Jake's coat is coming out in handfulls

[Jake2006]

Hi

I rescued Jake 5 weeks ago, and given that he will have been under a lot of stress in rescue - leaving his old home, (where he was bullied by the other dogs), staying in the rescue, coming to his new home - its hardly surprising that his coat is shedding.

First thing on a morning he's scratching - and at odd intervals during the day. He doesn't have fleas or mites. His coat is quite dry with a bit of dandruff. (Irish Water Spaniels should have a fairly oily coat)

I've read that it could be his puppy coat - but he's 14 months old now, so i doubt its that.

It could be his food, but Burns is supposed to be good for dogs with skin/coat problems etc. I also give him fish treats!

http://www.dogforum.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102&stc=1&d=1150276260

Our vet has been treating his kennel cough and wants to get that well and truly under control before he goes off investigating skin/allergy problems. In fact, he said he wants him to have 3 months to settle in before that (which I agree with).

My question is - I groom Jake every day and I get 5 brush fulls out of him. My dyson gets full of his coat in about 3 days!

What grooming tools should I use so that I do not aggrevate his problem. He's got about 10 patches the size of 2p pieces!

(However, the good news is that his kennel cough is nearly gone)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as you can see Jake has a really nice hairstyle and doesn't want it to have bald patches!

Thanks again

[lassie]

Carole. does he gnaw at his spots/patches?

try this linkhttp://www.dorwest.com/

i use their products on one of mine, the garlic and fenugreek


Have a look at the information section , it may give you an inkling as to what his problem is, and save you a vet bill!!!

[skunkstripe]

I used to make a huge mistake every year at springtime.....give the dog a bath in a commercial 'flea and tick' shampoo. Then my poor dog would itch and scratch for weeks. I thought it was bugbites and it turned out to be the product I was using.
Any chance Jake is allergic to something like that? Or do you have nasty insects? In the south of the US there are 'fire ants' that bite terribly and make the dog scratch until the fur comes out.

[lassie]

Might be wise to give him a bathe in "hibbiscrub" very cheap from the chemist but brilliant.

[Jake2006]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will get some hibbiscrub and bath him with that. Yes, he's biting and scratching himself - but hubby took a skin scraping today and there is no sign of mites, etc. (Of course he's not a vet so the vet might need to investigate) Don't think he's got fleas. I'm getting a dyson cleaner full of his fur almost every day - and he's not supposed to shed! We've only had him 6 weeks so hopefully its just stress.

In the UK we've got ticks etc., and something called chiggers (which I believe you also have in the US). They are tiny red mites which occur mainly in July or August. They attach themselves to the animals legs and boy do they make them itch. Jake hasn't any sign of them - also no ticks.

[skunkstripe]

Well it could be stress......
or has it become warm recently......
or perhaps fish oil on this food would help?

[Jake2006]

Update - Vet has given Jake a course of steroids to stop him itching - Prednisolone - doesn't know what it is but we need to stop the itching.

Vet also gave me some Hibbiscrub - thanks Lassie for that.

Time will tell - and yes I wouldn't be surprised if it is stress - i do give him sardines in oil every other day and he has Burns fish treats - his diet is burns too -

He's had his Preds for two days now and his itching isn't as bad - his hair loss isn't as bad either -

thanks for your help

[lassie]

Oh lets hope its clears up soon. BTW what is he fed on?

[Jake2006]

He's fed Burns, he also gets sardines in oil, carrots, the odd boiled egg, - he was underweight when we rescued him so Vet told us to overfeed him for a while. His teeth were badly placqued so i give him hide hews (teeth are lovely now). He'll really eat anything - including other dog's poo - hence the training collar! He's now put on a little weight.

The reason I feed Burns - although eventually I would really like to make his food, is because they don't test on animals.