Chow mix shedding undercoat and top coat

[Sunflic]

I don't have as much experience with Chows or Chow mixs as I do with SIberian Huskies. My Huskies shed like crazy, but only their undercoat of fur.

I adopted sweet Palmer who is a Chow / Retriever mix from the shelter, they say he's 4 years old but he still acts like a puppy. As soon as we got him we had serious health problems because he was taken in as a stray and we didn't know if he had any originally. We found out he's allergic to fleas so we have a spray to help calm down the rashes he gets with fleas between putting Frontline on him to stop the fleas. He would always chew on his hips and on his back to get at the rashes but the spray seems to really help him and they go away after a couple days. Then they start scabbing. Now, I'm wondering if the scabbing is whats causing all his fur loss on his back and hips because he has huge patches of just no undercoat, and I think new growing top coat on there. But just huge ugly patches of (what looks like from far away) no fur. Now he's been recovering from the rashes, there are no red areas or gross rashes anyway, just scabs coming out every once in a while. But now he's also shedding all along his back, not just the behind. You can even just lightly pull any patch of fur that wouldn't look like it's shedding, and it will come right out with no problems. It's worrying me, is he supposed to shed his top coat like that? Because this isn't undercoat fur, though he is shedding that as well. His head though seems to not be affected and his tail as well, parts of his legs and belly. We feed him special Science Diet Sensitive Skin because before his fur was really bad on other food, his skin flakes sometimes and the sensitive skin really helps him, his coat always looks so nice and clean. But lately, that's been happening and I don't know. His coat looks fine, but it feels different, probably because he's losing his top coat.

Any suggestions on what I could do? or what it may be? I'm hoping slightly it's because of the rashes he had, but there are no rashes where hes shedding now and never was. His skin is white and isn't red or anything. Or is this just a thing I haven't experience yet? I've only had him about a year I think maybe less.

I can show pictures if Palmer will let me get close enough with a camera, he also is deathly afraid of that.

Thanks for any help!

[Coco Chow]

Hello Sunflic, and welcome!

You are right, Palmer shouldn't shed his topcoat like he does.
The hotspots (rashes) he sometimes gets when he chews his hips and back shouldn't make his top cat fall all along his back. Now you clearly have an allergic chow mix and he probably has a very sensitive skin. But to make the top coat fall, I think it can be related to some insects (mites) infestation like mange, and it needs medical treatment. Hypothyroidism can also give loss of fur and a blood test can diagnose it. To be honest I would bring Palmer to the vet as he needs a to be checked IMO. I hope you will find soon what is wrong with his coat.... He looks really sweet .

[Sunflic]

Hello Sunflic, and welcome!

You are right, Palmer shouldn't shed his topcoat like he does.
The hotspots (rashes) he sometimes gets when he chews his hips and back shouldn't make his top cat fall all along his back. Now you clearly have an allergic chow mix and he probably has a very sensitive skin. But to make the top coat fall, I think it can be related to some insects (mites) infestation like mange, and it needs medical treatment. Hypothyroidism can also give loss of fur and a blood test can diagnose it. To be honest I would bring Palmer to the vet as he needs a to be checked IMO. I hope you will find soon what is wrong with his coat.... He looks really sweet .

Thank you very much for replying. I read up on mange/mites and he only has hair loss. He's not chewing on himself at all and I haven't noticed any redness or severe loss in fur. But when I groomed him 2 days ago he's very sensitive around where his new fur is growing in from the scabs, I'm thinking that might just be because it's where he had most of his rashes or there's something wrong down there. I haven't been able to find anything though. He's losing more fur but it's mostly undercoat, and if you pull some out 95% of it is undercoat and the other 5% is top coat. I wonder if that's normal? He's not like dumping fur by the buckets though.

Also, I read around that winter time or starting of winter they can shed as well? I don't recall.

I'll see how he does. But due to the circumstances, my dad refuses to take Palmer to the vet due to the cost and that when we first got him he was in and out of the vet constantly. I'm hoping I can just find something, if it is anything serious like mange, to give him in his food or something to help him if it is indeed mange.

But thank you so much, I'll keep a close eye on Palmer and groom him more and check his skin.

[summer_rose03]

With the Golden in him, he can shed some of his top coat, as Goldens do. I would really only be worried if the area looks balding or thin enough to see his skin through after pulling some off. (I am a groomer). Inside dogs shed year round since they are in a more climate controlled environment which tells their bodies its warm all the time, so they need to stay cooler. A full Chow would be much less likely to shed as much of their top coat because their overall coat is different. Your boy looks like he has a lot more Golden is his coat. If the hair is thinner in areas where he previously had none, that is most likely normal. It has a lot to grow to catch up with the rest of his hair and having to start from bare skin, especially skin that was previously damaged, will take longer. It may take weeks, to months for it to grow back to what it should be after the trauma his skin has seen.