I hope you lovely CD people may be able to help me. Originally posted this message on the BritBarf Health site but haven't had much of a response! I'm not sure if this should be in feeding or health?

I have a 6 year old Dobermann, Lottie, who is on thyroid medication (0.3mg thyroxyl, twice a day) - has been for about 3 years. She was last tested by Jean Dodds (Hemopet) mid-May 2008 who said her current dosage was fine.

For those technically-minded the results were:

T3(RIA) 86 (Range 45-150)
T4 4.03 (High) OK (Range 1.0-4.0)
Free T3 2.3 (Range 1.7-5.3)
Free T4(RIA) 0.79 (Range 0.45-2.06)
T3 Autoantibodies 0.8 (Range Less than 2)
T4 Autoantibodies 1.0 (Range Less than 2)

She has never had a particularly thick coat, but it does seem to be getting worse. It isn't helped by her daughter regularly licking any injuries (usually as a result of barbed wire) and chewing her ears, but I don't think that is the cause. Her skin also seems a bit scurfy.

She is predominantly raw fed, as are my other 5 dogs, and gets a daily supplement of fish body oils (1000mg), vit E (200 iu) and Evening
Primrose Oil (500mg). She weighs around 30kg.

She is fed twice a day and a weekly diet would consist of:

Monday morning - Lamb ribs and a small amount of tripe
Monday evening - Minced meat/tripe and a small handful of Burns hypoallergenic mixer

Tuesday morning & evening - Minced meat/tripe and handful of mixer

Wednesday morning - Lamb ribs and a small amount of tripe
Wednesday evening - Minced meat/tripe and a small handful of mixer

Thursday morning - Minced meat/tripe and handful of mixer
Thursday evening - Half pack Naturediet and handful of mixer

Friday morning & evening - Minced meat/tripe and handful of mixer

Saturday morning - Lamb ribs and a small amount of tripe
Saturday evening - Minced meat/tripe and a small handful of mixer

Sunday morning - Tripe and Offal (liver/kidney) and a small handful of mixer
Sunday evening - Half pack Naturediet and handful of mixer

Some days I may add a raw egg, tin of pilchards, liquidised veg/leftovers. The minced meat varies and sometimes contains bone. Also she sometimes gets Dorwest Easygreen or Keeper's Mix.

Can anyone offer any advice as to how I can improve her coat? Is her diet lacking in something?

Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

You could try using a product called 'Yumega' its very good for coats. Sorry I haven't a link but its made by Lintbells. they will have a stand at Crufts.

Yumega is mainly starflower oil and Flax seed oil.  I give these two to my youngest bitch and her coat is coming back beautifully, lovely condition and getting a lengh and colour she's never had before.  Works out much cheeper then yumega, haven't compared the results as I've never tried her on yumega, I can't afford to feed that to a setter!

I wouldnt bother with yumega, my boy dropped his coat when I put him on it

i did not see any improvement when i gave yumega , all 4 bottles of it , i have started using Royal Jelly supplement  , which i got from groomers and i can see a major difference already , i also use the royal jelly shampoo

ive got all three on mine on Yumega and its done wonders for all three.
Even the wooly coat of my neuted boy is slowly getting better.
So the cost is worth it for me altough i dont give them as mush as it says too on the bottle.

and I thought it was expensive to give to one irish setter :)

I would have her thyroid levels checked again with it being a while since they were last done.

I'd agree if the skin/coat is having a 'wobble' with condition thats probably to be honest
on the first signs that the thyroid levels may also be wobbling.

The best is to treat both 'inside and outside' along with retesting bloods to see if her medication
needs adjusting.

I use the Groomers Vet Grade Evening Primrose oil shampoo to treat the outside and use the Groomers Evening Primrose
food supplement to treat inside.
If you speak to the people at Groomers they will advise you which either Royal Jelly or Evening Primrose oil
food supplements will be better for hypo-t.

I don't feed Barf so can't comment if her diet is lacking in anything but am sure there are some more knowledgable
that can help with this.

Thanks all. I have tried Yumega, which made no difference, and as you say is very expensive.

She is due for a re-test in May, so maybe I'll bring it forward.

I'll have a word with the people from Groomers at Crufts and see what they suggest.

If it was me I'd be wanting to have her tested now really.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you add liquidised spinach to Lottie's diet each day as it's generally thought to be good for skin. If she doesn't like it you can mix it with something sweeter like liquidised carrot or pear. I usually make a batch then freeze in an ice cube tray. I also sometimes stuff a veggie ice cube inside the skin of a chicken wing if anyone's being fussy. That way they don't notice it going down!

I know that sometimes people with health compromised dogs prefer to cook for them as opposed to feeding raw. I think there's some advice here:

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/healthy_diet.htm

This site's mainly concerned with epilepsy but as one of the causes can sometimes be Thyroid problems there's advice on here for those dogs too. And Jean Dodds is the clinician they use.

Hope you can get Lottie sorted.

Thanks for the link Misty.

I think I might actually e-mail Jean Dodds, who has been very helpful regarding the thyroid testing, and see if any suggestions are forthcoming.

I've had a reply from the very helpful Dr Dodds:

"Dear Karen:  Hello again!  I think that the current dose for her weight could be on the low side, so I suggest increasing her dose to 0.4 mg twice daily.   There is plenty of room with her 2008 results to increase the amount to 0.4 mg twice daily.  Are you sure that she gets the thyroxine at least an hour before or three hours after each meal , to ensure absorption.  This is especially important for dogs fed raw diets, because thyroxine binds to calcium and soy in foods.

Also, her diet seems wonderful, but I would add coconut oil - one teaspoon with each meal. Best wishes. Jean"

She doesn't get the drug following those time scales, so that's helpful and I've not heard of using coconut oil in diets, so I'll give that a go.

> I've had a reply from the very helpful Dr Dodds

That's great that she got back to you so quickly. She sounds very impressive. Good to have some practical advice too.

I've never heard of using coconut oil either. Please let us know how you get on, it's always useful to have a range of strategies to try as you never know what's round the corner when you have a few dogs :-)

Good luck.

I HAVE ALSO TRIED YUMEGA AND IT WAS THE WORST THING EVER I HAVE HEAVY COATED DOGS WHO ALL LOST THERE COATS  AND TOOK A WHOLE YEAR TO GET BACK TO  NORMAL,NOT FOR ME

simkhona1 Please don't use caps as it is considered shouting on the net & very difficult to read.

I doubt very much it was the Yumega that made your dogs drop their coats, I don't use it I use Horse Biotin made by Gold Label-cheaper & nothing artificial in it & the smallest tub lasts for ages

Well Yumega (or any other supplement) stops a dogs coat from moulting and I find when they start moulting, don't give anything which gets the coat growing back, get all the old coat out, then aid the new growth :)

Bree went on the starflower & Flaxseed once her coat was gone and it has now come back lovely, you could even see it coming back as it worked down her back and for abit she had lovely coat over her shoulders, but still dead over the croup area.

sorry moonmaiden didnt realise

I also tried Yumega and I had the worst year ever for coat growth. A short time after starting it one of my boys blew his coat to an extent that I haven't seen in my 28 years of being in the breed!! Personally, I wouodn't touch it with a barge pole

>I doubt very much it was the Yumega that made your dogs drop their coats

bit of a coincidence then........

> bit of a coincidence then........

Not if the dogs were already casting. Yumega only contains cold pressed golden flax and starflower oil with natural vitamin E nothing there to make the coat fall out.

Mine wasnt, the lady at the yumega stand said it might be like a detox and that was why he dropped his coat. I used it for over 2 months then gave up, he has got his coat back since.  obviously didnt work for him.

sorry for my unwise, may I know are the starflower & Flaxseed oil for human (for example: holland&barrett Flaxseed oil)the same to these supplements for pets?  it is to say can I give my dog holland&barrett Flaxseed oil ??? or can I give my dog holland&barrett starflower oil??

have you try sea kelp?  and you can try grooming Lottie every day.