Shedding

[selzer]

Arwen is now eight.

Suddenly, this year, she has started shedding with a vengence. Her toenails are growing like crazy too.

I pulled a dog out of her yesterday, bathed her and pulled another puppy out of her today. This is different than her normal shedding behavior.

I bathed her because she is smelling foul. Normally she NEVER smells foul. I had a cat that would only fail to keep himself immaculate when he was ill. I am wondering if she is not well.

My vet WILL think I am NUTS if I go in there and tell him that she stinks what is wrong with her.

Poop is good, eating is ok. I have lowered her intake a little due to her age, and the hot weather. She is not acting as though she is in pain. Might have a bit of an ear thing going on again, story of her life though.

She is the oldest shepherd I have ever had. Had a mix that made it to 14, but that was my parents' dog.

Is this more likely to just be an old age thing, or is she more likely to be feeling under the weather.

[GSD4LIFE21]

sounds like you already have a gut feeling. I know with older dogs it is good to have occasional full blood panels done. Maybe that might be something you can do? Important thing is, you know your dog best and if you think something might be up, better safe than sorry to have it checked out.

[Alto]

Quote: My vet WILL think I am NUTS if I go in there and tell him that she stinks what is wrong with her.

He must have no sense of smell then - dogs do smell "sick": different intestinal parasites will produce very different smelling feces, dog itself will smell differently, dogs that are sick & now dying, smell uniquely awful ...

Re hair & nails, I'd start with thyroid if you don't want to go with a senior's panel (tho you'll spend alot more in the long run if you do it piece meal).
At least she's feeling OK

[RG518]

in my opinion..always go with your gut feelings.

[SunCzarina]

When you say foul, is it a dirty smell or sick smell?

Morgan is almost 8, she's been shedding strangely this year - first one hip then the other, has these things that look like twisterseals coming out of her butt (she has wiry bottle brush fur anyway).

She also stinks, comes from laying in the pool then laying where the lawn was but Otto ate it and it won't stop raining so it's muddy.

I'd be nervous too but she had a full panel done in may, healthy as a 4 year old.

[LisaT]

My first thought would be to check the thyroid.

[selzer]

The hair along her back, the guard hairs, darker hair is coming out lot more, not just her undercoat.

Frankly she stinks like urine, strong urine, so maybe a UTI. Getting a pee sample from her will be a trip.

The night before last I bathed her and brushed her out yesterday morning.

Today she has giant clumps of hair again, the hair along her back and her neck.

I will try to get her in next week.

[selzer]

Arwen has the red badge of courage on her leg. Shedding is profuse still. She is still not keeping herself her usually clean self. I took her in for basic bloodwork, a urine sample, and heartworm test (I haven't been great about giving them heartgard right now). Her symptoms are nothing like heartworm but I figure if they are taking blood anyway. They said that Thyroid will be checked.

Arwen's last bloodwork was when she had the hemangiosarcoma scare a year and a half ago.

[selzer]

Those that thought thyroid are right. Her bloodwork came back and her T4 is .7ug/dL, normal range is .8 - 4.0.

So it is not really low, but they are starting her on thyroxine.

Arwen and I now have something in common.

Her Glucose, AST, ALT, Alk.Ptase, and Total Bilirubin are very near the low end of the reference. The vet did not mention it. I had them give me a copy of the thyroid numbers, I wish I had them copy the whole report.

I can compare these numbers to the numbers I took 18 months ago, but thyroid was not checked then.

Most of the rest of these are smack in the middle of the reference range.

The urine looked ok except that the PH is very high. We are going to give her cranberry tablets for that and see if we can stave off an infection.

Everything else was ok.

I am not new to thyroid conditions, but am new to it in dogs. Since she seems to be having symptoms I will go ahead with this. Can this affect vision or judging distances?

I have her set up for a grooming tomorrow, will giving her a hard boiled egg a couple of times a week help the coat as well and not hurt what I am trying to do?

If she was not having symptoms, I would consider just supplementing with Kelp as she is on the hairy edge and that is supposed to improve thyroid function.

Any thoughts will be considered and appreciated. Thanks in advance.