Intro and coat question...

[Binnie]

Hello all! We are in southern Ontario and we just adopted a young dog from Texas - literally 'just' - we picked her up at the end of her 40 hr transport this past Saturday. She is still very much in her decompression stage, but is making remarkable progress. Perhaps it helps that we have another gentle young dog in the house as well.

I do not know what this dog is breed wise as she was found stray with two other females and 9 pups between them, but I feel there is a good chance she has some border collie in her - which lead me here :).

Its hard to judge by personality as she is still very timid.

My immediate question however is on coat supplements. I assume due to having puppies at some point prior, and the stress of the last couple of months (she was found 2 months ago and in foster care in Texas) he coat is very thin in places and i can see her skin. Have any of you any suggestions with respect to supplements beneficial to skin and coat growth?

Here she is, her name is Caper.

Why are they all sideways?? 

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

Welcome Binnie....She is a pretty girl. I am glad you found one too adopted. I believe I would start (if you hadn't already) with a good vet check up. I am sure others may have some different ideas for you shortly though. She looks like she has some BC in her to me.

[GentleLake]

Welcome to the Boards, and congratulations for adopting this lovely girl. She does look like she could be at least part border collie, maybe even a large part. Caper's beautiful, and you may find she ends up with a much fuller coat than she has now. From the tufts around her ears, she may be a rough coated dog.

As everyone here know, I'm a huge proponent of raw feeding, but any good food, especially if you can add at least a little raw meat, will help her a lot.

I'd be looking at giving her fish oil supplements or phytoplankton at the very least.

And maybe some raw egg. I'd start slowly with that -- maybe whisk an egg and divide it into an ice cube tray. You can freeze it and pop out a small cube each day for a while. Adding raw eggs too quickly can cause loose stools.

And yes, if she wasn't vetted before you got her, definitely get her in for a checkup ASAP.  Not quite so critical to get her in immediately if she was vetted by the rescue.

 

[Lawgirl]

Any good food will result in an improvement in her coat, and I am sure she will get that with you.  Sardines or other oily fish (or fish oil) can help, as well as raw meat etc.  I have heard of people adding coconut oil to a meal (just a little as too much fat can cause pancreas problem), and egg is also a good way to help. 

Although I do not own a female, I have heard that some females "blow their coat" after whelping, in that it thins out massively.  This is apparently hormonal. Time and good nutrition will fix this, although a quick google suggests it could be 6 to 12 months to get a full coat back.

Forgot to add she is beautiful, I am sure she has BC in her and well done for rescuing her!

[urge to herd]

I second/third the fish oil. However, while it will improve the quality of her coat, it might not improve the quantity of her fur. Give it at least a month, if not 6 weeks, and you'll see some improvement in texture at the very least.

She might just have a thinner coat. I think finer coated dogs either have or seem to have less fur. My two silky dogs 'felt' like they had less fur than my coarser furred dog. YMMV.

Glad she found you! Let us know who you get on.

Ruth & Gibbs 

[D'Elle]

Welcome to the BC Boards. :-)

She looks like a border collie to me. Chances are the combination of not being well-kept and having puppies young resulted in a poor coat. the good news is that it is entirely fixable with time, a good diet, and some supplements.  I have had foster dogs come to me with terrible coats, who left in only a few weeks with their coats much improved.

I second or third the fish oil and small bits of egg, especially the yolks, and recommend brushing her daily with a soft brush to take out the dead hairs as the new coat comes in. She is beautiful and very lucky to have you.

(I love those split-faced dogs )

[Hooper2]

It's very normal for momma dogs to shed most of their coat when they have  a litter of puppies.  It's especially noticeable in long haired/rough coated dogs.  Combine the normal post-partum shed with probably poor nutrition, and probably both ecto- and endo- parasites and it's no surprise that Caper's coat looks pretty sparse right now.   Give it time, give her decent regular meals (and some fish oil supplements can't hurt), and keep her free of fleas and intestinal parasites, and I predict she will have a lovely coat in a few months. 

I'm certainly not sure if she's pure border collie, but if I saw you with her and you told me you knew she was purebred, I'd see no reason to doubt that.   As she settles in and you get to know her  behavior and her style of movement better, you may get a better sense of how border collie-ish she is.  Keep us posted on her progress. 

[GentleLake]

6 minutes ago, Hooper2 said:

It's very normal for momma dogs to shed most of their coat when they have  a litter of puppies. 

So true.

Quite a number of years ago I adopted a border collie mix just off a litter of pups. Her coat was no longer than Caper's. I was quite surprised when it grew back to a very lush and thick spitz-type coat. I'm pretty sure the other part of her parentage was either American Eskimo or Samoyed. (Based on behavior, I suspected the former.)

[Binnie]

Thanks very much! She was vetted by the rescue, and I actually had to bring her in Monday as she came with very long toenails, and one of them had torn painfully. So my vet has given her a once over as well. She appears healthy, so I am putting her coat to stress and pups. I have started adding some fish oil to her food, and will look to adding egg as well/alternately with fish oil.

She's come a ways out of her shell already even in just this week, so I look forward to seeing her become more herself over the next while. She's been playing a fair bit in the house with our other dog, a 48lb pointer cross named Fen, but Caper is still quite wary outside. You can see it in her tail position. But we're taking it slowly and she is getting used to it all. Frustrating at times in getting her to pee though!!

[gcv-border]

Kudos for adopting a dog. Caper is beautiful.

I have nothing to add to the comments above, but will just confirm the raggedy post-partum coat from my own experience of having fostered a sheltie cross that was just coming off pups (3 months prior).