Hair Today Gone Tomorrow!

This is an article I was asked to write, hoping it may help anyone, now or in the future who maybe going through the same problem. It goes on to tell you about the recent experiences with my super Brushcoat girl Ash and her ongoing health conditions.

Ash has always been a happy healthy livewire of a Pei, absolutely loved the show ring and all the attention she received from ringside and lived happily with the other household Pei, before the start of teh hair loss and medical problems.

Ash had always been a keen kibble fed girl since puppy-hood and loved her food. I decided to start to supplement Ash's kibble with high doses of quality GLA Star-flower, Fish Body and Vitamin E oils thinking perhaps Ash was lacking these essential oils which maybe causing the coat loss.

As the weeks went on Ash lost even more coat, balding black elephant type skin started to appear, sometimes overnight. It originally started on her chest and throat, and then her tail went thin and be-draggled, hocks dark black elephant skin along with all her teat area, what coat still remained was very brittle to the touch, loose in the hair follicle and looked very sparse over all. After doing much research, internet, health books etc, I concluded that the symptoms that Ash was showing were classic signs of Hypo-thyroidism. I contacted my vet, who tried to assure me that I was wrong, and it was just stress that was causing Ash's coat to fall out, along with her hormones settling back down after her season. I wasn't at all convinced and asked for a Thyroid blood test to be run, the vet replied with "It's totally unnecessary you know". I was fuming at this point, as I was the one that had to see my poor girl in this poor state 24 hrs a day not her, and let's face it I was the one paying the bill not her. I at this point replied that she either did as I requested or I and my 6 Pei would be seeking out a more compassionate and understanding veterinary practice a.s.a.p.

The vet reluctantly took the blood sample, and it was sent off to an outside laboratory for analyses. Two days later the results were in, showing Ash had an under-active thyroid, thank goodness now we can start to get Ash back on the road to recovery I thought. Not as easy as that unfortunately. The vet still insisted it was down to the stress of the recent litter. So no medication was prescribed. I returned home some what perturbed and down hearted, got straight onto the phone and called my homeopathic pharmacy and give them Ash's history. They agreed with me about the thyroid problem, and sent up several homeopathic remedies for me to try. I administered these to Ash over the next three weeks. By this time Ash's coat was extremely oily to the touch, she'd started to chew her paws until they bled, she was generally very itchy and sore, with inflamed areas, which I would powder down with Flowers of Sulphur. This helped cool the sore areas and also dried the damp patches up; the chewing was getting to be a 24hr obsession with her too. The list of treatments herbal, homeopathic and conventional is so long, I just couldn't list them all here that I've tried on Ash, some worked for a while, some never helped at all.

One week after finishing the homeopathic thyroid medication. I insisted on a further thyroid blood test to be taken, vet wasn't too happy but did it to keep the peace. Results showed that the thyroid was functioning properly… Yippee I thought. The vet announced, "See, it was just the stress that was causing the hair loss etc"; well here came my reply, "I'm sorry to have to inform you, but after the last visit and blood test I started to administer homeopathic remedies to Ash for her possible thyroid problem, could this not have caused the test to show these results?" The vet seemed very perturbed, as she isn't a great believer in homeopathic or natural remedies, and to add oil to the situation I hadn't told her until now that I was medicating Ash naturally. The vet asked me to cease the medication forthwith and we will re-test again in another month. So on went another further month without any medication. Ash's condition was getting 100 times worse, she was sleeping most of the day, and it was very deep sleep too, she seemed depressed, hardly ate, did basically nothing but chewed or itched herself to death all day and night. This had now been going on for six months, see photos below taken late August 2004.

You can see from the above photographs just how bad Ash was becoming. I was worried about her condition and health that much that it was taking its toll on my health too, as I felt useless that I couldn't get the correct diagnosis and help from anywhere or anyone. I'd be up till the early hours of the morning searching for answers, hoping that website may come up with some help; this is when I found a wonderful health forum especially for dogs with Immune problems called C.I.M.D.A this stands for Canine Immune Mediated Disease Awareness. I instantly became a member, and found this a real haven of help, all the listers couldn't help me enough, as either they had or still have dogs with Immune problems. The list stood by me and pushed me to insist on further blood testing to be undertaken, of which I did, and what's more the listers with Hypo or Hyper Thyroid dogs all had gone through the same response from their vets that I seemed to be having, banging head and wall comes to mind. They told me to insist that the next set of Thyroid tests should include T3, T4, Free T4 and Free T3 and antibodies for both T4 and T3. I went armed with this information to be confronted with "I can assure you that all the previous tests have been done correctly", I replied with "yes but could you do the Free T4& T3 and antibodies this time", again she wasn't too happy but did do them. This was the third month of blood tests that the vet had sent without veterinary medication being given, well wouldn't you know the results came back exactly like the first one, showing Ash did have a thyroid problem. The vet still wouldn't prescribe the medication Ash definitely needed, but asked me to start to bathe Ash every two days in prescription shampoo, which ended up being too harsh and started to burn her sensitive skin poor girl. I decided to change the shampoo to a natural organic shampoo called Quistel, combined with the Lotion spray. This started to help and was a lot gentler on Ash's skin, thank goodness Ash didn't mind bath times, and helped me all the way. What a star she was.

Whilst I was undertaking the bathing routine, I decided to send a serum sample of Ash's blood out to California in the USA to a wonderful specialist in Thyroid and blood problems in animals called Dr. Jean Dodds. Jean did the full panel inclusive of the ones that the UK don't insist on, and within two hours of receiving Ash's serum, Jean was on the phone calling me with the results, insisting that Ash indeed was suffering from Hypo Thyroidism and needed medication a.s.a.p. as in all the years she had been doing these blood tests, this one was one of the worst cases and needed help soon. Jean gave me the correct dosage of medication that Ash needed to take twice daily and asked me to send another sample after Ash had been on thyroid med for six to eight weeks, to make sure the dosage was correct and working well. The following morning I saw my vet armed with the faxed profile and results and recommendation and stood there until I was given the much needed medication that I had been asking for, for months, which I can gladly confirm I finally got….. Hooray!

Within four weeks of the thyroid meds being started Ash's coat started to grow back in, it was amazing to see Ash with a coat, I was beginning to forget and wonder if she would ever have a coat again. I wasn't too happy as the coat was still very brittle and loose, so I decided to take her to the dermatologist for further investigation. The specialist decided that beside the Hypo T condition Ash had, that she thought it would be best to have some allergy tests undertaken as she thought Ash also had a secondary allergy problem. The allergy testing proved that Ash was highly allergic to Yeast and Molds/Fungi. I also had skin biopsies taken, that showed Ash was mass over producing Yeast build up also, so from the readings taken, Ash was proven to basically be allergic to herself. After further discussions with the dermatologist, we decided on the course of medications and protocol that we would be using to help maintain an even balance with Ash's coat and allergy conditions. I had already put Ash onto an elimination diet before the allergy tests where undertaken, so I decided to go one step further, and put Ash onto a sticky home-made and raw diet, and basically kept a daily diary of what Ash ate, what meds were given, general condition, so keeping an eye on anything that was showing up differently. This was time consuming, but it certainly came in handy when the vet asked what did you feed on the day of ……also it helps if the medication needs to be lowered or changed so you can see if there are any other reactions etc.

Ash will now be on life-time medication to help maintain her quality of life now for the Hypo T and the Allergies and secondary skin infections, but as you can see from the photos taken 31.01.05 see photo's below.

Ash is doing a lot better than back in August 2004. The actual change of life-style, home-made diet and the medication and occasional baths has helped bring back her coat. Ok it's not show quality as before and probably never will be again, but she has finally regained her coat after all this time. It's still a little loose, but todate it's looking very promising. It's been a long roller-coaster ride for both poor Ash and I, but I feel it's been worth all the time, heartache, and the not knowing. These 10 months have felt like a life-time, never knowing if we could ever bring Ash back to the quality of life she knew before this all started. I would definitely go through all this again if it was ever needed, Ash deserved the best and that is what my girl received.

As soon as Ash has been given the go ahead to be spayed she will be booked in to have the operation, so reducing the hormonal stress that is caused with her season and thus reducing any nasty side effects that exacerbate the Hypo T condition.

So it goes to show that sometimes there is a happy ending to some of our Pei's health conditions, please never give up, if in doubt DO seek a second opinion if your gut feeling goes against what your vets are saying.

I'd personally like to thank all my close friends in and out of the lovely breed, for their constant back-up, and shoulders to cry on when times were looking grim, which without you guys it would have felt impossible at times. Thanks guys, you all know who you are. Also to Andy at Gillrugs who made Ash a made to measure thermal coat complete with tummy protector, so that she could go out for her walks in the wet weather, as the rain was too harsh for her coat when it was at its worst.

Please if you or you know of anyone that maybe going through something like Ash did, please feel free to contact me for a chat, and possibly I maybe able to advise. Ash and I are only to willing to help if we can.

Best wishes Karen & Ash …. Karisto Sharpei UK. 31st January 05 This article has © by Karisto Sharpei UK 2005. And no parts of it or its entirety can be used without my prior written permission. Many thanks from Karisto Sharpei UK.

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