question about shedding & undercoat

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azaelia
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:49 pm

question about shedding & undercoat

Post by azaelia »

hi, my GSD is 8 years old & a few weeks ago he completly lost what seems to be all his undercoat in the space of 2 - 3 weeks. i've never known any of my dogs to lose such a large amount of hair in such short amount of time, he lost about 2kgs! he now looks scarily thin compared to when he had his summer coat, i've checked him over & i cant really feel his ribs or his spine so it's only becasue of his lack of coat he looks so thin. i'm just worrid because he doesn't seem to be growing it back, he's still losing quite a bit of fur but all of it seems to be top coat & he also has extreemly itchy skin. (&he has a scab on his back & the top of his head, they're only small but he's had the 1 on his back since the start of his problem, don't know if it's just because ofhis itching or something else?) around the same time he started itching we started him on Carprodyl for his hips & he started shedding shortly afterwards. we took him to the vets for his skin & the vet perscribed anti-allergy stuff for him as he does suffer with his allergys at times but they haven't made any difference. we've de-fleaed him & the house several times & again, no difference. recently he's also been on beef flavoured cosequin & he's reacted badly to beef in the past but i can't see how it can be that as his skin started weeks before he started taking this. 3 days ago we stopped giving both the carprodyl & the cosequin & as of yet he doesn't seem to be any better. i'm just wondering if anyone has any experiance of his excessive shedding & should i be worried about his undercoat & also if anyone has any ideas about his itching as our vet isn't sure, he says if he stays off the carprodyl for a week he can go on steroids to clear the tiching up but he's quite unstable on his legs without them & i'm keen to get him back on them as soon as possible!

thanks for reading, any help would be greatly apperciated!
Suzette
Posts: 1518
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:45 am

Re: question about shedding & undercoat

Post by Suzette »

I'm not sure this is in the right category to get seen by the majority of folks here, it might be better moved to the Health, Diet & Exercise sections, but in the mean time, I did want to ask, does your dog have any other symptoms, like lethargy or a pot-bellied look? And are any of those scabs you mentioned on his belly? Also, has he been on long-term or recent steroid use?
My avatar is Piper, my sweet Pembroke Corgi. b. 5/11/11
azaelia
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:49 pm

Re: question about shedding & undercoat

Post by azaelia »

Thanks for the reply, I'll get this post moved. His only scab is on his back, it just seems really itchy & he's had it for a while, he could just be opening it up everytime he scratches tho, his tummy seems fine & other than the itching he seems healthy he still plays & loves his walks.
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