Excessive shedding

[roadweed]

Gretchen is a shed-monster! I brush her, and brush her, and brush her, then I use my fingers to pull out more hair and finally I have gotten desperate enough to use a vacuum attachment to vacuum her(it doesn't scare her like it does some dogs-Kaptain was terrified by the vacuum). The hair on her butt is getting very thin, and she has a tiny bald spot on her shoulder. And the hair still comes! Anyone have any ideas to cut the shedding down a bit, or maybe a brand of brush that will be successful in removing all the loose hairs?

[Nina&Bill]

Hi Yarrow,

I admit straight out that I'm a worrywort. The thin fur on the hindquarters coupled with a bald patch on the shoulder would worry me, especially since we're talking about a dog living in Alaska at the onset of winter. I'd give the vet a call, just in case it's something skin related (I have no experience with mange or eczema so I could be totally wrong & your Gretchen just feels like a brand new coat).

I used a red rubber curry on Smidgen & the same for Amber. Smidgen used to shed entire small dogs but Amber hardly has any undercoat to speak of. The curry is great for lifting the dead hair & bringing it off of the coat.

Good luck with your shed monster :)

Nina

[spidey]

I agree with Nina that you should probably have the vet check this out. What are you feeding? Diet has a strong effect on skin and coat, you want to feed something high in Essential Fatty Acids (or supplement with them).

[mmgy]

If the hair loss is symmetrical on both sides of the tail, then sometimes that can be a sign of hypothyroidism. And I think hair loss around the neck area can also be a sign.

MM

[roadweed]

Nina, I am a worry wart to!
She was just at the vet getting her stitches out from her spay, and before that for the spay, teeth cleaning, nail trimming, microchipping and exam, they never said anything about something being wrong, I think she just sheds a lot. The thinning spots are pretty small, on one shoulder and on her back about six inches above her tail. I am feeding her a mix of lamb and rice dry, and raw chicken, rice, and veggies. She also gets raw egg 1x a week, and her dry is supplemented with fatty acids. I am trying to wean her into eating a raw diet, and myself into preparing it. Maybe it is the change of food, or the stress of being abandoned at the shelter and getting used to a new home, + she just had puppies. I think I will have some bloodwork done, though, checking for thyriod funtion is a good idea; Kaptain had thyriod problems.

[roadweed]

Nina, what is a red curry, and where do you purchase these? Thankyou! I think Gretchen is shedding large dogs!

[Nina&Bill]

If I were Gretchen I'd be holding on to every last bit of fur in anticipation of the coming winter :D .

The red rubber curry that I have is similar to what's used on horses. Oval, with two rows of rubber "teeth".

red curry

This is what it looks like and most pet stores seem to have them. In case I screwed up the link just go to Petco and type "curry" into the search. The first thing that comes up is exactly like what I have. It works great when bathing the dog, too, as it really helps to remove the shed-doggies.

I hope that Gretchen is OK! Maybe she just needs a doggie parka?

Nina

[The Barleys]

I use an undercoat rake. You can get them at Petco, Pet Supplies Plus and Drs. Foster and Smith. Works great and no messy flying hair!

[roadweed]

Thankyou for your suggestions, and the link made the curry easier to find since I knew what it looked like. I bought the curry, and also a supplement that is supposed to reduce non-seasonal shedding (Mrs. Allens shed-stop). Has anyone used supplements like this before? It has soybean, safflower, sunflower,cod liver and olive oils + Lecithin, garlic and zinc. She is slowing down on the shedding, I think daily brushing with a couple different types of brushes is finally making some headway on her excess hair.

If I were Gretchen I'd be holding on to every last bit of fur in anticipation of the coming winter

Winter is no longer coming, Its here!:( :(

[ptremaine]

Just wanted to add something to this thread, since this matter comes up fairly often, and I'm having some worries myself.

First off, the thread starter noted that her dog was shedding like crazy after a spay. That's normal - anesthesia makes the dog blow their coat. The females in particular shed a LOT. Mine shed so much in May I thought her fur would all fall out. Instead, it was mostly undercoat. She was pretty fluffy when she arrived here in April, when it was still rather chilly.

Then, she had a minor surgery again for an injury, and sure enough, the coat is shedding all over the place. That was in October. Instead of getting heavier for winter, it's been shedding ever since. :(

Now it's early December and she's become a single coated dog! What the heck!? Where has all her undercoat gone? I have no clue. My last dog, a Giant Schnauzer, had hair and it grew and grew and grew and had to be clippered or stripped else it grow to the ground. But now my poor Rottie is a skinny coated dog, and she's still shedding top coat!

Her fur is nice and shiny, she eats an appropriate diet and gets all the vitamins and fish oils, et cetera. Still, she's down to a single coat and it's darn cold here! Her fur is crispier on the top of her back, thick on her neck and longer and short and very dense on her head and legs. She's not bald anywhere, though her belly has a lot less hair on it. The only thing I can think of is this; she's now lacking female hormones and it's known that many human women will lose a LOT of hair if they get a hysterectomy. I don't know if they test bitches for that, but I'm considering it.

Now I'm looking for a nice winter coat for my girl! :D

PT

[roadweed]

Wow, I was just getting ready to start a thread 'no undercoat'. I wonder what the implications are? Gretchen is not shedding much anymore, but I have been noticing she has no undercoat. When I pinch her skin, I can see a large line of skin where her hair parts, and the hair all looks like it is all the same length, silky, not dense and fuzzy. She IS nearly bald under her legs, and on her belly, and her two spots of mohogany on her chest above the legs are nearly completely black, the brown is almost all gone. Kaptain always had a very dense undercoat, Gretchens fur looks more like a lab in some spots. Any ideas?

[Carina43]

Could it just be genetics? Daphne has a coat like Gretchen - no undercoat, just silky fur - and even in spring & fall she sheds very little. I barely brush her since nothing comes off. Dutch is I guess regular coated, and Cooper of course is long haired.

When it's cold the amount of time they're willing to stay outside directly correlates to their fur thickness. Cooper adores the cold, he naps in the snow when it's in the single digits. Dutch is fine as long as he's moving, but poor Daphne doesn't want to stay outside more than 30 minutes at a time now that it's really cold out.

Interesting notion that it could be related to lack of female hormones! I wonder if unspayed dogs have thicker coats...

[ptremaine]

Originally posted by Carina43
Could it just be genetics? Daphne has a coat like Gretchen - no undercoat, just silky fur - and even in spring & fall she sheds very little. I barely brush her since nothing comes off. Dutch is I guess regular coated, and Cooper of course is long haired.

When it's cold the amount of time they're willing to stay outside directly correlates to their fur thickness. Cooper adores the cold, he naps in the snow when it's in the single digits. Dutch is fine as long as he's moving, but poor Daphne doesn't want to stay outside more than 30 minutes at a time now that it's really cold out.

Interesting notion that it could be related to lack of female hormones! I wonder if unspayed dogs have thicker coats...

I'm really wondering if this whole spaying business might not affect their ability to produce the fur that was no doubt stimulated by hormones to some extent. Now without the hormones, my dog's become a lot less furry ! :)

I'm also concerned that she's cold - her inner legs are coated with only a smooth, silky mahogany fur, single layer. I too notice that when I part the fur, I see white skin, not the undercoat. Also, my dog looks a lot skinnier now without that fur! :)

I'm trying to upload her images now to Imagestation.com, so as to show you all what I mean. She's in the snow, our first 8" in a few years, and doesn't seem to mind the fluffy snow a bit. She played outside yesterday in the bitter cold, probably 12ºF with wind chill [and it was very windy], for over a hour. I was freezing my butt off, wrapped in a down coat, sweater, two pants on and fur lined boots. She was cavorting and panting and eating snow! :D

I'm going to do a Google search on fur loss and spaying to see if I can come up with some answers.

PT