Hello, I'm new to the forums. I've done a lot of reading and research on the breed especially before we got our pup. However, I'm sad to say that a lot of material I'm reading, especially now, is quite contradictory especially when it comes to routine care (bathing, ear care, eye care, etc). Some places say to wipe folds constantly and some say don't. Some say get deep in the ear canal to clean and some say just what you can physically see. We have a really great vet whom has been helpful. However, I've read so much about being wary of certain vets that may not know enough about the breed and jump to different procedures unnecessarily. So I really wanted to find some personal stories or tips from experienced shar-pei owners. Our girl is going on 13 weeks and she's our first shar-pei. She's been amazing so far. Socialization is going amazing. No health issues to report currently. She is a brushcoat. She's had 2/3 in the series for her shots. She'll be getting her rabies on friday. We plan to spay at 6 months. She has had her eyes tacked twice. The vet said they'd reevaluate if it needs done a third time in which they said it'd be less stress to do so at six months when she's getting spayed. My main interests is how you care for your shar-pei's coat personally? The last thing I want to do is not be taking care of her needs properly and be misinformed. Thank you for the help.
You sound like a very caring owner, I haven't got Shar-pei so I'm not much help I'm afraid. But I have got wrinkly faced pugs, I clean the folds every other day with just water. Morris gets his nose roll cleaned with ear cleaner because it's deep and gets mucky, so helps to keep infection away it's worked for him. Ears I clean weekly just the outside flap that I can see a little into the ear, but not deep in as I don't like wet ears incase it causes infection. This is just the way I do things right or wrong it works for us,you have to get into a routine and find what works for you and your dog. I have tried different things over the years some work some don't, try not to worry to much, you will just find your way as you go along.sounds like you got a great vet I love my vet he's great with my pugs he dosent know everything about every breed no vet can, but I trust his judgment and he trusts mine we got a good understanding. That's all that matters. Good luck with your pup she sounds adorable.
Thank you for the kind words and advice. I suppose that is very true in terms of it depending on the individual dog. We had her vet appt yesterday and she had her last round of shots. The vet said how we were cleaning her ears was fine but to up it to twice a week instead of once a week. So far her eyes are still looking good. They took out the last stitches from the previous tacking. We're revisiting in a month just to assess her eyes again. Fingers crossed. She was itching quite a bit on her arm so it was pretty red. However, they gave us this GenOne topical spray which she said we could use on any flair ups. They said it'd be pretty early for allergies but it's a possibility for why she was itching it or she got wet and was too moist in the folds there. Her redness is almost gone and no itching so very happy about the spray.
I'm so pleased she is doing ok with her eyes, one of my rescue pugs had very mucky ears when I got her, and I had to clean them every day until I got on top of them. Now I just clean them once a week,so yes if the vet recommends twice, then twice it is. All sounds good and fingers crossed she keeps on doing well, you certainly are doing the best for her keep up the good work. I would love to see a photo of her, she sounds adorable.
Thanks so much! Your pugs are just precious (I assume those are them in your avatar). They look very loved and spoiled. <3 She's actually pictured in my avatar. However, here's some bigger ones: The lower picture was when we first brought her home and she still was mega wrinkly lol. Her back is actually pretty smoothed out at this point.
She's lovely you must be so proud of her. Yes that's my pugs if you look in the pug section there's lot of photos of them.
She is the most wrinkled pup I have ever seen. Sorry to say that while I have seen a bunch of Shar Pei's I know next to nothing about their care. I remember seeing a show on T.V. about the breed many years ago when they were first getting popular in the U.S. A lot was said about their wonderful personalities and that many had skin problems because of their wrinkles. A breeder who was on the show talked about using baby powder to keep between the wrinkles dry and said if your dog was allergic to the baby powder to use corn starch instead. I do know that baby powder is corn starch with scent added to it. So I use the plain corn starch on my friend's pug who gets oily hot spots from a flea allergy.
Hi and welcome to the forum. I have a shar pei called Beau she is one years old now and has a fawn horse coat. We bath her once a week and clean her ears out when she starts to shake them, I read somewhere if you do this too often it can cause some irritation so I only clean them out when they become blocked. I use a product called Thornit it is easily the best product I have used to date. Once I put some Thornit in I massage the ears and it helps break up the build-up, once this has settled I use the ear buds and she is usually good for another week or two. For her skin I have never put any moisturiser in her wrinkles and Baeu is very wrinkly she is fully grown now and still is covered in them. I bath her once a week with a dermatology shampoo which is kind for her skin and keeps her coat looking very good. The only problem I have had so far is her dietary needs. As I have never had a pedigree dog in the past I have fed them normal dog food but you cannot do this with a shar pei. My friend also has one and has found it difficult getting this balance correct and we have both had many trips to the vets to determine the problem. She was becoming very irritated with her skin and was scratching a lot, to cut a long story short she had a wheat allergy and she needed a specialist dog food. This is the only problem I have found and she now eats Royal Canin hypoallergenic dog food and she is now a happy dog again. About the breed I would never have another dog breed again she is such a loving dog, is great on walks and is very sociable with other animals. We have a new born and she is brilliant around her, I also have a 4 year old that plays with her and dresses her up and we have not had one moment of regret since buying her. She is part of the family everywhere we go we get stopped by people to stroke her. She is a little stubborn with other people (which I personally like) she does not make a fuss over other people and only gets excited when she sees a member of our family. I hope this information helps and if you need any other help please let me know. Sean
Aww, thanks! We love the wrinkles but we decided to go a little smaller this time around since we have a Neapolitan mastiff as well. I'm really proud of how well she's socializing. We have a lot of struggles with out mastiff in that department even though he's my baby. So it's been really nice being able to take her everywhere and have things go smoothly. I'll look for them! I bet they have the best personalities. Pugs are always so personable. Lol, yeah, most people said she looked more like a messy blanket when we first brought her home. For the most part, my research told me they don't need any sort of care between folds unless in special cases. I do make sure usually to dry her completely after bathing. Otherwise, in between her folds doesn't really get that moist from what I've seen. She does get her facial folds wiped down everyday but mostly because she drools after drinking and is a pig when she eats lol. But thanks, I really appreciate the info.
Thanks, I really appreciate the ear cleaner recommendation. I'll have to look into that. She seemed fine with once a week cleaning so I was a little hesitant about the vet recommending to cleaning them twice a week. Just seems like a bit of overkill. So I guess I'll just have to test it out. She doesn't seem to shake or scratch them so that's a good sign. I was looking into grain free fish based diets. The breeder said she had no issues in diets with hers but that generally you should avoid soy. The father and mother seemed to have lovely coats so I'm hopeful that she doesn't have major food allergies. Yours sounds like a real joy and from what I can see in the picture...she is really stunning. I actually have seen the same. Suyin is really great in socializing. Hasn't had any issues with strangers but she also doesn't really care about them. She goes over the moon for any family member however. I think that's nice too. We continue to take her everywhere though as much as possible so she doesn't grow out of accepting strangers as she's aging. It's very helpful, thank you so much!
No problem. I didn’t have any problems with her diet until she went through her first season - my vet (although I don’t have great trust in him) said sometimes this can be a factor but these dogs can also suffer with shar pei fever so again something you need to keep an eye out for. Her coat is perfect now and her diet is spot on but as long as you keep an eye out for any imperfections in the skin and see a vet if it flairs up you will be fine. I think the ear thing is also dependent on the size of the ears, Beau has very small ears and they seem to block about once a week. A factor I have also seen make a difference is the diet, they seem to be much cleaner now this has improved. It is all trial and error but hopefully the same products I use can give you the same results. Best of luck Sean.
If you're going to try an elimination diet, try using a fish based food - here I'd suggest Wacol Salmon and potato as that takes out all of the usual things in most dog foods. Every month try adding something, ie beef, lamb etc one at a time, ie one month beef, the next lamb, the next chicken etc. That way you can identify flare ups and know if there is an intolerance. It's surprising these days how many dogs react to chicken (my own included). Dogs do not process grain easily and it is the first candidate for intolerance
Hi I think your girls a cutie ! I wanted to say this due to the early spay you are planning, please wait till she's two and had her first heat so she can develop correctly. I know I'm probably gonna have a bunch of people saying I'm wrong but for healthy development waiting till she's full mature is the best choice you can make for her. Her first heat difficult but if you are a responsible owner you be fine. Those hormones are essential for proper growth and development so please reconsider an early spay.
