Not Loosing Winter Fur

[bini]

My girlfriend has a little Tibetan Spaniel who has for the first time NOT lost his winter fur :rolleyes:

Normally her house turns into a carpet of white fur fluff, but he didn't do it this time...as in last winter, so now the little bugger is left with this ginormously thick fur and she can't even get a brush through it!

The dog is about 12 years old and otherwise in good condition....what could be the cause of a dog not changing fur with the seasons?

[Erny]

I don't really know the answer, however I have noticed with both dogs and horses that they tend to carry more coat as they get older. Not to extremes though.

[Rysup]

He may just be a bit slow? My oldies tend to change coat a little later each year.

[JulesP]

I have the same thing with my old border collie. The coat has changed texture and doesn't drop out. It is hard to get out even with a mars coat king. I was thinking cushings as cushings in horses causes the coat not to drop out but everything I read about dogs said that dogs coats got thinner. The vet wasn't bothered about it. The dog doesn't seem to mind but does look rather bad. I clipped her off last year as she got very hot, wasn't so bad this year.

[Kelly_Louise]

We had the same problem with Chloe - although she did lose hair, but at the same time it seemed to keep coming and not thin out as per normal. In winter last year, she lost all her coat down to a sparse dry covering. Then it grew back in abundance come summer and never quite went away, so she's carried it all the way through.

When she lost her coat, she was diagnosed with Cushings. Since going on meds and stabilising, her coat has gone the total opposite way and she's the furriest cattle dog you've ever seen!!

[bini]

Thanks for your answers guys

.......and he's NOT slow ...well...maybe a little

Poor Chloe...she must look like a Polar Bear Cattle Dog....uuhhhhh...maybe that could be a new breed...a pure breed PBCD

From what you guys say it does sound like an age related thing, will pass it on and see how my friend goes!

[Kelly_Louise]

In my experience, your friend should still get him checked out - there are so many things that we can pass off as old age (as we, including our original vet did with Chloe) only to find out there was something nasty going on, especially if there is more than one symptom occuring, or if it's something that's not considered normal for your dog.

Better to be safe than sorry with our lovely oldies. They are such treasures.

ETA - Chloe actually looks more like a Red cattle retriever... like a goldie in cattle dog colour LOL.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Kelly_Louise

[doglova]

We had a really old shetland pony (RIP) who wouldn't shed his winter coat vet said it was not enough protein in his diet. We changed his food and it did make a small change not much but some did drop out. Wonder if its the same in dogs??