie's coat is softer than Taz's but Taz has a very smooth coat and also nice just different. I just wondered if you have found that with you Chihuahua's do they all have identical coats or are they all slightly different even though they are all purebred SH Chihuahuas

What do you feed Charlie? I know you just got Taz so you have not had him long enough for whatever food you feed to affect his fur. I say that because when I fed Lulu anything from Science Diet (I personally would not feed, but did not know better at the time I fed that to her years ago) to Blue Buffalo to even Acana her fur is "stiffer" than it is when I feed her Ziwi Peak. Now, that is my personal experience and other people's chi's fur may not change depending on what they eat, but Lulu's does so drastically it is extremely noticeable.

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"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished."Dean Koontz

I think a good quality food makes a huge difference.
We have slowly moved Jaxx up the food quality scale so to speak. He was on a food from Tractor Supply when we got him which was a 4 star food but we switched him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness and his coat got shinier. When we switched him to Acana his coat started getting softer. On Orijen his hair around his neck is so soft and fluffy. His entire coat is soft but around his neck it is just so soft and fluffy.
I am looking forward to seeing the difference once we finish the transition to Ziwipeak.

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Diet definitely affects coat quality, but I think genetics has a big part to play too.
Both mine are smooth coats, but have entirely different coats. Bambi's is a very short, close, single coat that feels almost hard. (Not harsh, it is very sleek, but the individual hairs are firmer.)
Harley's is much more silky and fine, longer than Bambi's and he has a noticeable undercoat, with a slight ruff around his neck.
Her hairs tend to work their way into your clothes, his tend to get into your food!
It will be interesting to see if Taz's coat becomes more like Charlie's once they are on the same food.

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I don't know about short haired ones, but I know that long coats can vary in length. In terms of the good food I had Mylo on ZP from pretty much the start but I found that once I upped the frequency of his raw meals his fur became a lot softer, shinier and silkier.

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Toby is my chi and Rocky is my moms chi. They are half brothers. They both eat Ziwipeak.

Toby has a thicker, longer, softer, double coat. Rocky has a thinner, shorter, coarser, single coat.

Their father is a long coat (a gorgeous coat!) Toby's mom has a thicker, softer coat like him. Rocky's mom has a shorter, coarser coat.

So I agree that it is genetic. They both take after their moms. Toby has one long coat litter mate. The rest of their perspective litter mates have similar coats to them.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com App

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TY all thats what it is I feed Charlie Blue and Canned food he also gets fresh chicken and beef a couple times a week and have since I got him maybe thats why his coat is so much nicer than Taz's Charlie also doesn't have tear stains like Taz either. I don't know what she fed Taz but it doesn't look like any quality food that I've seen. Its large thin triangle shaped. I took Taz off it right away and switch he had the runs the first day and after that he was fine. His coat is shiny but its not beautiful thick and just plain healthy like Charlie's I didn't even think about diet I just thought they had different coats Plus Charlie has a double coat very soft and thick nice to touch. Taz has a single coat but it not as soft as Charlie's so I guess its Genetics and diet both Charlie's parent where sc but maybe somewhere in his pedigree there is a LC. duh give my head a shake I guess when I wrote this thread my brain wasn't working Its like so obvious that a good diet has allot to do with their coats I know that why would I think a Chihuahua would be any different than any other dog.

All three of my short coats have different density to their fur...Bellas coat was as soft as silk......Izzys coat is soft and very thick around the neck with wee curls ( she also has a mohawk LOL ) ...Zaris coat is soft and tight and feels prickly when petted backwards...one thing they all had in common was the shedding