Dog and Cat Coat Types

Coat type is the most useful thing to know about an animal you are about to groom, and it is more predictive than the breed name is. A double coat, a curly coat and a wire coat need different tools, at different intervals, for different money, and the mistakes are not interchangeable: clipping a double coat can damage it permanently, while not clipping a curly one lets it felt to the skin.

Coat crosses species, which is the part most grooming guides leave out. A Poodle and a Devon Rex share a curl and a skin oil problem. A Golden Retriever and a Maine Coon carry the same double coat and the same warning against shaving it. A Persian and a Maltese have the same silky coat and mat in the same places. Once you know the coat, the animal barely matters.

If you are not sure which you have, the quickest test is a metal comb. Part the coat to the skin behind an ear and try to draw the comb outward. What stops it, and what the hair feels like between your fingers, tells you more than the paperwork does.