Blowing her coat - Page 1

My month old female is really blowing her coat like never before.....her diet has been the same. Any thoughts as to why she is blowing her coat more than normal??

How old? The post says month old, I'm assuming you just didn't type how many. If she's old enough that she could be coming into heat soon she will blow her coat. I have a few that seem to blow them at odd times and end up looking like molting Buffalo.

Sorry!! she is 20 months................she looks exactky like a molting buffalo.................It's never been this bad though.

When is she due to be in heat? I don't know where you are located but where I am the weather has been NUTS this year.  Yesterday the temp was 105 the heat index was 117.  The winter here was colder and longer than normal too, so mine have blown their coats at odd times.  I have one bitch that is still blowing her undercoat, I have no idea how she isn't bald.  The bitch that lives inside the house all the time just finished blowing hers, I was coughing up hair balls for 3 weeks.  For mine that are in the house I shop vacuum them. :) I know it sounds weird but they don't care and it does kinda help cut down on the hair you are trying to clean up.  They call them German shedders for a reason.  They don't care for it much the first time but I undercoat rake them to loosen it up then vacuum against the growth of the hair actually works pretty good.  LOL

Weird enough, my male just started blowing his about 2 weeks ago. He is the only one out of 4... maybe they know something about the weather that we don't. LOL

Melissa

End of the world? or a Nuclear winter ahead?

I have learned to track what I call the chicken plucking time. That's when you wake up and over night the bitch looks very sadly moth eaten with huge chunks ready to be plucked out. For the most part my girls come into heat exactly 8 weeks later. There have been a few times it has been longer - the longest 12 weeks but she was on long term antibiotics due to a fox tail problem and I feel that probably impacted the cycle. Tho this bitch will also delay her cycle if we have an extended hot spell (over 100 or 105 for many days) which of course living in Central CA happens w a great regularity. As a result she has about a 14 month cycle with the summer heat on about 7.5 mo schedule  and the winter one 6.5 month. Most of the time however the chicken plucking time is an accurate measure for 8 weeks later.

But all bitches are different -which is why I started tracking this in my record keeping. I have a friend who's bitch  does not start to molt until right before going into heat and in 3 days will be a naked as a jay bird having made a good attempt of getting rid of ever possible piece of hair.

Ah bitches what is there not to love. :)))

Good news is that if you plan to show her at NASS, she will be in full coat! My girls also blow coat a few weeks before coming into season. They want to look pretty for their fellows! If you're really concerned, take her to the vet and make sure that there are no underlying issues...ring worm, mange, allergies, staff infection, etc. While she is blowing coat be hyper vigilant for hotspots as they tend to itch and scratch more.