9 Week Doberman Coat Concerns
Thank you in advance for any response and/or support!!
First time Doberman owner here. I want to be upfront about everything because I genuinely want real input from people who know this breed.
I got her at 7 weeks old. She was the only red in her litter, mom is black and dad is blue. I’ll be the first to admit that 7 weeks was too soon and I agree with that completely. The very next day I took her straight to the vet for her deworming and vaccinations. She came back underweight at 6.8 lbs when the vet wanted her closer to 8 to 10 lbs for her age. We just got confirmation this Monday that it was tapeworm and she’s now finished all her medication. That part at least feels resolved.
What I’m still trying to figure out is her coat. From the day I picked her up the hair on the back of her neck and along her spine was already thin and sparse. This was before anything I did, she came this way from the breeder. She’s 9 weeks now and gaining weight well. Her legs and paws actually have really thick healthy hair which gives me some hope. The thinning is just concentrated around the neck and spine with some dandruff mixed in. Outside of that she is thriving. She already knows sit, stay, come, and is working on go home which honestly blows my mind at this age.
She’s eating Fromm Large Breed Puppy with goat milk powder, omega oils daily and a scrambled egg added to her last meal on Sundays.
At her first vet visit the doctor mentioned possible genetic CDA coming from the blue father. That caught me off guard since she’s red but it wasn’t ruled out. My next move is pushing for a skin scraping; before I accept CDA as the answer.
Has anyone seen CDA show up in a red Doberman with a blue parent? Does the neck and spine thinning sound familiar to anyone? If you’ve dealt with demodex in a puppy this young I’d love to know what early signs looked like. And honestly if you have a story about a pup who came from a rough start and turned it around I could really use that right now.
I’ve attached pictures of her the week I got her along with some pictures of her mom & dad.
I just want to do right by her. Any help is appreciated. 🐾