# Thinning hair?



## sunshiyne (Apr 29, 2011)

I recently got a golden retriever from a family friend's friend. My golden is a female and 3 years old. I don't know much about her history and I've only had her for about 2 months.

Recently, in the last month, she started shedding excessively. Her trunk, back, legs, and tail are very thin. When I was giving her a bath, clumps of her hair came off. The hair on the area between her trunk and hind legs is very thin, and on one side, it looks like it's almost balding. I don't see the skin underneath, but I think I see her undercoat because it's still hairy but brown (she's a red golden). I've checked all over her, and I don't see any fleas or ticks. Her tail is so thin, it's not that nice bushy tail anymore. Her hair has gotten so thin that she looks like she has lost a lot of weight even though she hasn't. I spoke to our vet about this problem and he keeps saying that golden's shed a lot. When I kept going back to the vet about this problem, he then said that it might be fleas and he put her on Comfortis and she's been on it for about 2 weeks now.

I'm really concerned if it's something that the vet is missing and I don't know what it could be. If anyone can give me any advice or direction, I'd really appreciate it.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Please do two tests -

Complete bloodwork to check her kidneys. The sooner you do this, the better. 

If the bloodwork is clear, have her thyroid checked (complete test sent out to MSU, etc). 

I'm thinking that this is just her body's reaction to stress (new home, etc), but thinning hair could indicate possible health problems.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

Did you change her diet before the hair loss? 

We had the same situation with our 3 year old rescue, Ben. His spring shedding was really heavy. His legs looked like they were going bald, and he also had bald patches on his neck. His hair changed color, from a dark reddish all over to much lighter golden with red tips. His hair also seemed very dry and brittle. We took him to the vet and she tested him numerous ways. It was a very expensive visit given the lack of results. His thryoid was a little low, but that was it. The vet gave us a prescription for an allergy pill and told us to let her know if anything changed. 

Since we had changed his food about six weeks before, I made an assumtion that that might have something to do with the hair loss. We switched back to the old food and added fish oil capsules, as well as the allergy pill. Two months later his hair is back and it is lush and growing long again. The bald patches have filled in.

So, correlation is not necessarily causation. It may not have been the food change that was responsible for the problem. It may have been a normal spring GR shedding, but since I am a new dog owner it just seemed excessive. It might still be allergies or thyroid or something they didn't test for. But for us, changing the food seems to have made the difference. Obviously, your situation may be entirely different, but it is a possibility.


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## sunshiyne (Apr 29, 2011)

Thank you for your responses!

It could be a change in diet because I know nothing about her history. The previous owners never spoke to us and never relayed any information to our family so I don't know what she ate regularly before.

I initially started her on AvoDerm, but she hated it. She wouldn't eat it, so I switched to another premium dog food. She likes the Kirkland brand premium dog food. I don't know much about dog foods (she's my first dog), only that premium is best because it doesn't contain corn and provides the necessary protein. I started adding salmon oil to her food around the time when I started noticing her hair loss. Her hair isn't brittle or anything like that, it's just thin. I also give her vitamins every morning.

I have a vet appointment next week, I hope to get her blood work then. I'm just concerned if it's a fungal infection and I can't see it because of her double coat or if it's something else.


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