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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Thin Hair?
| Hello All, Tess relasped again in August but she is doing fine! Over the last few years her hair has gotten thinner and thinner and more mottled in areas. Seems to get worse with each relapse. I was wondering if anyone has had any success in adding some type of supliment to help the hair grow back in? She is currently on 7.5mg predisone x 1 per day and 0.65ml Cylco x 2 per day. Any thoughts? Claudine and Tess (who is feeling really chilly with almost no hair and the cold setting in). |
| Claudine Burlington |
| Claudine, I am so sorry about Tess and her thinning coat. We did go through this with Chance the whole summer and fall he was on high doses of prednisone. Terriers who have multi-coats tend to suffer more loss and poor coat because it is really hair (like humans) rather than fur. I am guessing Tess is also a terrier? You are still at a relatively high dose of prednisone and that is going to be a monumental challenge to overcome in terms of coat. However, I will suggest that you pay great attention to making sure that Tess is provided a well balanced range of vitamins and minerals. There are several, like the B and C vitamins, that are very important in the production of the protein for hair. You can either go the route of a doggie vitamin or you can do as I do and supplement with human vitamins. I use some kind of Ester C, a good B-50, E and make sure my dogs get their raw meaty bones for minerals and liver for a good source of A and D. If you are adverse to raw meaty bones, then the supplement should contain a moderate amount of calcium. Or you can use ground egg shells about 1/2-1 tsp per pound of food. In addition, I think the most important coat supplement would be fish oil, those Omega 3 fatty acids. They will provide the kind of lubricant to the hair follicles that is needed now to overcome dry coat conditions. The other route you can take to provide Omega 3 fatty acids is to give Tess around 2 high omega 3 eggs each day. You can cook them if you wish, or give the yolks raw (but cook the whites). Eggs are an excellent food for their high quality proteins, rich in vit A and E plus others. If there is one food that dogs can thrive on, its eggs. It's not wonder their cousins in the wild are known to steal eggs from nests when they can. Keep her coat brushed well to stimulate the sebaceous oil glands to coat the hair. When Chance looked his worst I used a product well known to the dog show world called The Stuff. I brushed his hair up and fluffed it with this to give him a full look. Here is link to an amazon ad for it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Stuff-16-Oz-Spray/dp/B0002H3RLU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1257722495&sr=8-2 This is where I bought mine. It is really safe for ill dogs and smells good. good luck, Patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Good advise....I've been noticing that Tessy's hair is starting to thin more and more. For some odd reason it doesn't seem to want to grow out on the top but it does on the sides?!?! Johnny & Tessy |
| Johnny |
| Hmmm, Also forgot to mention that a thinning coat can be a sign of hypothyroidism so it's a good idea to have that evaluated with a thyroid panel. p |
| Patrice NYS |
| I neglected to pass on a caution about supplements and I should know better to forget this important one. 2 years ago I attended a seminar with Dr. Dodds. The day was split up into vaccinations in the morning and hypothyroidism in the afternoon. She was very excited that morning as she was introducing herself and sketching out the day ahead. She had news from a just released study done in Europe that showed that iodine in excess quantities could actually CAUSE autoimmune hypothyroiditis. What are the implications for us as dog owners? Was this epidemic of canine hypothyroidism being charged by something else besides just genetics? She laid out the science for us that afternoon and she demonstrated how molecularly iodine would be a causative agent in autoimmune destruction of the thyroid gland. What should we do? She advised to avoid any over-supplementation of iodine to dogs. How would we know how much is in a dog food product or supplement? Well, it's not always possible. Manufacturers are not held to the same standard for dog products, so you might not ever see a standard Supplement Facts list on the label. When I look at my human grade vitamin bottle, I see that I get 50% of my daily requirement in one tablet. By the way, in the US, manufacturers are required to have that supplement facts list, but the FDA does not have the staff to check every manufacturer for compliance and accuracy. The companies are, however, cautioned that at any moment in time they may be required to back up their claims with this information. So companies that are proud of their claims of quality are most likely to have this information and adhere to the standards. She was clear that too many dog products use kelp products as part of the supplement. And this is the biggest problem now-a-days. Many more owners are now giving fancy canine supplements and a lot of them contain kelp which has a very high iodine content. So during the break many of us gathered at the door prize table with Dr. Dodds to evaluate some of the fancy supplements that were prizes. We were horrified to see that all of them contained kelp and thus, the levels of iodine were too high. Dr. Dodds advised that if you were going to use something like this to only give it once a week or less. If you search out iodine, kelp and thyroid you will find many references to avoiding kelp for those with thyroid conditions. In America, we get more than enough iodine in the salt we add (in too great a quantity) to our foods. In some parts of the world, iodine is not as readily available and you will see goiter. my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Patrice, you are (as always) a wealth of information! We will be starting Tess on her "egg" therapy this week - I will keep everyone posted. We did do tests for her thyroid several times and all negative, but I will bring up again this year. Cross your fingers and paws for us! Claudine |
| Claudine Burlington |
This thread was discussed between 08/11/2009 and 11/11/2009
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