Coatfunk

Alaskan Malamute breeders have been talking for some time about a recurring type of coat problem. Their shared information indicated that it appeared with enough frequency to warrant further investigation. For want of a better name, the syndrome has been called " coat funk." Whether this is a new disease or related to an old one is unknown.

The symptoms seem to appear primarily in males, beginning in mid to old age, although an affected female has been reported. As youngsters, the dogs have typical, healthy coats, but as they age, the guard hairs around the neck begin to break off. At first this may appear to be damage from a collar, but eventually the rest of the guard coat breaks off or falls out, leaving behind only the woolly undercoat, giving the dog a sheep like appearance. (The undercoat is not shed like a normal coat.) The head, face and spinal area may continue to be unaffected, but the guard coat will be sparse in those areas. The tail may be affected at any time, early or later depending on the dog. Since the coat does not shed normally, the old hair takes on a reddish tinge of dead or sun damaged hair. This may be connected with the disease, or may be unrelated.

Once shaved or plucked, the dog may grow in a normal coat, but the symptoms eventually reappear. Interestingly, the same process occurs with castrated dogs.

Some symptoms resemble those associated with hypothyroidism, but the testing reveals affected dogs with both normal and abnormal thryoid levels. Investigators are trying to see if diseases with similar symptoms found in other breeds are the same as this one.