Crazy Bad Shedding - Any Ideas?

[Lane]

Hey guys.

As some of you may remember, I was the one inquiring about housing two female labs together.

Well, we jumped in feet first and adopted the yellow lab that was found up by Red Lake. She is a clown and makes us laugh daily. When we first got her she was grossly underweight and had a bad case of round worms.

We have since been able to bring her weight up and have erraticated the worms. But now for some reason she is shedding like a machine!

I grew up with dogs, and my father in law breed goldens while my wife was growing up and neither one of us have ever seen a dog blow their coat like this one.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of a one year old that sheds her coat big time for about a week? It has started to slow down, but I think it is because she no longer has any undercoat! I am really hoping this is not indicative of any health problems.

[LABS4ME]

Every yellow I have had blew their coat much more than any black. With that said, it can be a timing thing because of the change of seasons... the fact she is in a house vs. outside (if she was an outside dog), physical changes, blah blah blah. I'd say watch her, keep her weight steady, a good diet with a good food and maybe add a tblsp of canola oil to her food to add a little more fat to the diet to help her coat.

I'd not gauge her coat nowbut more 6 months to a year from now.

Good Luck!

Ken

[graf703]

My roommate's Golden who I have lived with for 2.5 years is shedding like crazy right now. He was also kind of depressed compared to his usual temperament. It was impossible to pet him without clumps of fur coming off in one pass.

We spent at least an hour tag team brushing him a few weeks ago and filled a kitchen garbage can full of fur. He was pretty good for a couple weeks and is just now starting to shed again. He is also way happier, maybe he just needed a little bit of intense affection.

[Scott K]

I have two Labs, and I swear I sweep and vacuum enough hair in a week to fill 2 garbage bags.

[#fishhunt#]

2 times a year the shedding is bad for my dog. Always seems to ber at the same time each year.

[leechlake]

although you have an unusual situation with the worms and weight issue I'd wager it's just normal. My yellow was shedding about a month ago like a mad woman. When she'd shake and the light was right it just looked disgusting. Now her coat looks like a premium fur coat with only normal shedding.

I've always been perplexed as to the timing of her shedding. In my mind they'd shed more with warmer weather and vice versa when cold. That doesn't seem the case.

My wife vacuums her and although it helps I think my wife just thinks it's fun and the dog likes it. I prefer a horse comb.