Not sure where this goes

[Skythechow]

But I need help. Hi my name is Maria and I'm 23 years old. I have a 1 year old chow chow (She'll be 2 on December 24th) Her name is Sky. I've had her since she was born. I'm terrified that something might be wrong with her and I'm not sure what to do, I don't want to take her to the vet if I'm over reacting that's why I'm here. Her fur is coming out a lot. Clumps actually, and it's all over. There's a very thin/fine coat and its very rough, coarse hair that's left when the clumps fall out when we comb her. There's no redness and she's not itching at all, her skin isn't flakey or anything! Her fur just... keeps falling out, and this just recently started happening. She's pure bred as far as I know (She's one of the puppies from my brothers liter.) She's going to be 2 in December. I feed her Simply Nourish's Chicken & Brown rice dry food (She can't eat pedigree, she's allergic). She's not very tall for a chow chow. She goes out regularly and I always make sure that she has water. She still acts the same, still playful and there's no sign of pain or anything. Please help me please..Her coat was nice even, thick and lush but with the amount that's falling out I'm very worried and scared. Is something wrong?
BEFORE:


AFTER:

[Sirchow]

It does look quite an excessive amount but I think she is just loosing in a very large amount her whole baby coat and under coat. If you see no problems with itching or soreness I would wait a few weeks and it is most likely you will see short velvety undercoat begin to appear and slowly as it grows she will puff up again and look wonderful for winter coming. It is probably just that two moults are coinciding....the last of her baby coat and a normal seasonal moult. You could up her protein intake a little by supplementing a bit of ground beef, chicken or fish into her diet to give her the extra raw materials to grow a really beautiful coat.
If she starts to look unwell or lethargic or itchy then I suggest you visit your vet. Let us know how you get on.

[Sarahloo]

You're terrified but you don't want to take her to the vet in case it's nothing? Those two things don't go together at all. If I was at the point of being terrified, there is no way I wouldn't take my dog to the vet.
Your photos are very grainy, I can't tell anything from them! Take your dog to the vet, and restore your peace of mind!

[Ursa's daddy]

One thing to check for is thyroid levels. Ursa lost a lot of hair, and we found out that she had low thyroid levels.

[Victory]

Thyroid issues are a part of the list of things chows are prone to. Loss of fur is one symptoms, other things though can affect her weight badly. There is nothing wrong with taking her in to run a couple of blood tests. If she needs thyroid medication it is better to find out now and get her started on the med asap. You don't want her to gain a lot of weight, (which can happen) and then have to try and get it back off her.

[tabate45]

I agree she is just dropping both puppy coat and summer coat. Treat her to a day at the groomer (one that knows Chows). You'll be happy and so will she. I just took both mine for their summer coat removal and they are so much happier being clean and thinned out so their winter coat can come in.

Tracey

[Terrina Harris]

I would also suggest getting her thyroid levels tested. My Brandon had thyroid problems and we found out because we took him in for fur loss. Then a few years later he started lossing his fur again. He was on medicine and with the pills his levels were fine so we had him tested for allergys and he ended up being allergic to quite a few things. I would say take her in. Better safe then sorry.

[chowcrazy]

I agree about getting thyroid checked and also checked for Cushings or Addison's . Make sure you use an experienced vet.
Thyroid, Cushings and Addison's are all manageable with medication.