He has fur! Sort of!
I have hit my first serious barrier with Jar Full of Cosmos, and that is the fact that my little laptop just doesn't have enough compute power. Unfortunately it's too laggy to effectively experiment with materials and do a better job grooming--not to mention animation tests. Thankfully, I have new PC components on the way. In other good news, the fur system obscures pretty much all my bad mesh deformations. It also obscures his facial movements, but I planned for that and intend to do most of his emoting with ear and eye movements. Next time I make an animal, I think I'll use shapekeys instead of bones for facial animation.
The groom holds up from afar (and with lower resolutions) but up close it needs a lot more work. It's also worth noting that I am using the old particle system because the geometry nodes still feel too confusing, and apparently they can't be animated.