Hair Loss/Weight Issues

Question
QUESTION: First off, I live in northwest Florida so it's HOT here.  My 22 month old Husky has been "blowing" his coat within the past 2 weeks or so.  He's blown his coat before but I feel like it's more this time - his hind legs hardly have any undercoat now - is that normal?  

Also, he's always been tall and skinny. One vet thought I was mistreating him and another vet said that he is slightly skinny but to try feeding him noodles along with his dog food.  He goes through phases and will love the noodles one day and not touch them the next.  I did take him to the vet the other day to have him weighed b/c I was concerned with his weight but he had gained 4 pounds since May and now weighs around 51 pounds.  I guess my second question is should I be concered that he looks so skinny right now or contribute that to the hair loss?

Thanks so much!

ANSWER: Florida is hot, and the coat blow I wouldn't be worried about.  A two year old dog should have a full adult coat to blow out, and should also be somewhat adapted to the climate, so he should be blowing out quite a bit.

As for the weight, Sibes are notorious for self-regulation of food, and some go a little overboard.  Fifty-one pounds is within the acceptable range of purebred males, but that assumes they are on the low end of the height scale too.  If you are concerned that he is not eating enough here are some ideas that you may want to try:

1) Add some meat to the diet - we use hamburger.  Don't worry about the lean stuff either, we use 75/25 hamburger meat (25% fat) and it works great.  The extra lipids are great for their coats and Sibes were bred to handle high fat and high protein diets.

2) Try adding low-sodium broth to the kibble you are feeding.  Chicken broth or something similar will often help encourage the dog to eat more, and the extra calories aren't bad either.

3) Avoid foods low in protein and fat.  A lot of adult dog foods are designed that you can feed a lot of kibble and still stay low in calories.  It allows the dog to eat a lot and not gain weight, as canine obesity is perhaps more of a problem in the US than obesity in humans.  Ignore that for Sibes.  I feed my dogs 1 cup of food per day.  Half in the morning, half in the evening, and they receive the hamburger (half a hamburger per feeding) on average about once every two or three days.  The reason I feed so little is that I use a high performance puppy food - it contains 20-30% fat and protein and is high calorie.  It definitely helps their coats, their stools, and their energy levels.

Hope that helps some, and the extra fat should be great for the coat.  (And don't worry, most Sibes look a little off in the middle of summer because they have so little fur).

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Cooked or raw meat?  And what high performance puppy food do you feed your dog?  (I've seen one for adult dogs that Nutro makes but not for puppies.)  Thanks so much for your help!

Answer
I use cooked, but I know plenty of others that use raw - it's whatever you and your dog are comfortable with.  (We startedwith raw, but Shadow liked cooked better.  We still substitute with occassional raw treats too like chicken wings.)  The performance puppy food I use is ProPac and their site can be found  http://www.propacpetfood.com/dogs/index.tpl?SKU=20020102155828.

There are also some other great foods out there, so take a look and the back of the bag is your best bet.  Look for some type of meat to be the main first ingredients, and under the crude analysis, look for Crude Fat and Crude Protein to be in that 20-30% range each.  Most dog food manufacturers consider that to be "puppy" food because most dogs don't need that kind of fat and protein as an adult - Siberians are different though.  They can thrive on that, so that's why I keep them on it.

Hope that helps and let me know if you need anything else.