My Husky is shedding terribly

[Nausicaa]

Hi,

My Husky I adopted from a shelter about half a year ago appears to have a HUGE problem with shedding Now I knew that Huskies shed, but what's going on with my dog seems to me to be way out of ordinary. I brush her every day or every two days (I use this wire brush - other thigs I tried seem to work worse than that), and still there is an awful lot of hair in the house. To picture how much there is: bundles of hair collect in every corner of the house and each day I pick up few handfuls. I live in an apartment building and the staircase which I only pass with her on the way to my flat is also full of hair . Now, neighbours started to complain and the cleaning lady said to me that she collects a few handfuls of hair each time she cleans the stairs...Of course I'm not even talking about the clothing and the furniture, hair is clearly all over them.
Now this continued for half a year already so it's not something passing. I wanted to ask other Schpitz type dog owners if their dog is shedding in the same amounts and do they possibly have some advice on feeding/combing/anything else that can help minimize shedding? I just want to know if my situation seems ordinary to you.
About my dog - she's a Siberian Husky, six years old (as it turned out. When I adopted her the shelter claimed she was three), spayed. I feed her Pro Plane with Lamb and she seems to be doing great on it, save the shedding.
So, any input will be appreciated, thanks in advance

[erykah1310]

I would think alot of shedding, especially this time of year, would be some what normal.
I dont know much about huskies however so Im sorry im really not the best person to have responded, however, my Border Collie is blowing his coat REALLY badly too right now ( but does it every fall)

Sorry to hear you are having problems with the shedding issue. Hopefully someone more knowlegable than I will come by soon and give ya some tips.

Good luck

[Inverness]

You might want to try the Furminator. It works wonders. However, I would definitely switch foods to something of better quality with a lot of Omega 3 and 6. There's plenty of threads on dog food here. If you do a search, you'll come up with good suggestions.

Thank you for adopting an adult Husky from a shelter. That makes you a very special person !

[Puppyluv]

I feel you on the shedding issue. I would deffinately reccomend a change in food, to a holistic food. (Wellness, Evo, Timberwolf, DVP and Candidae come to mind) This should decrease shedding significantly. Also, perhaps an allergy test is in order to see if there is an allergy causing this.

[technodoll]

welcome to the forum, and thank you for rescuing your girl!

you say:

I feed her Pro Plane with Lamb and she seems to be doing great on it, save the shedding.

If you search the food archives, you will see that anything made by Purina (including Pro Plan) is very cheap, low-quality dog food and is certainly the root cause of all this shedding (barring any medical disorders - you have had blood tests done to verify that all is well, right?). If you can buy a dog food in a grocery store or walmart, then is it not a good food. Iams, Purina, Science Diet, etc = don't do it

Please switch you girl over to a higher-quality food and add a capsule of Omega-3 fatty acids (ocean fish oil, 1000mg/day), and after a few weeks you should see a difference good luck!

[meb999]

yup, I agree. There isn't much you can do about shedding, but a high quality food will make a HUGE difference.

My BIL had a golden who shed unbelievably, and he alwasy complained about it. I finally asked him what he was feeind (Beneful), and I gave him some food info, and he switched to a better qualty kibble, and he says the shedding has been reduced to almost nothing. (he used to sweep his floors every day during shedding season, now he sweeps once every two or three weeks!!)

here's a link to our food forum : http://www.pets.ca/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=53
there's lotsa great info there!

[BMDLuver]

I have berners and they blow coat terribly. My female is doing so now as the temperature is changing. I feed a high end food so it's really just their seasonal time. This rake is my best friend as I get the equivalent of a cocker spaniel worth of hair when I use it.

[shannon1233A]

Yep, I have an Alaskan Malamute, and it's perfectly normal to shed every day, and even more so when they "blow coat" twice a year, same as Huskys. I agree with what others posted re the dog food issue. We feed Eagle Pack Holistic, Anchovie which does help as has all the necessary fish oils etc. Daily DEEP brushing, removing the dead wooly undercoat also helps. Don't just brush the top coat or guard coat, but you need to get right down to the skin. This is esp. true of the bloomies and tail! When Kenzie blows coat, I have about a 2 inch deep pile of hair and wool on the floor all over my grooming room, when not blowing coat, dust or fur bunnies are a normal fact of life with these breeds. When brushing, be carefull not to break the new guard hairs. Oh, and we also give her a can of sardines once a week to help keep her coat shiny and healthy. You can find pics of her if you do a search for Kenzie, there's alot of compliments on her coat, and she's gotten her Canadian Championship, will be competing for her American Championship soon. I'll post a pic of the floor when she's blowing coat when I have a little more time, so you can see just how much they shed, LOL Fur bunnies on the floor is a normal lifestyle with these breeds, but if you're really concerned, and the food change doesn't help, get a thyroid test done.

[SnowDancer]

My Eskimo also has the double coat and sheds - but not as much as some. I do feed him a fish based Holistic food which does help and brush him regularly. I know from the Eskimo specific board (www.eskie.net) - you might get some tips on this site by doing a search as people talk about their garbage bags of hair from a mini Eskie (my guy weighs 22 lbs.). My dog gets groomed every couple of months because he doesn't really "blow" on his own and the groomer uses her equipment to blow his coat for him. That might be something you could try even a couple of times a year. If my guy wasn't super white with a SERIOUS LOVE for mud he would probably be groomed less. One day he came back from a walk with my husband and I thought I had a Keeshond.

[~michelle~]

I had a problem with my husky x shedding, and i switched him to innova and his shedding has decreased significantly..... however huskys do blow their coat twice a year and its a huge mess, and the food wont really help this all too much, because they are a nordic dog and do require this "blowing of their coats. however a quality brush for about an hour daily will help with this along and decrease your mess. any research you do on huskies will tell you this and probably have a link on ways to get through this. good luck