Hair Growth & Evening out Patches

[Liz]

Hi All,

My little guy (5 months) had his little boy surgery last week and came back from the vet with a HUGE ring shaved around his arm for the IV (would have been nice if they'd told me to expect that!).  It was down to bare arm all the way around, in a 3 inch band.

1.5 weeks later he has a little bit of peach fuzz grown around, but I'm wondering just how long of a wait I'm in for for it to actually grow back.  Any tips on trying to make it look a little more normal as it grows in?  The hair on either side is likely around 2.5 inches -- he needs a trim in the next month or so.

Very happy that they took steps to make sure he was safe for surgery with the IV, but boy, did they really have to that that much hair?

Liz & Cooper

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

They did the same to Enzo for her spay. It took MONTHS for it to fully grow in. She had the surgery in early Nov. and people still were questioning is March about it. Eventually, you can do the " comb over " thing. ;)

[F, Calla & Luca]

Calla's similar shave took months to grown in. Next time, if there is a next time which I hope not, I will ask if they can avoid doing the whole circumference. They really  should only need to do over the vein but I suppose bandaging to keep the IV linein place may be harder. then the surrounding hair would most likely disguise things better : )

[Jennifer and Lily]

Lily also had this after her spay. It felt like she had a bald spot forever. When it started growing back, we trimmed her short so it wasn't too noticeable.

[Abigail *George & Juno*]

George has this right now. She's getting groomed in a week and I'm thinking of asking if they can "blend" it a little there and on her belly. It's grown in rather quickly. She had her spay almost exactly 1 month ago. At that point she had just been groomed and I thought "they took all her hair!" Then when they shaved her arm I realized she had at least 2 inches of hair after grooming. Perspective I suppose.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Boris had big surgery on both shoulders last december and was half naked  as well as the bare patch around a back leg too. I trimmed the rest of his body shorter to make the difference less obvious as it grew in. It takes months but it does grow back. I think we are looking at another three months for there to be no difference.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

It will take months unless you shave the rest of him down that short, which Im sure you weren't thinking of. All you can do is go as short as you are comfortable with and still looks somewhat blended with the next grooming and wait.

One thing about hair is it does grow back! :)

[Marie and Hoka]

That's weird, because Hoka had his surgery yesterday and I was expecting this... but he came home regular!  I'm not sure how they did his IV.

I know his vet is a standard poodle owner herself, maybe she does't want to do that to them!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wow.

[Liz]

I guess I'm in for a long wait.  I started him on vitamins last week since someone told me they can help, but I have a feeling the only real benefit is making me feel like I'm doing something.  I'll be happy once it just doesn't look so darn white, even if the length isn't totally normal.

In the meantime I'll just have to start making up good stories about what happened.  I've spent a lot of time on crutches and when I get sick of telling people what happened I've come up with some great stories  -- like the time I had a run in with a shark, or fell heli-skiing in Alaska.  I wonder what a good doggie version of those would be....