Cavalier Pup Losing its Coat

We have a 12 week old tri color Cavalier male. We have had him for 4 weeks. He had a healthy check up at 9 weeks, but since then, we have noticed him shedding A LOT. He is getting bald patches along his belly, back legs and neck area. Is this just puppy fur coming out or could something be wrong. We have another vet appointment today, but I thought I would ask to see if anyone else had experienced the same. Thanks!

Usually when my pups lose their coats it thins-- it doesn't leave bare patches. Is the pup scratching? Where are the patches?

Along its belly, down the side of his back legs, around his neck and also in patches on his back. We are feeding him Science Diet which was given to us by the vet. I will see what she says to him.

My mother knew a breeder of Bernese Mountain Dogs, who fed her puppies baby milk to give them vitimins etc. Have you heard of anyone doing this before?

When we wean pups we feed them puppy milk (bought in cans like human suppliments and formulas) mixed with other foods. It is made for pups. There is also a transitioning formula. Some breeders use goats milk (fresh and canned) to aid in the transition. I've never needed to feed puppies vitamins.

Sharon said:

We have a 12 week old tri color Cavalier male. We have had him for 4 weeks. He had a healthy check up at 9 weeks, but since then, we have noticed him shedding A LOT. He is getting bald patches along his belly, back legs and neck area. Is this just puppy fur coming out or could something be wrong. We have another vet appointment today, but I thought I would ask to see if anyone else had experienced the same. Thanks!

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Hi Sharon, this does not sound normal to me. I hope the vet determines the cause before he loses more hair. Does he seem ok otherwise?

Hi Cathy

He seems in good spirits. Loves to chase around the living room after his toys. I have written to the breeder a few times. She says there is no history of any skin problems with his parents and that another pup she had recently was losing its fur and the vet said it was just shedding its puppy fur. I am inclined to think it is something more than that, but we will have to see what our vet comes back with.

Fingers crossed that all will be well with little Wrigley. He is a sweety, even if a bit bald in places!

A few things -- you wouldn't want to give a pup of this age milk, puppy or otherwise -- as Sandy notes, this is something given to puppies when they are being weaned but yours is well past that. Many puppies and most kittens/cats have a lactase intolerance for cow's milk and will get the runs from being given milk so it is best avoided.

We have some threads in the Health and Diet section on foods. Generally vets push Science Diet as they sell it and get a good commission from it, but is expensive for what is generally a fairly mediocre food in terms of the quality of ingredients. For the same price you can get a much better food. I'd recommend reading some of the food threads and also there's info on feeding in the Library section.

If the puppy is losing clumps of fur I'd definitely have a vet look at him... you say you were going in to the vet's; what did the vet say?

I guess I too have seen the coats thin a bit, but not leave bald spots. See what the vet says.

I'll just throw my voice in with what others have said. Yes we feed pups that are being weened the goats milk esbliac, but yours is much too old for that. Regardless of what your vet may say, I would also gradually transition your pup off the Science Diet. Not a very good food in my opinion; I really wish the vets would quit pushing that stuff.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. The vet tested Wrigley for Demodex and Sarcopes, but both were negative. She is still waiting on results for any fungal infection which could take up to a week. She also gave us some antibiotics in case of puppy pyroderma, which we started him on yesterday. She said if all else fails, we might have to look at genetic problems. She didn't once mention that it could just be his puppy coat coming out to make way for a new coat. He does have some fine hair coming through now where the old coat is coming out. It just seems to have happened so quickly. We have only had him 4 weeks and it started approx 2 weeks ago. I don't know too much about Cavaliers, but I would have thought they lost their puppy coat at a later stage.

I will look through this site at other food recommendations.

Thanks again.
Sharon