# Hair loss - allergies, hypothyroid, or something else?



## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

Aerith has been losing her coat the last two months. The top photo was taken in late Feb. In March she got treated for heart worms. At this time she was being crated indoors. I noticed her belly looked red and the hair was really thin in her "armpit" areas. Also, the skin in this area was really dark, smelled a bit yeasty, and slightly itchy. I attributed it to long term friction due to being over weight. Until recently (changed her diet to raw and she started losing weight) she was 40 lbs overweight. She hit her target weight loss in Feb and so I increased her ration from 9 oz 2x per day to 12 oz 2x per day. She started losing her hair then, but it was slowly and at the time appeared to be normal shedding patterns and timing. In April I took her for a second heart worm treatment. She had gained 2 lbs in 1 month which I attributed to little activity and the increase food amount. After this treatment her hair loss picked up pace. She looked patchy and it progressed to bald looking spots on her flanks. Now, at the beginning of May she pretty much doesn't have any undercoat left on her flanks or back. Her skin looks reddish pink, but it doesn't appear to be itchy. It could be a slight sun burn but I don't think so because it's not painful. She's not chewing on herself or scratching sores like she has done this time of year in previous years. The hair loss seems to be primarily her undercoat and there are no sores, crusty areas or outright bare skin. She's not lethargic or depressed in any way. I even think she might have gained some more weight in the last month. The bottom photos are from today. You can see how much thinner the coat is. The one on the left shows the healthy coat she still has (that is rapidly shedding out undercoat) and the stark line where it transitions to essentially just her overcoat, and below that you can see the area that was shaved in March for her heart worm treatment and how little it has grown back. 

Any thoughts? I'm going to try to make an appointment with the vet. As a side note, I'm looking at the side effects of immiticide from this site, IMMITICIDE Veterinary Information from Drugs.com,...it says 2.6% of dogs have diarrhea.....Aerith had diarrhea for a week after the first dose, no other side effects,....vet said the diarrhea was not due to the med and couldn't give me a possible explaination. In the same section it also says "Clinical observations/adverse reactions occurring in less than 1.5% of the dogs treated with IMMITICIDE include: .......alopecia, hair color and coat character change, miscellaneous skin problem......". Wonder if it is the heart worm treatment in conjunction with shedding season? She got a dose of immiticide the first week of March and the second week of April and the hair loss really ramped up in mid-April.


















Kbug


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

I can definitely state that my Doxie was shedding soon after his Immiticide treatment. When we would go to and from the vet, my shirt would show signs of Doxie fur from picking him up. I can't honestly tell you when it stopped, but now he experiences absolutely no shedding whatsoever.

In his case, the shedding could have been attributed to a few things: having been HW positive, being under stress while at the vet, and lastly as a result of the Immiticide treatment.


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## poppie_field (Aug 14, 2013)

*Hairloss due to Immiticide Heart Worm treatment?*

Hi, I'm new here and found you by googling shedding and immiticide... my dog Leeluu, a border collie/lab mix, has just undergone her second and third treatment... after the first treatment, I noticed she was shedding but her fur was still silky and shiny... she doesn't have much of an undercoat, just silky hair... but after the 2 last shots which happened within 24 hours, her shedding has reached paramount proportions. Her fur is dry and she looks thinner. It is during shedding season, but this seems unusual. From what I am reading here, others have had the same experience. I am hoping to hear from my vet today, but she has a follow up appointment on Friday, so perhaps he can shed some light. I live in New York, where heartworm is rare (my adoptee Leeluu is from Texas, where is it rampant), so I'm finding it's hard to get information regarding all the things she might experience. When I spoke with the vet's office they were kind of insensitive about the shedding issue, though. They wondered why I was concerned, and said I should worry about getting rid of the worms first... of course, but still wanted to know if there is something I can do to help the quality of her fur!


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## sharleytail (Sep 10, 2013)

Hair loss might not because of the treatment, it might have little effect but surely the weather has something to do. What do you feed her? You may want to add oil on her diet to help on her skin. My friend's sheltie almost had the same case and she had to deal with hair loss and dander on the skin, out of the brushes and combs, this furminator FURminator for Large or Medium Dogs, Furminator Tool For Large or Medium Dogs is just perfect on size and on removing the hair better and gentle on skin. The coat become even more shinier maybe because of the the brush help on bringing out the natural oil in her sheltie.


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