We had Libby spayed on Monday, she was fine after the op and full of beans by Tuesday morning :)
However, yesterday the house was covered in masses of black hair, today I could hardly see the floor, and noticed two bald patches on the Looney One (libby) :(
Back to the Vets, she checked her over and can see no reason for the massive hairloss....it's coming out in handfulls!!!! She said it could be a reaction to the anaesthetic drugs, and gave her an injection of Cortisone I think, and told me to keep an eye on her.

Has anyone else had any experience of this? Or any suggestions as to what I can do to ease the hair loss?

Or will I end up with a bald flatcoat??? :(

liberty

Probably just the opposite - spaying usually turns flatcoats into fuzzballs - sorry! We had this hair loss when our great-granny flatcoat (not spayed) had a thyroid deficiency - it came out overnight in fistfulls. Could possibly be an unfortunate co-incidence.

When we had sheep, and used cortisone for lambing problems (seems like eternity ago now) the cortisone itself would cause the hair to fall out, but I expect they've improved it by now.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Well it's a week since The Looney One (libby) was speyed, and her hair is still coming out in handfulls, the bald patches are getting bigger, and am at my wits end as to what to do. I'm taking her back to the vets tomorrow; as everyone I''ve asked has no idea as to why this is happening. :( :(

Does anyone have any suggestions?

liberty :(

Not sure if it's the same thing in dogs as people but my mum loses lots of hair after a general aneasthetic, maybe that's what's happening with your flatcoat?

just a thought,

Fiona
x x x

Hi Fiona

Thanks for your post. I also thought it could be a reaction to the anaesthetic, but a few months ago she had a G.A. to remove a growth on her chin, and no problems with hair loss then :(
She's only 14 months old, and I seem to be forever at the vets. If they did clubcard points I'd be rich!!

liberty

Hi,

Didn't happen that quickly, but one of my Rough Collies had to be spayed after a pyo at 12 yrs old and she went virtually bald with just a thin covering of hair - as she was an oldie, we had a really pathetic green jumper for her. (Strangely, holidaying in Cyprus a year later, we found - and bought, obviously! - a model of a RC wearing a green jumper, spooky :D)

Only advice I can offer is that hers came back fine after a few months ............. hopefully Libby's will too.
M.

Hi Marina and Jo

Thanks for your replies.

I came in today to find another load of hair on the floor, and another couple of thinning spots on libby. I guess all I can do is see how it goes over the weekend, and should there be no improvement, back to the Vets! Presumably they'll be some tests they can run if need be!

liberty

hi
sorry i not got back to you been busy with the puppies going to their new homes plus getting the 3 dog readly for southern countrie champ show,how thinks this week with the f/c coat,and hows the goldern,we must meet up once very thing settal down again,take care.

terri

Thanks all for your replies; (welcome to the board Ebony and Jeanlyon) :)

I took Liberty back to the vets on Thursday, fortunatley it was the same vet we saw last week, so she could see how dramatic the hairloss has been. :(
Still no real ideas as to why it's happening so she took skin scrapes, hair and blood samples to eliminate the most obvious causes. Poor libby, she was so good, the tail never stopped wagging throught-out .

I'm waiting for the results to come back, and if, as the vet thinks they show up nothing, then they're referring me to a Dermatologist :(

At the moment, she looks about the same, but no worse, which is good.

Thanks again

liberty

Hi - I have 2 Flatcoats, both spayed, neither turned into fuzzballs nor went bald! However, my younger one for the last 3 years, every May, starts pulling her hair out, licking her legs madly and going bald. Vet thinks it is an allergic reaction to one of the grasses. Once the pollen season is over, it gets better. Last time she needed an anti-itch shot to stop it.

Hi Liberty, I've just joined the forum and have flatcoats too. Jo and terri know me. My oldest bitch had no problems after spaying. I do hope this is nothing serious. It occurred to me it may be a hormonal thing because my bitch Rowan and a friends bitch lose their coats really badly between seasons and also after having litters some flatcoat bitches develop lots of bald patches after feeding the pups. This is not a lack of condition scenario, but a direct result of the changing levels of hormones, and can be quite dramatic. I should ask your vet if this is the case given that her ovaries are now no more and out of production. It may have caused a sudden huge dip! i should imagine that her coat will grow back but as Jo says dogs coats, both dogs and bitches, are never quite the same after spaying. At least the weather is warm. Bev.

hi bev welcome to the site.

terri

Hello, I'm very new here too and have 2 Flatcoats. Both mine were spayed early as they had phantom pregnancies and I didn't want to breed. I am told that spaying is a good preventative for mammary tumours. I have had no problems with either of them since the spaying. They both have beautiful coats, apart from the younger one pulling her hair out at the moment due to some allergy which we think is pollen.