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Coat regrowth after long term steroids

2K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  fjm 
#1 ·
Poppy has been on Prednidale for over 18 months for liver failure. For the first few weeks she was on a high dose - 5mg, which was rather more than 1mg per kilo - which was then reduced to 2.5mg, and then to 2mg. In June 2020 I noticed the beginnings of coat loss, and it got progressively thinner, especially over her extremities. Earlier this year she had cystitis, and we further reduced the steroids, gradually getting down to 1mg a day from the first of June 2021. I can now see definite signs of regrowth on her face and forelegs - still very bare on her tail, hind legs and ears, poor love, but perhaps they will follow eventually. The bald patches around the sebaceous adenomas that have proliferated in the last 12 months are also beginning to grow hair, but much darker than the rest of her coat.

Has anyone any experience of regrowth after so many months on steroids? Even a few millimetres more fluff to protect her poor little bare legs will be welcome!
 
#3 ·
I'm not finding a lot of information about the hair regrowing but have seen some discussing the loss of hair. If you're seeing some regrowth, there's reason to hope there will be more.

In looking over some of the topical methods to help dogs with hair loss due to other conditions, it might be worth discussing with your vet if there are some safe things to try for her. I don't mean medications but soothing oils and such.
 
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#4 ·
I searched all over for info and couldn't find anything, so it may be helpful to document Poppy's progress with coat loss from iatrogenic Cushing's here.

I really noticed her coat thinning when she had been on steroids for four or five months in June 2020 - she was shedding so much there were small mats forming in her coat. Over the following months the hair receded from her toes and up her legs. After ten months it was noticeably thin on her muzzle as well. By 12 months her tail was very thin, and several inches of leg very bare. By 18 months her ears and the back of her neck were balding, and her legs were bare up to the knee and the hock. She has a number of sebaceous adenomas, and each was surrounded by a patch of bare skin. Her coat in general faded considerably from the rich dark apricot she has always been to pale gold, and became very soft and cottony in texture.

In May 2021, on her vet's advice following a bout of cystitis, I began to gradually reduce the Pred from 2mg a day (4.5 kilo dog) to 1mg. I did it very slowly, cutting it by .25mg each week, and by 1 June she was stable on the lower dose. I first noticed hair regrowth on her face and front paws, and by mid-August it was significant - about the same as a few weeks regrowth after a close clip. In fact I had to get the trimmer out and clip her face, for the first time in many months. The patches around the adenomas are also getting hairier, but with sparse dark guard hairs, which contrast with the pale fluff. But her neck is nearly bare and the hair on her withers is still getting thinner.

As far as I can see a pattern it is that the areas that lost hair first are first to regrow - I would have expected it to be the other way around, with the most recent loss recovering first. It is mostly cosmetic, although a little more protection of her cold little legs will be very welcome - she is happy, hungry and walking up to 3 miles a day in two or more walks (yesterday we managed 1.75 miles in one walk, for the first time this year), and those are the most important things!
 
#5 ·
A few weeks on and the bare bits are getting hairier, while the hairy bits get barer! I bathed and clipped Poppy today, taking off some of the long fluff on her back, legs and head and tidying up the short bits. The fluff is like the finest puppy hair, and quickly clogged the clipper combs and blades. She now has near-normal growth on her face and lower front legs (the bits that went first), but her back, neck and top knot are very thin. The back of her neck seems to be growing back in though, and there are just possibly signs of improvement on her poor bare ears. Her upper legs seem to have been least affected by the Cushings, and the coat there is still quite thick.

Where there is new growth it is the dark apricot of her younger days, rather than the pale candy floss of the last year or so. It makes her look like a parti-poodle crossed with a Chinese Crested, but now she is over last week's blip she is back to being happy and hungry and enthusiastic about life, so I don't care what she looks like as long as she is comfortable!
 
#8 ·
Two months on and Poppy's face and front legs are looking near normal - still short on her lower hind legs but growing back fast. Her topknot and neck are thickening up slightly, and hair on the root of her tail is growing back in. The dark hair around the adenomas is nearly thick enough to hide them.

Coat on her withers and spine is still thin, but no worse. In health terms she is decidedly better than before we reduced the steroids - more energy, better digestion - and is generally very happy. We visited my sister recently for a family get together, and Poppy curled up happily on any lap available instead of slipping away upstairs in search of peace and quiet.
 
#9 ·
Two months on and Poppy's face and front legs are looking near normal - still short on her lower hind legs but growing back fast. Her topknot and neck are thickening up slightly, and hair on the root of her tail is growing back in. The dark hair around the adenomas is nearly thick enough to hide them.

Coat on her withers and spine is still thin, but no worse. In health terms she is decidedly better than before we reduced the steroids - more energy, better digestion - and is generally very happy. We visited my sister recently for a family get together, and Poppy curled up happily on any lap available instead of slipping away upstairs in search of peace and quiet.
Very good news!
 
#10 ·
It is now nearly 10 months since we reduced Poppy's pred to 1mg a day (she weighs around 4.5kg). The coat on her back and front legs has recovered reasonably well - still thinner than it was and very soft, but much better than before the pred was cut. Her head, neck and ears have also improved, and while the hair is still thin there are no longer patches of bare skin showing. Her hind legs below the hocks and her tail are the slowest to recover - a coat of short fluff on the hind legs and only a few wispy hairs on her tail.

She has lost a little weight in recent weeks - not enough to worry about yet but I will be watching her. She was reluctant to walk in the spell of suddenly warm weather we have just had, but perked up considerably as soon as the temperatures fell back to normal. Overall she is still happy, occasionally bouncy and very hungry!
 
#11 ·
12 months on, and just past Poppy's 13th birthday, and I think her coat regrowth is now as good as it is going to get, given she will stay on the tiny maintenance dose of pred. She regained the weight she lost very quickly with a little more food and a little less exercise, but I think she was comfier at the lower weight, so now I know it was nothing sinister I may ease her back down a little.

Her coat is still thin, but with careful grooming she has enough that she no longer looks semi bald, except for her tail - the second half of that is still very wispy. Her lower hind legs are only growing very short hair - she looks as if she has been trimmed with a 10 blade almost up to the stifle - but leaving longish hair on the rest of her legs helps to keep the bare bits covered. Her top knot is now shapable as long as it is kept short, and there are no longer big bald patches round the sebaceous adenomas on her back and neck. The texture is better too - still fine and soft, but not the brittle, dry fluff it was a year ago. Last summer I kept her in thin cotton t-shirts and worried about sunburn - that is less of a concern now she has a better covering of hair.

And best of all she is still happy and occasionally bouncy!
 
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