Intact female = hair loss?

I will try to make this a reasonable length. Try.

About a month ago we started noticing Cajun sheds a ridiculous amount. Like, an abnormal/excessive amount, not just "oh she sheds a lot." It's EVERYWHERE. I can run my hand down her back and end up with a handful of hair. I could brush her for days and get more hair off of her than I do when I brush Happy. The vacuuming required with her is crazy. And I feel like I'm going to break the washing machine every time I wash her bed.

Sometime after that observation, I noticed she has some hair loss on her neck. Initial thinking is okay, maybe it's from her collar rubbing. Or from her prong being fitted too loosely. Perhaps these things are a contributing factor, but now I'm thinking maybe this and the shedding are part of the same issue.

The more I thought about these things, the more I paid attention to her and started noticing thinning hair on her thighs and extending down her chest. A couple days ago I also noticed a cluster of some little pustules in one of her armpits.

Because she's a doberman and because I apparently so badly want one of my dogs to have a malfunctioning thyroid, I sent out some bloodwork. Part of the results are still pending, but her T4 came back concerning to me (she's at a 1.0 and the reference range is 1.0-4.0). Her TSH is pretty normal at 0.13 (range of 0.05-0.42). The only thing we're waiting on is her Free T4.

I wanted some preliminary thoughts from the vet on these values, and basically she's not concerned about her thyroid at all, but she also wants to see the Free T4 results first. She actually thinks it is more likely that this is an issue relating to her being intact? In short, she just told me to spay her.

I'm also noticing now that she has a weird odor to her. I don't even know how to describe it. It's not "dirty," it's not yeasty, it's not just normal dog smell... but there's something there. Today is Saturday. She was just bathed on Thursday. She smells.

We put her on Natures Domain Salmon when we got her. 2ish weeks ago when I was more concerned about just the shedding, I put her on Nordic Naturals Omega-3 supplement. 1 week ago we switched her food to Fromm Gold. Not noticing any changes with any of that.

Is it a "thing" that being intact would be a cause for this? I feel like that's just something a vet would say because God forbid my 18 month old should still have a uterus lol. But since intact animals are such a rarity I have no clue if this is something that occurs. I don't really want to jump into a surgery and get her spayed just because "maybe" it'll help. I was going to wait until the winter to do that. I'm still hopeful it's thyroid but I don't know!

Oh, for a timeframe reference, we've had her for 3 months. And she's not itchy or dandruff-y or bothered by her skin at all.

This gives an idea of the thinning hair on her chest

(Sorry, I didn't succeed in keeping this short)

I'd ask the vet to put her on thyroid meds - low normal IS low for Dobermans, if that makes sense. When a Dobe tests low normal, it's low enough to require medication.

None of my intact doberbitches have had thin coat of any kind.

Yah, thyroid sounds like a likely culprit. Also, could she just have some form of allergy? Gracie, my mom's Dachshund, has environmental allergies (with a beautifully normal T4) and has thinning hair like you describe. She gets a bit of an odor, and has pustules develop at times. She's never really itchy, but when she gets bad she'll luck her armpits raw. Last year she was on Temaril-p year round and had to have three or four different antibiotic cycles, but this year mom is maintaining her with medicated bathes weekly and wipes.

So maybe try weekly medicated bathes? See if that helps?

Yep, I'd be thinking thyroid. From a human perspective, I'm technically on the low end of normal, but my doctor is very insistent on having certain thyroid levels, and my thyroid meds help me a ton. Blowing coat/shedding a lot before/after heats is normal, just shedding a ton and hair loss is not normal for an intact female, nor would that be a reason to spay.

I don't see an issue with general thinning of the coat in the intact females we see at work. I do know that, if the dog is symptomatic (coat issues, etc) and tests low-normal, the vets I work with will generally put them on meds to see if it helps.

Yes, that. And as far as thyroid goes, iirc, spaying will often result in it going even lower in some dogs.

I would try messaging Toller. I know she's had a lot of coat/skin issues with her Dobes and finally seems to have found a solution.

I've found in my experience that all of my intact dogs have had the best coats. It wasn't until the older three were altered that I started giving problems. Dance's is super fine and out of control and the Dobermans' coats became thinner and not as nice. Then they started having other issues on top of that, but it doesn't sound at all the same as Cajun. I hope you're able to sort it out!

Thanks for the input! I should have the Free T4 results early this week, so hopefully those are low too and I can get a trial of meds.

This is what I've been thinking! I'm sure there is some scenario where the hormones are responsible for a poor coat, I just think that's the less likely case here. And, I don't know, but trying some thyroid medication for a little bit sounds a whole lot less invasive than a big surgery!