We "shaved" my 6 yr. old Akita this past summer in order to give her some relief from the heat.  This was done in June and it is now nearly December.  Her hair is only coming back in patches...some has not regrown at all.  The vet told us it was a zinc deficiency, so we have been giving her the supplement for over a month-no improvement.  She does not have mange, etc. & is not itchy or red...just patchy.  Any advice/experience with this????????

Thanks

Is she a long coat? Can't really help as it has never ever occurred to me to shave any of my Spitzes. Thing is, they have a thick coat which keeps out the cold, but it also keeps out the heat. One thing I have noticed - Akitas don't moult evenly - mine currently has a very cold bum as he's lost all the coat from his back end & is still in full coat round his front. The new coat is growing in nicely at the back, so presumably, when he gets round to losing his beautiful ruff, that will grow in much later than the back end (soooo glad I don't show him anymore :D) Only thing I can suggest is that you keep grooming her - it will stimulate the blood supply which in turn may stimulate her coat to grow.
Just a thought - has she had her thyroid levels checked? Don't have much info on this, but I know thyroid imbalance is quite common in the breed.

What country are you in?  I presume it's not the UK as I don't really feel that our weather gets that hot, and lets face it it's certainly hotter in their country of origin.

Unfortuantely there's no telling how the coat will grow back once it's clipped each dog is different.  I remember clipping one of our Pom's once and it took about 2 years to grow back and then it didn't grow back properly.

I hate to tell you this but my friends Golden retriever took a year to grow all the coat back, and when it did the texture was awful.  Not until another year had passed was it anything like it was before.

What possessed you to clip a coat that is designed to not only inusulate from cold but from heat too.  If your bitch was hot keep her in the shade with plenty of water to drink and ensure she isn't overweight.

Yes shaving can have really bad consequences. During my last pregnancy I was ill and unable to groom my Persian cats, and my ex didn't do enough so one of them ended up having to be shaved. It took 2 years before his coat grew back, he was actually bald with peach like fuzz most of that time. Then it took anther 2 years before the coat became the right colour again!