Do All Blue/ Dilute Dogs Suffer From Skin Problems?

[Salukifan]

Weims don't suffer from dilute alopecia, but they do have some skin issues cropping up now and then, as well as immune issues that they like to link to recessive genes.

Weimaraners are one breed which has been bred for that colour for over a century... but from what I can tell they were carefully bred in Germany so perhaps any issues were bred out if they cropped up.

They didn't manage to breed out thyroid issues.

Both blue and white coats seem linked to them.

[Dogsfevr]

Our solid blue greyhound had thyroid issues .

[Weasels]

Typical symptoms of thyroid issue generally don't become evident until 70% of the thyroid tissue is destroyed - without looking it up I would hazard a guess that this would be on average when dogs reach about 5-7 years old. Our testing here in Australia is designed such that it detects thyroid around that level. Testing in the USA is more sensitive and thorough and can pick it up a lot earlier. Because the thyroid is responsible for the good function of just about every organ in the body, I'd rather a dysfunctional thyroid be detected and assisted as soon as it was known.

But that's just me and my thoughts :).

Would she have such an obvious coat morphology but no other symptoms though? She has oodles of energy and is quite thin. When I first joined DOL I hopped into the kelpie thread to ask about her coat and was told it was not an uncommon pattern for a fawn dog. She was ~15 months old when we got her and she had the same coat.

If it is likely to be a thyroid issue I'll do whatever it takes, but I'm curious to know if there is often an uneven progression of symptoms such that the coat indicates a problem years before anything else?

Thanks :)

[Erny]

Would she have such an obvious coat morphology but no other symptoms though? She has oodles of energy and is quite thin. When I first joined DOL I hopped into the kelpie thread to ask about her coat and was told it was not an uncommon pattern for a fawn dog. She was ~15 months old when we got her and she had the same coat.

If it is likely to be a thyroid issue I'll do whatever it takes, but I'm curious to know if there is often an uneven progression of symptoms such that the coat indicates a problem years before anything else?

Thanks :)

I know that coat thinning/loss tends to be quite symmetrical . Whether this, for your dog, could be the only pointer to thyroid is another thing. I'm not a Vet, so I don't want to profess to be the expert here, and I don't know nor have seen your dog. But coat dullness/faded colour can be another sign. Feeling the cold can be another. Also, in the early onset of thryoiditis, it can represent in symptoms that mirror hyperthyroid issues. The "energy" level might be more akin to inability to settle; tending towards being pacey and restless, edgy.

I can't answer your question directly or definitively, so if you're unsure, email Dr Jean Dodds at Hemopet. She is a wonderful lady - quick in responses and always happy to give her time to help us out with our concerns about our dogs.

If you did choose to run tests and go through Dr Jean Dodds in the USA (this is where I have my boy's tests run), feel free to contact me and I'll happily help you out with how it works and what you need to do. Running the tests via USA is not as daunting as you might at first think, nor as expensive as you might think.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Erny

[SoL]

Not all blue dogs have a dilute gene :)

In Staffords certainly it is a dilute of the brindle gene and we are seeing more and more instances of problems such as alopecia occurring because crazy people who don't know or don't care are breeding dilute:dilute matings more and more and are therefore augmenting and cementing these faults into the breed.

Other breeds have a specific blue gene, such as the great dane and the amstaff and to be honest, I don't know enough about these breeds or that gene to comment :)