Fur Loss

[Guest XiaDog]

I rescued Xia last November and she just turned two in June. When I got her, she had a full coat of fur except for the area they shaved when they spayed her. She had been having diarrhea after I got her and the shaved hair had still not grown back so I took her to the vet where she was diagnosed with Giardia and roundworm. The vet told me to change her diet, treat her with worming medication, and she would soon grow fur back. Since then, she has slowly been losing more and more fur. I played it off as food allergies since her stool was still slightly soft and have changed her food many times. She is currently eating taste of the wild pacific formula and is doing WONDERFUL! However, she is still having fur loss and I have run out of possibilities. It has spread from just the thighs to the thighs, ventral abdomen and neck, and is slowly creeping up her sides. Her behavior is great and she is definitely kept at a high activity level. Anyone have any suggestions??

[OwnedBySummer]

Thyroid?

[TheFullHouse]

Have you had her thyroid checked?

 

Was she treated for the Giardia?

[Guest mcsheltie]

Mine are shedding like crazy and have been all summer. I thought it would stop by now, but it hasn't. I get handfuls of hair off of them. In the summer Witty only has hair on the upper portion of her body and that is very thin.

 

Diet changes will make a dog blow coat. And you have done quite a bit of that.

 

The things to check have already been mentioned, fecal & thyroid. If you do a thyroid have a full panel run and it sent to a lab such as MSU that specializes in thyroid testing. Values are different for Greyhounds, than other breeds of dogs. If one of my Shelties had GH numbers they would consider that dog hypothyroid! MSU takes that into consideration and are considered the gold standard testing.

 

If everything comes back normal, just sit tight and wait.

 

I always add fish oil to their diet. And you can also try Melatonin 3mg daily.

[Guest LindsaySF]

It could just be seasonal shedding. Rogan has this. I got him last August, his thighs, butt, neck, and tummy were naked. He regrew that fur, I have pics from this past winter and he was so fuzzy. He started to lose fur in those same areas again as the weather got warmer. I expect it to grow back this winter, I'm not going to get concerned until then.

 

If you are worried you can run a full thyroid panel to rule that out.

 

 

 

 

[Batmom]

If she's feeling great and has plenty of energy, I'd save your money on testing. It's summer, and she's a greyhound. If I get a chance next few days, I'll take a picture of ol' "Hairless Joe" here. He's pretty furry in the winter. Right now, the underside of his neck, his tummy, halfway up his sides, his butt and at least half the sides of his thighs, parts of his ears, etc. are quite bare. This summer even amazingly hairy Gidget has lost most of her belly hair (she's new, but 3 months ago she was very hairy all over).

[Guest strwberrys645]

My grey Abby is completely naked on her butt, abdomen, belly and inner thighs. She does have hypothyroidism and is on medication to regulate that. But, even with that she remains pretty naked. My vet had me put her on melatonin to help with fur growth. I didn't think it was doing anything for her and stopped giving it. Was I wrong!!! She began losing fur like crazy, all along her sides, her neck, classic pattern. I also switched vets at this time (previous vet needed to retire and wouldn't so switched). The new vet had me restart melatonin and sure enough her fur grew back (not the fur that was never there though lol). Turns out, she had been on a subtherapeutic dose of melatonin. She might still be half naked but the fur she does have is thick, healthy, and soft, and she actually grows fur back when it gets shaved for something. She gets 9mg of melatonin 2x/day and is a 62lb dog. She could even get more but this dosage works. You might need to look into that.

[Guest XiaDog]

She was treated for her giardia and is definitely full of energy. It seems that it is normal that she is so hairless so I feel much more reassured. I guess if she continues to stay furless through the winter I'll regain my concern. Thanks everyone for your comments!

[Mystella]

I am totally guessing here but maybe it is age related. I adopted Jeffy in January and he had just recently come from the farm. He had fluffy soft bunny fur :wub He also was just under 2 years old. When spring hit his fur started blowing out dramatically and he had bald butt, thigh patches, neck patches. I too panicked a bit, took him for blood work and all was well. Maybe it is just losing that puppy outdoor fur?

[cleptogrey]

batmom, looking for pictures of hairless joe and gidget. i'm in the same boat w/ baldy felix. i seem to forget how bald he really gets every summer...shiney neck, bare tush, naked chest and he's still shedding. i guess i'll have a rhode island hairless shortely!(ri is where the farm the opps litter came from.)

[Batmom]

cleptogrey, i'll try for pics tomorrow. robinw used to have some great ones of her hairless boy Phene.

[Batmom]

These ought to give some idea of Joseph's nudity . He was not interested in standing up for this photo shoot, best I could do:

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest mcsheltie]

Witty is more nekked than Joseph.

[Batmom]

Witty is more nekked than Joseph.

 

 

So fork over some pictures!

 

Best I could do with the material at hand. Gidget is still pretty darned furry as greyhounds go.

 

 

[Guest mcsheltie]

I will when I get home!

[DaisyDoodle]

If Xia was furry before being spayed, I would think the fur would have grown back by now. Daisy was shaved in April when she was sick, and I can't even tell where the shaved bits were. She is, however, one of the furriest greyhounds folks have ever seen.

 

I suppose it could be the change in hormones from being spayed. My Lucky had her fur grow back in white where she'd been shaved for her spay, even though she was only a year old or so.

 

Xia's case also makes me think something else is going on because she is continuing to lose fur. In addition to wondering about thyroid, I'd also look into adrenal disorders--Cushings, and perhaps Addisons.

 

Hopefully, it's just a seasonal thing and she'll be a furry girl by Winter.

 

DD

[cleptogrey]

omg, that's as naked as felix is(except he's a red fawn w/ black skin- it changes seasonally)! ....i just noticed a couple of hairs starting to grow on his chest and butt. mmmm...can this be the sign of a cold winter? we shall see.

[MaryJane]

I would probably say that it might be allergies ....

 

One of my previous greys had the same issue of no hair on the throat, chest, and butt and it would get worse at certain times of the year BUT, once I changed his diet, he grew hair and he kept it thru all the seasons. He also had soft stools. It turns out that he was sensitive to chicken and noodles and once he was on a diet of beef, rice, and veggies the soft stools and the hair issue was resolved.