Question:
I am new to this forum and have big hopes someone can help me. I have a 10 yr. old female dog that is losing her hair and has sores all over her body. They are like dry patches with thick flaky scabs. I don't really know how to help her. She isn't getting around very well either. We had her fixed about 3 years ago and she has gained so much weight she can barely move. She lives indoors all the time and is a beloved pet to our family. We are contimplating putting her down. We would love some advice from you pet lovers. THank you, sorry so long.

Answer:
First off, when was the last time she was to the vet? At this stage, you're past due for a visit and bloodwork to see if she perhaps has a thyroid condition that's causing weight gain and hair loss. Secondly, she may be having a reaction to the food you're giving her, depending on the brand (many so called "good brands" have really hideous ingredients), it could cause skin issues - for good tips on food, hit the dog/cat food forum here, brilliant stuff. If she's otherwise healthy, then there's no reason to put her down, especially since there are vet tests that could pinpoint the cause. Make an appointment and keep us posted on how it goes.

Answer:
I agree strongly with checking for a thyroid condition,

It can cause hair loss, neurological problem(which can affect gait) it can cause skin problems, lack of energy and a whole host of other problems, skin will thicken and become like dried leather when it is has been a long standing problem, treatment for it, is with lifelong daily meds which are quite inexpensive, some of the symptoms will improve faster than other, if this is what is wrong you whould notice consider improvement in energy in 2 or 3 weeks. Weight gain is also a strong indicator of the disease and should improve.

So a vet visit is inorder, with a thryoid blood test being done, a geriatric(senior) blood profile as well as a physical.


With my own dogs

between ages 0 to 6 years old, I have a standard bloodtest down every other year, if there is a health concern it will bumped up yearly and possibly be a comprehensive(geriatic type) blood profile instead.

At ages 7 to 9, I start having geriatric blood profiling done yearly

10 and up geriatric blood profiling done every six months.



"If" this is hypothyroidism, she has had it for a couple years now, meds will help her improve, some improvements will occur very fast(within a month) some of the symptoms will be slower to recover from simply because it has gone on for a while, so may take a year or more, and if there a neurological problem recovery may be partial, which means exercise and keeping the dog well toned is going to be very important for compensating for the neurological loss, so you will have to gradually build up the exercise level, the dog will start to feel a bit more energetic about 2 to 3 weeks after the meds start so it good time to start, but start slow if the dog has been very inactive for a while and slowly build up. If you had let it go for a couple more years it would have killed her as either her heart would fail or she would died of hepatitis, If she had regular blood profiling done changes to her T4 would have been noticed by the vet, by comparing to previous tests and he would have ask you to have a thyroid panel done.

I have added the last bit, not to make you feel guilty for not having caught it earlier , but as an education.
Some vets simply do not suggest frequent blood testing, as many clients get upset with what they think is unnecessary procedures, so it becomes up to you to ask for it to be done(which is hard to know that if no one suggests doing it )

Testing can allows a vet to catch problems earlier, allowing the dogs to have longer quality lives, it can often save money as well by catching a problem while it is minor and easier to treat and in many cases prevents early deaths that could have been avoided.

Answer: