Dog Question

[Hound dog]

Molly is a shepard mix. She has short fur with an undercoat. She sheds. During the season she sheds enough I like to keep her brushed just so I don't have it clogging up the vacuum hose so much. Usually she's losing the undercoat. (different color, is a light tan) In all her years it's not been a big issue. Betsy was always much worse with the amount of fur you came away with as hers is her dad's fur, which is Rowdy and his fur is dense with a thick undercoat.

I scratched Molly as she greeted me at the door. I came away with a handful (seriously) of fur. Now while scratching her during season often can bring up loose undercoat, never like this it doesn't. I have skipped brushing her for several days because I've had the boys and it's not so easy to do with them here. So I grabbed the brush.........and I swear I have never seen so much fur come off this dog......not even if I added up all the fur over her whole lifetime maybe. I had to stop after 10 mins because Maggie was determine I was playing some sort of game with Molly and wanted included......and the fur filled the kitchen trash can (large) half full. I'd just put in a new bag. omg THAT's why suddenly my dining room floor looks like it's now light tan. I was brushing her before running the vacuum.

It still looks like the undercoat, and she loved the brushing (she always does), but the volume is like 10 times normal! I realize we've had a really hot summer, but she's spent very little of it outside and the hottest days in ac. And why would she suddenly start doing it the end of July and not earlier. Before this it was normal shedding.

Rowdy had really come away with a lot of fur last time I brushed him, but then he often does so I didn't think a lot about it.....but his was a bit more than normal for this time of year too.

I sent a bag of the same dog food with Betsy and Nichole has been saying she's getting another dog's worth of fur off her each time she's brushed her, which is often. It's so bad she's taken to vacuuming the dog instead of brushing her. lol (and silly Betsy loves it)

Only thing I have done differently is change their dog food to Retriever brand which has smaller kibble and is cheaper per 50lb bag. That was a couple of months ago. I have no clue if it's related or not. But I was going to go back to the normal food anyway because Molly and Maggie have suddenly taken up eating dirt, which is a red flag for a mineral deficiency, which means the dog food is not meeting their needs somewhere.

I do hope this isn't an omen for hotter weather to come...........

 

[lmf64]

I agree, I hope it's not a sign of more hot weather to come. I used to have a chow and when I skipped brushing him for a few days OMG I would get at least twice as much underfur as usual.

 

[TerryJ2]

When I had borzoi, the breeder told me that they would only totally blow their coats once, and then once they were totally mature, they would just have normal, small shedding. NOT!
They totally blew their coats every year, and it never seemed to happen at the same time.
One year it happened in Sept., and 3 wks later, it started to get cold. Weird.
So, I would not go to by the book. I would just keep an eye on it and make sure that there are no bald spots and that it is normal shedding, so to speak, even if it is sort of out of season.

 

[Hound dog]

Terry, you made me laugh. Rowdy blows his coat every May at the latest. LOL How do I remember? The birds literally swoop down into the yard to snatch his enormous puff balls of fur (even when not being brushed it comes off that way, reminds me of cotton blowing in the wind only much larger) to build their nests and make them comfy cozy. My yard looks most of May like it has snowed. No joke.

I just got a dog off him too. He's shedding, but his is not much over normal. I can get another dog off him nearly any time of the year except winter. The boy's coat is super dense, super thick, and amazingly beautiful when he's been bathed and brushed.

Molly blew her winter coat in may.........I know because I was brushing her twice a day and vacuuming twice a day to keep up with it. I don't normally deal with that again until the following year. And even blowing her coat doesn't consist of the volume of fur I'm getting/she's losing now. I'm not seeing any bald spots. She's not itched since her allergy medications and flea medications. So I'm not really worried, just wondering what the heck is going on.

I guess it's back to vacuuming twice a day and brushing her twice a day until this stops. Maybe a good scrubbing in a bath will help, I was going to give her and Maggie another one anyway this weekend.

 

[TerryJ2]

You're way ahead of me. I really need to give my collie a bath.

Funny about the birds. Smart birds!

 

[Hound dog]

Maggie is forcing me to keep up with bathing. LOL

She loves water to the nth degree..............and she loves getting dirty too. So I guess I should be grateful she loves water so much. LOL They're being bathed because she discovered Rowdy's water dish in the yard after the last monsoon type rain (yesterday) and it was filled with muddy water.......she jumped into it and decided to swim! That was bad enough but she wasn't done......then she hopped in the mud puddle she made and wanted to swim in it. omg I got her cleaned up enough to come inside, but she really needs another bath now.

 

[mstang67chic]

When Taz was still alive his coat was awful. We would brush and brush and brush and brush and brush and still get lots. husband finally took to using the shop vac on him.

 

[hearts and roses]

Two of my three dogs do not shed, just about never. Sophie has always shed so it's normal to clean the brush out six or seven times while brushing her and if I kept going I'd probably get more than ten...and she only weighs about 17 lbs!

What I've noticed is that both the other two, Nala and Izzy are both shedding BIG TIME lately! I finally chalked it up to the weather. I have to schedule a grooming to have them trimmed real short for the remainder of the summer, especially Izzy the yorkie as she is so low to the ground she drags in everything with her, ugh. Sophie and Nala get hand stripped, the undercoat is gently pulled out, rather than being clipped...which is also why these dogs (cairns) are not supposed to shed.

 

[InsaneCdn]

My take? food is probably a factor. Our old dog was a regular shedder, including a spring "molt"... but when we discovered a change in his shedding pattern and investigated... the manufacturer of his favorite brand had been bought out, and the recipe had been changed slightly... and it no longer met his needs. We had to switch food.

 

[Hound dog]

Well, I talked to Nichole.

Seems Betsy was upset with the move at first and didn't eat for several days. Nichole thought perhaps it was the new dog food, so went out and got the old norm (that I've raised Rowdy, Molly, Betsy and several other dogs on) for her. Eating the old norm, Betsy stopped shedding excessively. Once Nichole put her back on the new food........she had to use the vacuum again. Betsy is like her dad, and normally she sheds a LOT when she sheds.......then it's just up keep, but it's more than Molly by quite a lot. Nichole said she had black fur everywhere (this is not really short fur either) once she started her back onto the new food, like she was blowing her winter coat again.

I'm going back to the old norm due to the eating dirt thing anyway. So I guess we'll see if that is playing a role. I've never had a dog chow down on dirt before either. And Miss Maggie will have to adjust because she refuses to eat anything Molly isn't eating, which includes puppy food of any type. And I've had to cut the mixing down because Molly is gaining weight by leaps and bounds and has nearly gained back every darn pound I worked so hard getting off of her. *sigh* I forgot that has happened to every single puppy that has come to the family with Molly here. Shoot, I can't even coax Maggie to eat when Molly isn't eating even with making her wait for a meal so she's good and hungry, so feeding them in separate rooms or at separate times doesn't work.

Maggie has got some serious Molly worship going on right now. LOL

 

[DammitJanet]

I say clip her really short. I have a havanese which looks like a maltese and we should brush her every day to keep her coat nice and long and keep that stupid under coat pulled out. Phooey. I dont have the energy or the time. We cut her really short and she doesnt shed. She is also so soft when we cut her. She loves it. We do leave her tail growing out and her ears. She looks a bit funny but she is cooler and likes it better. Id just go get me some dog sheers and get to grooming. When you get down to close to her body, use scissors so you dont cut her.

 

[Hound dog]

Janet, Molly's fur isn't long enough to cut. LOL

But Nichole has vowed that she is shaving Betsy next summer and I'll probably have Maggie shaved too. Can't have Rowdy shaved as he's pure white and outside.