U.S. Pet Groomers Grooming Guides and a Groomer Near You
Home / Breeds / Coat Types / Silky Coat

Silky Coat Grooming

Long fine hair with little or no undercoat that keeps growing rather than shedding out. Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Afghan Hounds, Persians and Turkish Angoras.

A Maltese and a Persian, long fine coats that keep growing rather than shedding out

What a Silky Coat is

A silky coat is long, fine hair with little or no undercoat behind it. It grows more or less continuously, the way human hair does, rather than reaching a set length and shedding out. That makes it low shedding and high maintenance at the same time, which is why these breeds appear in lists of good pets for allergy sufferers right next to warnings about the grooming bill.

Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Havanese, Lhasa Apsos, Afghan Hounds and Silky Terriers carry it. So do Persians, Turkish Angoras, Balinese and Ragdolls, and a pelted Persian is one of the few grooming situations that is a genuine veterinary matter.

Nothing about this coat forgives a skipped week. Almost all of it is manageable if the length is chosen honestly.

Also called

Long coat, flowing coat

Clipping

Clips safely

Matting risk

High

What to brush with

A pin brush to the skin in layers, then a comb to prove it. Brushing only the surface is how a coat mats while being brushed every day.

Clipping this coat

Clips freely and grows back true, which is why the pet trim exists. The full-length coat is a daily commitment most owners do not want and should not be talked into.

Brushing in layers, and proving it with a comb

The failure mode on a silky coat is identical to the one on a curly coat, and it catches conscientious owners rather than careless ones. Brushing the surface of a long coat feels productive, looks productive, and leaves the layer nearest the skin completely untouched. That is where mats form, and by the time one is visible from above it has usually been there for a while.

Line brushing is the technique that fixes it. Lay the animal on its side. Start at the bottom, at the belly or the lowest point of the leg, and use one hand to hold all the coat above your working line up and out of the way. Brush the exposed strip from the skin outward. Let another half inch of coat down, brush that, and work upward in lines until you reach the spine. Then turn the animal over and do the other side.

Finish every section with a comb rather than a brush. The comb is the proof: a pin brush will pass over a mat that a comb catches on, so the section is not done until the comb runs from skin to tip without stopping.

A light detangling spray or a leave in conditioner makes a real difference, and dry brushing a long coat causes breakage. Never bathe a matted coat. Water tightens a mat like a knot pulled wet, and a coat that could have been combed out before a bath sometimes cannot be after one.

The full coat is a daily commitment, and the pet trim is not a failure

A show length coat on a Maltese, a Yorkshire Terrier or an Afghan Hound needs work every single day, plus wrapping or banding on some breeds, plus a bath and blow dry weekly to keep it moving. That is not an exaggeration used to sell grooming. It is what the coat requires, and the people who keep them that way organize their week around it.

Most owners neither want that nor should be talked into it. The pet trim exists precisely for this, and a silky coat is one of the most forgiving coats to clip: it grows back true, with the same texture and the same color, and nothing about a short trim now closes off a long coat later.

The useful conversation with a groomer is about length rather than style names. A longer trim looks more like the breed and needs brushing every day or two. A shorter one looks tidier for longer and needs a comb through a couple of times a week. Be honest about which of those you will actually do, because the coat gets set by the routine you keep rather than the one you intend.

Where owners get caught is asking for a long trim and booking a long interval. Length and interval have to move together. A coat left at two inches for twelve weeks is a coat that comes off short at week twelve whether anybody wanted that or not.

Face, feet and the parts that mat first

On a long coated small breed, most of the appointment is not the body. It is the detail work, and it is also what an owner can most usefully keep on top of at home.

Eyes come first. Long face furnishings grow straight into them, and hair rubbing a cornea is a real problem rather than a cosmetic one. On light coated breeds, tear staining follows: the discharge oxidizes and turns the hair reddish brown, and it is easier to keep clean daily with a damp cloth than to remove later. A topknot or a short face trim both work; the choice is yours, and the wrong answer is leaving it long and untied.

Ears on these breeds are heavy, drop, and often hairy inside. They mat at the fringe and the leather, and they hold moisture. Feet grow hair between the pads that collects grit and knots, and it works its way up between the toes where it is easy to miss.

The sanitary area is the one owners skip and the one that matters most for comfort. Long hair around the rear collects waste, mats solid, and can genuinely obstruct. If you keep one area short between appointments, keep that one.

Long haired cats mat where you cannot see

Persians, Ragdolls, Turkish Angoras and Himalayans carry a silky coat and are groomed on the same principles, with a much shorter fuse.

A cat keeps the parts of its coat it can reach in immaculate condition, which is exactly what convinces owners nothing is needed. The parts it cannot reach are the armpits, the inside of the back legs, the belly, the ruff under the chin and the area behind the ears, and those are where a long coated cat mats. All of them are hidden when the cat is standing, so the first sign is often that the cat objects to being picked up.

Anything that reduces a cat's flexibility accelerates this sharply: weight, age, arthritis, or a period of illness. A cat that has managed its own coat for eight years can pelt within one season after any of those, with nothing changing on the surface.

Do not cut a mat out of a cat with scissors. Cat skin is thin, loose and lifts into a fold under a mat, and it sits directly under where the blade goes. Lacerations from exactly this are one of the most common home grooming injuries a veterinarian sees. Clippers used flat, or a groomer, are the answer.

A lion cut, which shaves the body and leaves the head, legs and tail, is a legitimate reset for a badly matted cat. It is also a reasonable ongoing choice for a cat that will not tolerate brushing at all, and unlike a double coat it carries no regrowth risk.

Dog and cat breeds with a Silky Coat

74 breeds with this coat, page 1 of 4

An Afghan Hound in full coat, the highest maintenance coat in dogs

Afghan Hound

Extremely long, fine and single, with almost no undercoat

The highest maintenance coat in dogs, and the only one whose honest bath interval is weekly

Afghan Hound
A Bearded Collie, a long flat coat over an undercoat that felts

Bearded Collie

Long and flowing enough to need cutting and daily handling like a silk coat

A long flat coat over a soft undercoat, and a coat change at a year that undoes owners

Bearded Collie
A Bolognese, a fluffy open coat that is never brushed flat

Bolognese

A long fine single coat falling in loose open flocks that stand away from the body

An open flocked coat that is combed out and left standing, never brushed flat

Bolognese
A Borzoi, a long silky sighthound coat that is far easier than it looks

Borzoi

Long, silky and gently wavy with a heavy neck ruff

A long silky coat in the same group as the Afghan, and a fraction of the work

Borzoi
A Boykin Spaniel, a compact brown working spaniel with waterproof coat

Boykin Spaniel

Medium length, flat to slightly wavy and water resistant, with light feathering

A compact brown water spaniel with light feathering and a serious ear problem

Boykin Spaniel
A Briard, a long goat textured coat over double dewclaws on each back leg

Briard

Long and continuously growing, so it needs cutting rather than only raking

A long goat textured coat, and two dewclaws on each back leg that must be trimmed

Briard
A Brittany, a sporting coat with far less feathering than a setter

Brittany

Flat and dense, with only light feathering

A sporting coat with a fraction of the feathering, and that is deliberate rather than accidental

Brittany
A Cavachon in a full soft wavy coat

Cavachon

Where the Cavalier side dominates: soft, wavy and feathered

A cross with no Poodle in it that still does not shed, because the Bichon does that job

Cavachon
A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, silky feathering on ears, legs and chest

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

A tidy rather than a haircut, and a set of ears that need watching

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
A Cavapoo in a full wavy fleece coat

Cavapoo

Where the Cavalier side dominates: soft, wavy and feathered

A Cavalier ear and a Poodle coat, which is a harder combination than either parent

Cavapoo
A Cesky Terrier, the second terrier that is clipped instead of stripped

Cesky Terrier

Soft, fine and slightly wavy, clipped short on the body and left long below

The other terrier that is clipped rather than stripped, and also born black

Cesky Terrier
A Chihuahua in both of its coats: smooth and long

Chihuahua

Long variety: soft and slightly wavy with ear, leg and tail feathering

Two coats in one breed, and a dog small enough that the handling matters more than either

Chihuahua
A Chinese Crested in both varieties: hairless and powderpuff

Chinese Crested

Powderpuff variety: a long soft silky coat all over

Two varieties out of one litter, one with no coat at all and one with a full silky one

Chinese Crested
A Chiweenie, a Chihuahua and Dachshund cross with a long low back

Chiweenie

Where a long coated parent dominates: feathering on the ears, legs and tail

A Chihuahua and Dachshund cross: an easy coat on a long back and crowded teeth

Chiweenie
A Clumber Spaniel, the heaviest spaniel and the most feathering

Clumber Spaniel

Dense, straight, silky and weather resistant, with very heavy feathering

The heaviest spaniel, with the most feathering, the most drool and deep set eyes

Clumber Spaniel
A Cocker Spaniel, where the ears and feathering are the whole job

Cocker Spaniel

The ears are the breed, and they are also the problem

Cocker Spaniel
A Coton de Tulear, a cotton textured coat that is neither silk nor wool

Coton de Tulear

Long and continuously growing like a silky coat, but without the weight

A dry cotton textured coat that mats like wool and is ruined by heavy conditioner

Coton de Tulear
A Dachshund in all three of its coats: smooth, long and wire

Dachshund

Long haired variety

One breed with three completely different coats, and three different appointments

Dachshund
A Dandie Dinmont Terrier, a crisp body coat under a silky topknot

Dandie Dinmont Terrier

A large soft silky topknot on the head, combed and shaped but never stripped

A crisp body coat that is stripped, under a large soft silky topknot that is not

Dandie Dinmont Terrier
An English Cocker Spaniel, longer in the muzzle and lighter in coat

English Cocker Spaniel

Flat and silky over the body with feathering on the ears, chest, belly and legs

A working spaniel with far less coat than the American, and a different trim

English Cocker Spaniel
An English Setter, long silky feathering over the distinctive belton ticking

English Setter

Flat and fine over the body, with very heavy feathering

The most heavily feathered setter, on a white base that shows every stain

English Setter
An English Springer Spaniel showing the heavy ear and leg feathering

English Springer Spaniel

Medium and flat with heavy ear, chest and leg feathering

The ears are the appointment, and the show and working coats are two different dogs

English Springer Spaniel
A Flat-Coated Retriever, a flat glossy coat with heavy feathering

Flat-Coated Retriever

Dense, flat lying and glossy, with heavy feathering and a light undercoat

A flat glossy coat with heavy feathering, and a breed where the weekly check matters

Flat-Coated Retriever
A Gordon Setter, the heaviest setter under the most feathering

Gordon Setter

Soft and shining, straight or slightly wavy, with long abundant feathering

The heaviest of the setters, under the most feathering of the three

Gordon Setter

The other coat types

Not sure this is the one you have? Part the coat to the skin behind an ear and compare.

A Siberian Husky and a Maine Coon, both carrying the dense undercoat that defines a double coat

Double Coat

Never clip

A soft dense undercoat under a coarser weather-resistant top coat. Huskies, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest Cats.

Double Coat
A Poodle and a Devon Rex, tight curl and soft wave, both coats that trap shed hair instead of dropping it

Curly Coat

Clips safely

Tight curls or a soft wool texture that traps shed hair instead of dropping it. Poodles, Bichons, doodle crosses, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex and Selkirk Rex.

Curly Coat
A Miniature Schnauzer and a wire haired terrier showing the harsh jacket a wire coat is stripped to keep

Wire Coat

Strip rather than clip

A harsh bristly jacket over a soft undercoat. Most terriers, Schnauzers, Brussels Griffons, the wire Dachshund and the American Wirehair cat.

Wire Coat
A Beagle and a Bengal, short flat coats where shedding is the issue and matting never is

Smooth Coat

Clips safely

Short hair lying flat against the body with little or no undercoat. Beagles, Boxers, Vizslas, Bengals, Siamese and British Shorthairs.

Smooth Coat
A Sphynx and a Chinese Crested, skin care rather than coat care

Hairless

No coat to clip

No functional coat at all. Sphynx, Peterbald, Chinese Crested and the Xoloitzcuintli.

Hairless

Find a groomer who knows this coat

Search 37,863 grooming salons by town and state.

Find a Local Groomer Browse by Size