Hi Everyone, My Shadow will be 17 weeks old on Sept.4. At 15 weeks I noticed his hair was starting to thin. At his 16 week Vet check-up I voiced my concerns to our veterinarian. She did not seem to be too worried about the hair loss.... She did say if he is still losing hair in a month to let her know and she would take another look and may have to run some tests. It has been 11 days since that appointment and Shadows hair is still thinning. I have researched and found that other Lab owner's whose Lab puppies are experiencing hair thinning have reversed the thinning within a month after changing to Eukanuba puppy food. Shadow has been on Diamond dog food since he was weaned. Today I purchased Eukanuba Puppy food for puppies less than 12 months. I would really like to hear if anyone else here has experienced thinning hair with their Lab puppy. Please let me hear your thoughts and any suggestions that you may have... Thanks, Angie
Hi Angie, last summer when my dog was a puppy, (around 6 months old) we started noticing thinning hair on chest and rear legs. We visited the vet several times over a period of about 3 months and they were not concerned and thought it could be her harness rubbing, losing her puppy coat etc. finally she developed a skin infection. It was determined that she had an allergy of some sort (food or seasonal likely). We elected to do nothing beyond treat the infections, add supplements to her meals and soothing bath wash and see if her fur would grow back at first frost - and it did. This summer it was confirmed that she has seasonal allergies and her fur thinned out late spring and she was very itchy. we decided to try her on apoquel and that removed the itch and her fur came back quite quickly. I stopped the pills per vet's advice a few weeks ago and now her itch is back and her fur is noticeably thinning again, so we are going back on apoquel until first frost. If you suspect a food allergy, it is best to choose a food with limited ingredients so it is easier to eliminate what your pup may be allergic to.
Hi Angie, At the age of your Shadow, I've had several dogs (one my own, a couple fosters) who started to have problems with demodectic (demodex) mange. This is something your vet can diagnose with a small skin scraping. It was pretty scary looking and indeed caused temporary hair loss, but once all over and done had no effect on the health and thickness of their fur. I don't know about the fosters, but once my own dog was fully grown, he didn't have any ongoing problems with demodex. It seemed to be very much a puppy/adolescent issue only. Good luck - Shadow is very handsome in your avatar!
