Popo's Balding Hindquarters

[Guest suzye]

Popo (age = 7 1/2 years) had pretty good fur coverage when I got him last October, but in the last 2 months I noticed he is losing fur on his back legs. I think the fur on his tummy/chest is thinning, too. Other than his fur, Popo seems perfectly fine. No weight gain -- in fact he has lost 2-3 pounds in the last 6 weeks.

 

I got a full blood work-up and everything looks good, fortunately. Thyroid results:

 

Regular T-4 = 0.8 (range 1.0-4.0)

Free T-4 = 10.3 (range 8-40)

 

No TSH on these labs. I wish I had that -- normal TSH would make me feel better.

 

While I don't think this necessarily sounds like a hypothyroid greyhound, and my vet is grey saavy (at least moreso than my last vet), he said we could try a *low* dose of thyroid meds if I wanted. I wasn't sure and said I wanted to do some research. He said we could try "dermcaps 3V" -- sometimes that peps up the coat. I could also try salmon oil/fish oil. If I did thyroid meds and after several weeks his fur did not grow back, I would take him off it. I've read about the over-dispensing of thyroid meds to greyhounds.

 

Is this a seasonal thing? An age thing? Would you do anything? Should I just see if it gets worse? Based on another picture I found, the thinning fur seems to have started after March, but by early June.

 

November 2008 -- a little thin on hindquarters but not what I would call balding

 

March 2009 -- looks good

 

August 2009 -- balding

 

Popo is only my second greyhound. I never had thinning fur on my 1st one. I know it's not an uncommon greyhound phenomenon, but I'm not sure what to do. The right side is a little worse than the left.

Edited August 10, 2009 by suzye

[Batmom]

Seasonal.

 

Zema's butt goes bald every summer, and it looks like Joseph is doing the same this year.

 

Wouldn't give thyroid meds just to grow hair -- no point .

[MaryJane]

Could be allergies.

 

One of my greyhounds had thinning hair on his chest and bald thighs and once I switched from feeding him chicken and noodles to beef and rice and started him on fish oil he grew hair back.

 

You may want to try a limited ingredient dog food like Natural balance Venison and Sweet potato and see if he grows some hair back. Solid Gold also makes a Beef and Barley that doesn't seem to have too many ingredients.

[Guest mike]

completely normal. no need to give thyroid meds.

[GreyPoopon]

Given the timing, I'd suspect seasonal. Most of my girls are pretty fuzzy, but some get summer pattern baldness; for example, one of Betsy's thighs tends to get a bit bald in late summer (some years). Jessie's butt got a bit bare last year. Piper's tummy is bare this year...

[Guest suzye]

Thanks for the replies. I'm comforted to hear all the "normal/seasonal" feedback! I forgot that fur loss could be due to food allergy. While anything is possible, I guess I can wait it out, unless it starts getting a lot worse. Of course, it will continue to be hot here until early October. Then it will be warm.

[Guest kydie]

I would try to treat the coat before the thyroid, just me, it takes more than a few weeks for thyroid meds to kick in, and without a TSH I would hold on the meds, some of my pups started to lose hair as they aged, and coat shedding is common a few times a year, even though I have been told house dogs done shed seasonaly, I don't believe that one, for me, I would work on supplements for the coat first,,just me here

[Guest Energy11]

Curfew lost about 20 grooming mitts of hair last week, and I am NOT kidding! HE IS on thyroid replacement, and gets it recheck again this week, But, then, all of mine started blowing coats. I am pretty sure it is the heat. Curfew's hair loss has stopped, except for a little here and there. I did put him on a coat supplement.

 

Good Luck! Popo is REALLY handsome. Women like that "bald look!" :-))

[Guest kydie]

I agree with the bald look, if I didn't like it DH would have been gone 20 yrs ago!!!!!!!!!!!1

[lothianjavert]

Diesel will get a bald butt every summer (with a little "butt fringe" left on the far sides ) and then it will start to regrow when the temperatures drop in the fall. By mid-winter, he is quite hairy-- to the point that we call him "wooly boy". In late spring, he starts shedding and the bald butt comes back. It's the same cycle every year. Sully's butt will get a bit sparse in the summer, but not as bald as Diesel. He also doesn't get as fuzzy in the winter either.

[HJsM]

I give my guys either Solid Gold Seameal or Longevity powder from Springtime, Inc. Either product has helped with bald thigh hair growth on my guys. You can get the Solid Gold at Petco but you have to order the Longevity on the phone or online.

[Guest suzye]

I don't know what it would take to get TSH. I wish I had mentioned it in the first place. It was really dumb considering I have hypothyroidism myself -- I guess I just assumed it would be there.

 

I'm going to wait and see on the coat. If last year is any indication, he should look much better by mid-October, if not before. That's when I brought him home.

I give my guys either Solid Gold Seameal or Longevity powder from Springtime, Inc. Either product has helped with bald thigh hair growth on my guys. You can get the Solid Gold at Petco but you have to order the Longevity on the phone or online.

Hey, I know you! Longevity looks interesting -- I might order some of that. It is a tasteless powder? I always wonder when ordering something like this for the first time. Popo is fine with glucoasmine sprinkled on his food so I hope he would be fine with this, too.

[Batmom]

Don't beat yourself up. With his fT4 number, the TSH really wouldn't have told you anything that would be immediately applicable to his bald butt. He's maintaining thyroid production at this time, so bald butt would be from something else -- greyhoundness .

[Guest mickie37]

It is that time of year for the seasonal loss of hair. My pups are all blowing coat here. I started them on salmon oil last fall and there is a lot less hair coming off as compared to last year.

Good luck,

Mickie

[Guest scfilby]

Yup.. Mickey loses her butt hair every year.. and the pigmentation on her chest and belly changes.

[Guest DoofBert]

maybe a diet thing? perhaps allergy to food?

[Guest Meirowitz]

Your pictures suggest this is a seasonal thing. The first picture, taken in November 2008, shows some thinning. Your second picture, taken in March 2009, shows a full coat. Your third picture, taken in August 2009, shows a thin coat. Looks to me like your hound blows his coat in the summer months and then grows it back, probably in the fall or winter. The key picture is the March 2009 one. Do you have any pictures from, say, December, January, or February?

Edited August 11, 2009 by Meirowitz

[Guest suzye]

I found some.

 

December

January - nice hairy belly

February - good leg

Edited August 11, 2009 by suzye

[Guest 3greysinPA]

i just want to add that i have also noticed that Lilly is losing her hair (thinning) on her hindquarters too.

AFter reading this thread, and learning what i was going to ask you guys anyway.. i now know this is normal and not too worry.

thank you GT

[Guest Meirowitz]

Beautiful hound, Suzy. Case closed! R.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

Vegas came to us with pretty ok hair coverage he thinned out a bit and then winter came and it grew back and now its summer and we have this.....

 

It would be nice if he had fur like your dog.

He is dark because he lays in the sun and tans

he does have some food intolerences that have contributed to the hair loss but it grows back when it gets cold outside. Thyroid meds may help it grow back but why put him on meds its just fur other wise he is healthy right? salmon oil is wonderful to help with fur growth, the funny part is Vegas HATES it and will spit out his food if he thinks its in there.

 

[Guest LindsaySF]

Honey has been losing hair over the past few months as well. I asked about it here on GT and a few people mentioned seasonal shedding. I got her in October so this is her first summer with me, I don't know if she does this every summer or not. I had her thyroid tested (T4 and free T4) but no TSH, levels were ok. I decided to hold off on more testing until it starts to get colder, to see if her hair grows back. Because she doesn't have any other symptoms I'm going to assume it is a seasonal thing. I guess we will see! Hopefully that is the case with your pup too.

 

 

[Guest Energy11]

Hair, hair, here, there and everywhere,today! Just got finished grooming all five (oh my aching back :-), and, you could make at least one or two more dogs from all the HAIR! I think/hope they've stopped shedding, but have added another supplement for shedding and coat to their food.

 

Guess if I wore a fur coat in this heat, I'd shed too! Well, I kinda do ...refuse to wear anything but capris and tank tops in this heat!

[seeh2o]

Well, I'm going to chime in here and what I have to say probably won't be very popular, but I have a very atypical experience with thyroid, fur loss, etc. In August 2007 Carl came to me as a very bald boy. That winter his coat came in, sort of, his thighs and chest never filled in, but his neck did. Then Carl blew his winter coat in 2008 and kept losing it. He had no other signs of being hypothyroid. In fact, on several regular blood tests (not specific thyroid panels), his T4 came back normal every time. As time went on he lost more and more fur on his thighs, he was much more bare than he had been the year before. Then he started losing all the fur that had filled in on his throat. I tried Omega 3 fish oils and even Grizzly Salmon oil, nothing worked, had him on a fish based kibble, etc., but he continued to lose fur. He had no behavioral problems (other than SA, which wasn't related to being hypothyroid), was not lethargic, and had a normal appetite no other typical signs of hypothyroid.

 

In early summer/late spring 2008 I noticed something going on with his eyes. They were misdiagnosed twice, treated with 3 different medications and continued to get worse. In November my gut started telling me to get a thyroid panel, so I changed vets and got it. Turns out he was hypothyroid and his only typical symptom was the balding, the eye problem is fairly rare from what I understand. I also found out later after treatment began that Carl was dx as hypothyroid in his first year as a racer, pulled off the track and sent to the farm for treatment and then sent to race again. The people I got him from either didn't know themselves or didn't tell me, but the poor boy was untreated for at least 20 months.

 

My vet used Jean Dodds (here is the link to her site). According to other vets, Jean writes text books for veterinary schools, so I truly trust her. The test is not terribly expensive ($65 plus shipping) and Jean offers her interpretation on the document at no extra cost. If you are concerned, go ahead and have it run. You'll be out a bit of money with peace of mind or you'll have a treatment plan with peace of mind. GT has tons of great information and lots of great posters here in your thread, however, if I'd trusted the conventional wisdom on thyroid, well, I shudder to think what would have happened. At any rate, I didn't and trusted my gut. Carl's fur is filling in (one thigh cheek is almost all filled in and his neck is nearly all filled in!) and, much more importantly, his eyes are clearing up. We just got a clean bill of health from the ophthalmologist last week!

Edited August 11, 2009 by ckruzan

[PrairieProf]

Wow, just chiming in as well . . . Beth lost a lot of hair on her belly this summer, so that now she's much nekkider than when I adopted her last August. I was assuming it was seasonal too, but I just had bloodwork done today and . . . she appears to be borderline hypothyroid. We're going to get more clarity with the full panel. No other real symptoms that I can see beyond a few very small behavioral changes -- she still jumps around like a nutjob.