Will her coat grow back?

[tanafan]

Hi all,

It's the middle of the night and I'm up worried about my sheltie, so I did some googling and I ended up here. My sheltie is 13 and a half, with hypothyroidism, arthritis and a beef allergy. She's been on hypoallergenic food for 12 years, and thyroid meds for about 8 months. We've been battling dermatitis for a year now, and she's been on multiple drugs and had multiple small patches shaved. We thought we had it beat, but it came back with a terrifying vengeance and I brought her back to the vet. Because a good chunk of her back was affected this time, the vet suggested we shave her completely to have better access to the spots, so now she's bald (it's awful). But this round of antibiotics and shampoo seem to be working and I'm thinking that in combo with a very very strict diet and a new hydrolyzed protein hypoallergic food, I'm hoping the dermatitis will leave us alone.

However, now my sheltie has no hair. I know that in younger dogs, the coat will grow back but what will happen if she is older and is hypothyroid? She was gorgeous (I'm biased though!), but I'd be lying if I said she had a nice coat in these last years - the years of hypoallergenic food and hypothyroidism left her coat dull and coarse, very different from her younger years. And we had shaved a few smaller patches for dermatitis previously, and there was little hair growth there. I know that you can't predict what will happen, but has anyone had similar experience and seen the coat come back?

I haven't stopped crying because I'm worried I ruined her quality of life. In the end, the shave was medically necessary because the vet thought it was the only way to finally end the dermatitis. I don't really care about how she looks visually (although right now she looks sickly so I'm hoping that improves at least), but I'm mostly worried about her being able to regulate her temperature and not get sunburnt. Right now I'm using a t-shirt when she goes outside (the vet said no sunscreen), but I only allow her out briefly because it's hot already. She loves being outdoors and the idea that her coat might not come back is devastating.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.

 

[Caro]

Sorry to hear you're battling with all these issues. My 10yr old arthritic male also has dermatitis - on his lower back and tail - and I'm still trying to work out what causes it. I do find rubbing some oil in the area seems to help. I use Plush Puppy Seabreeze oil for dogs, but also baby oil seems to help.

To answer your question, yes the coat will grow back. It will be slow given her age, and may not be the lush coat she once had. But she will have fur for winter. I've had dogs shaved for surgery, most recently my female for a hip replacement. By 2 months she had enough fuzz to give a little protection, but I was still putting her in a onesie to go outside, it was probably at 3mths she had enough coat to protect her skin. The undercoat grew back first as it grows faster. By 6mths it was almost not noticeable and by 9 months looked normal, although nowadays it sticks out and has a kink.

Btw - you might want to try a baby onesie instead of a t-shirt - not sure if the t-shirt will cover the whole dog. The best ones are those with buttons/press studs down the front. I posted a pic of my Deska in a onesie some years ago http://sheltieforums.com/media/no-comment.1226/

I've included a couple of photos so you can see how the coat grows back - at 2mths post shave and 6 mths post shave. The 6mths isn't quite clear but it's mostly light undercoat.