[Terry]

Moe is shedding more than at any time in the past... there are balls of hair floating ALL OVER my house and his bed is literally covered in hair, though I vaccuum it each day. In the seven years he's been with us (he is now almost eight years old) I've never seen him shed this much. Last week was very hot but we had a brutally hot summer once before and it didn't affect him like this. Also, his shedding started WAY before the hot weather. He has had no food changes, and he appears to be in good health (yearly check-up was two months ago), although he has had a new eruption of cysts around his hindquarters. They are not yet overly large and none are irritated or infected. He does have a small one on his tail that is bothering him - he'll be going to the vet this week to check that one out - but that is a recent developement and has no bearing on his shedding... or that is what I'm assuming. Is there anything that could cause an unusual amount of shedding that I should know about? Should I be concerned? (Because I am ) Each new change in his health reminds me that he is aging...

Terry

 

[Betsy Iole]

A couple of mine are really shedding right now, too, also several weeks ahead of schedule. If he starts to experience skin changes--dry flaking, for example, you might want to have his thyroid checked.

 

[Rubydoo]

Ruby gets a daily brushing and there's still so much hair everywhere that our "maid" has been working overtime vaccuuming every other day and using the swiffer cloths daily.

maid = me

 

[Marcia]

Sally went through this about a month ago. I've never seen anything like it. Usually Daisy sheds the most, but Sally had her beat this time. She lost her entire undercoat within a period of a few weeks. She shed so much that she actually looked smaller when she was through - we filled up a pillowcase just from one grooming session. :shock: Finally took her to the vet to make sure she was OK - she actually had a bald spot near her elbow for awhile. He said they were seeing a lot of aberrant shedding this year. Her allergies were acting up a little, but not enough to have caused the hair loss. Daisy seems to be shedding less than usual lately. Go figure.

 

[biscuit]

Lady, the perfectly gigantic German Shepherd girl, has been shedding even more than usual, too.

German Shepherds always shed *a lot*, but this has been ridiculous. I brush her outside and, when i'm done, the fur covers a huge area. The birds are thrilled, of course. :roll:

 

[Terry]

Moe actually looks smaller because he's lost so much hair... but he doesn't have any bald spots or anything, thank goodness. The cyst on his tail is looking a lot better after treating it with antibiotic ointment and warm compresses. I also kept it wrapped so Moe couldn't lick it - that probably helped the most (poor Moe looked ridiculous - all I had was hot pink pet wrap from when Tally hurt her foot). I'm still taking him to the vet to be checked. My husband and I were just sitting outside with Moe and we think he's just looking sort of... scraggly. He doesn't look his best. It seems unhealthy. Perhaps it's just his age and the warm weather but we'll feel better if our vet takes another look-see.

Terry

 

[Mikey T]

My husband and I were just sitting outside with Moe and we think he's just looking sort of... scraggly. He doesn't look his best.

As Betsy noted given Moes age Hypothyroidism is a possible cause. Often a simple T4 test is insuffiecient to diagnose hypothyroidism see

Gene found 4 Canine Thyroid Disease

and CANINE THYROID DISEASE

Because of the variety of individual tests available today, with their inherent strengths and weaknesses, it is often difficult to make a definitive diagnosis. Dr. David Panciera (1997) succinctly captured this situation by stating \"a healthy dose of skepticism should accompany interpretation of any thyroid function test, with evaluation of the history and physical examination findings being paramount to an accurate diagnosis\". For the above reasons, use of more comprehensive thyroid panels is strongly recommended.

...Measuring serum T4 alone is considered by most experts to be unreliable for diagnosis of thyroid disease, because it can: over diagnose hypothyroidism; under diagnose hyperthyroidism; may fail to detect early stages of the compensatory disease; and cannot identify the presence of thyroiditis. This test is greatly influenced (lowered) by the presence of non-thyroidal illness (NTI) and specific drug therapy (e.g. corticosteroids, anticonvulsants, potentiated sulfonamides, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents).

CANINE AUTOIMMUNE THYROID DISEASE AND SYMPTOMS OF HYPOTHYROIDISM

 

[Guest]

Al Gore might say it's from global warming!!

 

[Terry]

Well, yesterday we saw the vet. They withdrew fluids from a variety of the cysts on his body to see what type they are. Then, after much pouring through medical books, a diognosis was tentatively made: Moe has a condition called Ephrichin?? Epitrichim?? Sweat Gland Cystonatosis (I can't read the vet's writing :roll: ). It seems the sweat glands develope cysts, which in itself is not unusual. What IS unusual is the number of cysts that form - he's got groups of them all over his body ranging in size from one half centimeter to five centimeters across. They begin to develope at around five years old (which the majority of them did). There is no treatment beyond what we are already doing... treat infections as they occur, and surgically remove them when infection persists of if they appear in a problem area.

As for the shedding... there seems to be no medical reason for it, which is probably a good thing. He does seem to have flakey skin so we've been given a special shampoo to use weekly and they suggested a new comb to help remove the dead hair.

They gave us an antibiotic for a mildly infected tail gland (I thought it was a cyst but he has a swollen gland partway down from the base of his tail)

To add insult to injury, I had them clip his nails. :wink:

In a fit of remorse for subjecting Moe to his second vet visit in two months, I bought him his own kiddie-size soft-serve ice cream cone on the way home. I think I've been forgiven...

Terry