Shedding his coat.

I have a small staffy named Hunter which we adopted from a rescue centre. Before adopting him he had been to the vets a couple of times due to almost constant scratching. The vet suggested a sensitive diet and we've continued feeding him on Wainwrights Fish and veg dry food. Hunter did improve a lot on this which reduced his itching and we have been able to reduce his scratching from habit. He has little hair on the inside of his legs and his chest and belly is sparse too. I have just introduced some fish oil into his food as he seemed a little dry in the coat. He gets a bath with sensitive products every other month and gets a good brush a couple of times a week. When he does scratch he can be quite brutal leaving scratches on himself. I have been able to reduce this by spending over an hour clipping and filing the sharp edges of his claws and when in his crate on a night I put him in a full body suit and soft boots on his hind feet.

My concern at the moment is that despite all this the last couple of weeks he has been shedding his coat a lot especially on his neck and upper back. If you pinch his coat in this area a pinch full of hair easily comes away. It has got to the point where his coat appears very thin now and starting to show his skin although this is uniform in the worst areas, no bald spots...yet. I am unsure if this is a natural cycle for a staffy? Hunter because of his sensitive skin probably didn't have the thickest coat but it's starting to be a concern that I could be doing more but I don't know what. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

My Flo is a bit of a scratcher too and yes she will be very rough just as you describe. Her belly and lower chest are quiet bald which really isn't that unusual.

It's odd that you mention shedding, only today I noticed my Flo was leaving more hair behind her than normal so am wondering if this is a cycle too.

Sounds to me as though you are doing all the right things but remember that dogs really don't need to be bathed very often as it will strip the fur of essential oils.

Hopefully others will be able to enlighten us both

Hiya shamus i know you brush hunter , when i brush mia  i got from tail to head and repeat mia has a lot of loose hair it seems once you get the loose hair feom underneath. Hunters coat sounds.more than that id speak to the vet to see if hunter has any allergies or an unnoticed skin complaint. Staffies shed a bit of hair not as much as you are describing tho .sounds like the vet would be best to advise

Hey! Did the vet take any skin scrapes to check for mites etc?

Could try brewers yeast tabs for dogs, good for the coat but would also check with vet again, Iza had to get steroid shot recently to stop scratching.

I read somewhere recently that coco nut oil was good for itching - I think you can either rub it in or add to food.

The fish oil I give Hunter is Vitapet Moult Formula Skin Conditioner which has good reviews in helping dry skin and reducing shedding. When he was previously at the vets he had skin scrapes and this is what pointed toward a sensitive diet. Compared to how he was before the change in diet and the vet's intervention he has done really well, it's just been aware of what amount of shedding is normal or excessive for him.

Have you thought of cutting certain things individually such as lamb chicken beef? Could be theyre allergic to a certain meat or ingredient

Mia05 wrote:Have you thought of cutting certain things individually such as lamb chicken beef? Could be theyre allergic to a certain meat or ingredient

Not much I can cut out as his diet is pretty simple and I've kept to the same as recommended by the vet. His meals comes from Wainwright's sensitive dry food, fish & veg flavour. Treats comes in the form of Fish Skin cubes. He benefited from been placed on this diet and I haven't strayed from it. Never felt or wanted to risk a change especially given Hunter still enjoys his current diet.

It is only now turning into winter so most dogs will be shedding a lot now. As for the itching, try going right back to basics. Dogs are carnivores, they need meat. Try with some chicken, build up to other types of meats.

Shedding to the point that hair is coming away when you touch it isn't normal, even not so for this time of year. It sounds like if his diet is suiting him and you he hasn't managed to pick up any scraps in house/on a walk, that perhaps it's something in his environment that he's allergic to. Especially if he's been cleared for mites (although it does still sound like mites to me! Demodex is SO common in staffies, and the heavy shedding of the coat leaving sparse areas fits with this too. There have been many cases where vets have missed mites, you could possibly try another vet? It's fairly straightforward to treat once diagnosed). If it is environmental, however, you may need to manage it with medication/alternative therapies to aid the itching, a friend's dog is allergic to dust mites, for example, so there's no way that she can change that in the environment, so has to manage the symptoms instead; but I would certainly be getting some outside help as he must be very uncomfortable.

Took Hunter to the vet today mostly for piece of mind and given he's my first dog that I wasn't doing anything wrong. Vet wasn't overly concerned with the current rate of hair loss and felt the condition of his coat was good. He was happy that the diet he's currently on wasn't contributing to his shedding and there was no visual signs of anything untoward with his skin. He advised me to come back in a couple of weeks to re-access the situation and if the shedding continued he would perform a skin scrape to check for any unseen condition. All in all he was happy with Hunters health, no problems with his eyes, teeth and ears which was good as he was on drops for his ears when I got him.

He was weighed and has remained the same weight as when I got him, 12.5kg, (I said he was small). Hopefully his shedding will lessen but it was good to be told that he was healthy and I wasn't doing anything wrong. We'll see how it goes meantime until his next appointment in two weeks.

Thanks for all the advice and help given, it's much appreciated.

Sounds like you have a decent vet too. Do let us know how Hunter gets on.

-Ian- wrote:Sounds like you have a decent vet too. Do let us know how Hunter gets on.

Will do. Thanks.

Return visit to the vets for him to check on Hunters coat. Lasted all of 2 mins. vet happy that nothing untoward despite some areas been quite thin. In the meantime his shedding has lessened somewhat to now very little been left around the house. It seems that this is normal for Hunter. Thanks for all your advice.

Great to hear he's not losing so much especially with the cold weather just around the corner