Holly, 11mth old cocker (incase you've forgotten!!) has recently developed a really dry coat on her back and sides. :( She's been stripped out with a combination of fingers and stripping knife and that seemed to be ok but since the heating has gone on she looks terrible :(

She's fed on Nutro and has garlic everyday and gets treated with liver or fish every sunday :)

She's not ill in herself, in fact she's still completely potty, but her coat isn't gleaming at all and the colour looks really washed out :( Her ears, and head (which is also stripped out) look perfect but her back looks bad :(

It's only in the last month that her coat has been ready to pull and I'd always put her bad condition down to her puppy coat being so fluffy but now I'm not so sure.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Fiona
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How is her general condition - weight, eyes, skin? Has she been wormed recently? Could be diet deficiency, although Nutro seems pretty good stuff.
Gwen

She's seems very bright in herself, although her weight is low (9.3 kilos at 11mths old and 14 inchs tall). She's got what my dad calls "wobbly skin syndrome" - she's got a lot of movement in her skin and we can't seem to get the weight on her (wish I had that problem!!)

She was wormed at the end of August and is due to be done again, with Drontal Plus, in a couple of weeks time.

Fiona
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Hi Fiona,
Have you turned the heat on in your house? The drier air could be what's doing it. I had a problem esp. in NM with the girls' coats during winter. The humidity dropped from about 12% down to nonexistent.
Here isn't as bad since I have radiator, not furnace blowing hot air around. Still by Jan., I usually have to start leaving the bathroom door open during a shower to give the place some moisture.

I found the best way to combat it was to give them some extra oil in their diet --- some fish oil capsules, cooked chicken skin off my dinner, an oil dog product to add to their food, or even occasional french fries :rolleyes: Since dogs don't get high cholesteral, it doesn't hurt ;) Also a good conditioner after they were shampooed also helped out :)
It might be something else with Holly. It's just a thought. :rolleyes: Hope she gets better :)
good luck,
toodles

We've got radiator heating and it's set to about 17C and we have bowls of water in every room to combat the Chris' psoriasis (sp?).

Holly gets bathed every 4wks and we alternate between a shampoo for black dogs and a very milkd and gentle baby shampoo. We also use a conditioner with every other bath and use detangling spray on her slicker brush.

It's really confusing as only part of her coat is dry - the rest is lovely and shiny and smooth.

Fiona
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Without seeing Holly, it's difficult to say but could it be she still has some coat to come out? Dry, washed out (reddish brown tint) colour seems quite common in solid blacks down their sides where some dead, excess hair is often left on in young dogs. Also stripping knives can make the hair coarse & dry, specially along the back. It doesn't sound like there's anything much wrong medically-speaking, so I'd be more inclined to think it is a hairdressing problem :D I would supplement with Evening Primrose oil or starflower oil (both excellent for coat condition) & see if that makes any difference. Also perhaps try a leave-in conditioner you can just brush through the coat in between shampoos

Jane

I would just add that unless you need to bath her so often - try reducing the number of baths she has to say 6 weeks. I only bath the boys if they are going to a show or have got dirty or smelly or just plain need it. Are you in a hard water area? I know that dries my skin something awful.

Pam n the boys

Same here Pam...in fact my girlies are due a bath especially India, she is in season at the minute (yuck!!).

Fiona., I use Cascade (aromatherapy-I think :D) shampoo its the pink one and has rosemary and johoba (sp?). Very inexpensive, around 2.50, but they do ones for shiney flake free skin, detangeling etc. It might be worth a go on her next bath to see if it has any effect. I swear by them, I have a black and blue roan, and their coats are always nice and shiney....

HTH

Natasha

We are in a very hard water area - that could well be it. We have to use loads of shampoo to get her clean (she's a filthy dog and loves to roll and dig) and it takes over 30mis to get her fully rinsed out.

I've just given her a bath, she stank!!, and smothered her in very expensive conditioner for dry hair and she looks a lot better. She does have a lot of brown/red hair to come out and having washed her she's gotten rid of a lot of it and she looks better.

Fiona
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Probably a silly question, but are you conditioning after shampooing? And rather than 1 mammoth dose of Shampoo, do 2 or 3 wash, rinse, repeats cycles before shampooing. You could also try worming with another product - dont know too much about drontal - is it effective on all worms? The dull coat/low bodyweight are usually indicative of a worm burden. I agree with the EPO advice - I get EPO combined with Codliver oil capsules from boots (currently buy 1 get 1 free)free
Gwen

I do 2 wash/rince cycles on her but it takes ages to rinse her clear at the end - the water is terrible here and we have to descale the kettle every fortnight :(

I do use conditioner at most baths (on the second cycle) but find that she's getting restless by then so I've tended to skip it recently.

I alternate the worming between panacur and drontal plus on the advice of the breeder and she seems to be doing ok on it.

I spoke to my vet yesterday and he said that we need to increase her food, add oil to her meals and excercise her more (to increase her appetite) and then he'll see her in 6mths time. If there's no real improvement he'll look at running some blood tests.

Fiona
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Stinky and Carrie Hoover both have Evening Primrose Oil in their food on the vets recommendation and their coats are really really good. The gleam off a black labrador has to be seen to be believed! If you can't find a medical reason, maybe you could give that a try. :)

p.s. We hardly ever wash them. If they're dirty, either a dip in the stream or a quick shower of the dirty bits.

How much should I give her then Kate? One capsule a day?

Fiona
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That's all we do. Got to a health food shop (I buy them in bulk from Costco) or similar and buy a fairly low dose one, then pop one capsule in her food. Or cover it in peanut butter and give it as a treat.

Thanks :) We've got a new Costco that's just opened up - I can feel a shopping trip coming on!!

Fiona
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Stick a pin in the capsule or it may just pass through whole, and no I haven't looked just been told :-D
Anne
Oh and don't leave the pin in ;-)

Ooh. Never thought of that. :( All those wasted capsules . . .

Luckily they're both troughers, so they wouldn't even notice oil in the food. ;)

Ok.... Y'all have Costco???????!!!!
Now I'm jealous! :(
I miss Costco :( Well, the prices at least. The drafty dark warehouse style never quite appealed to me :rolleyes:

It's right next to the Rugby grounds :) I watch the rugby and send Chris in to do some shopping!!!

Fiona
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Ours is almost next door to very good pub which serves great food - an evening trip to Costco does tend to go on all night :D

Ooh. I hate that pub :D

for eating or drinking?:p

I've only been once and it was packed. My husband's not good in crowds . . so you can guess the rest.

Plus my friend is having an affair and that's where she meets her "bit on the side".

Ouch.:( One of the managers a bit of an ar*e, and one of the others had an unsuccessful bid on our old house so I feel a bit guilty/embarassed when I see him in there. We tend to go before 6 when we eat there and it's usually pretty quiet. Never been in on a Friday or Saturday night though, and it might get busy on a Sunday lunchtime. Damn good food though :D

The evening primrose is good stuff but have you tried Viacutan - its from the vet but it has the highest possible GLA content (even more than the EPO) and works on the inside. However until its in the sytem try Dermocanis (doggy shampoo also with huge GLA content) on the outside too.