My foster dog, Sassy, is a severely malnourished yellow lab. Her fur has gotten very thin everywhere except her head, neck, and tail. She still has fur, but it’s thin, dull, and coarse, with no undercoat at all. I took her to the vet today, and was told that, even though she’s malnourished, she most likely lost her coat due to having puppies within the last few weeks. The vet called it a “blown coat” situation. She’s still shedding, but it seems to have slowed since I first met her last week.

Has anyone ever had a dog that lost her coat due to pregnancy stress? If so, how long did it take her to grow her hair back?

She’s so emaciated, it hurts my heart when I pet her, because I can feel every bone and every rib. I still love on her all the time, and I’m slowly getting used to it to the boniness. Other people, however, don’t like to touch her because she’s so skeletal. If she had some of her fur, people would probably be more receptive to her. I just wonder how long it’ll take.
She’s currently pretty weak, and she’s on antibiotics for coccydia and a really nasty urinary tract infection. However, she’s been eating and drinking really well since she was brought to the Humane Society shelter where I volunteer about 2 weeks ago. I brought her home with me yesterday, because she was terrified and miserable at the shelter. I had a feeling she might not make it if someone didn’t get her out of there.

I’m currently weaning her off the adult Science Diet dogfood they’ve been giving her, and I’m starting to mix in ProPlan Large Breed Puppy food. I’ll be switching to all puppy food within the next week or so, since it’s higher in calories, fat, and other good stuff. I’m also giving her a poached egg every night on the advice of another rescuer who has experience with malnourished dogs.
Oh, and one other thing… she’s not nursing the pups anymore. There were 10 of them, and the puppy mill operator from whom Sassy was confiscated had apparently hidden them away somewhere, so the authorities couldn’t get them. We have no idea how old they were at the time Sassy was taken away.
Here are some pics of my sweet Sassy:
http://i1.tinypic.com/61jg5cy.jpg
http://i8.tinypic.com/6bwthcx.jpg