I have a 19 month old chocolate lab that has begun losing hair around his eyes. It doesn't look horrible, but it's concerning because I'm afraid it might get worse. He's also been itching at lit a little but, although not a ton. About 5 weeks ago he had a skin infection on his belly. He was prescribed an antibiotic and prednisone which he took for 15 days. At the same time he also received a number of vaccinations. From googling it seems the most likely culprit for hair loss around the eyes is adult onset demodectic mange. I've read this usually affects puppies, older dogs, or dogs with compromised immune systems or immune deficiency diseases. However, I've also read on the VCA's website that a possible side effect of prednisone is demodectic mange: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/steroid-treatment-long-term-effects-in-dogs. Has anyone else experiences anything like this after prednisone, other corticosteroids, or vaccinations?? I'm hoping that the combination of medicine and vaccinations may have temporarily weakened his immune system and now that he's off the meds it will heal itself. Also I'd like to upload a picture of his eyes here, but can't figure out how to upload media. Any help would be appreciated.
Hello and welcome to the forum. I don't have any experience to help you with your question, but in order to share photos, you need to use a third party host like Flickr or Imgur (not Photobucket, because they've changed their policy and now charge to have photos shared on other sites). There is information on how to do this in the stickies in the technical section: https://thelabradorforum.com/forums/technical-help.18/
Ok, thanks for the info. Above is a picture of his eye. I've seen other labs with eyes like this, but never seen it in mine before.
Poor boy. My choccy girl had bare rings around her eyes as a young puppy. Although I very rarely saw her doing it, it was due to her rubbing them as they were irritated. I had to use eye drops, which was no fun for either of us, but did eventually clear up the problem. Rather than mange, could it be that he's simply rubbing them because of the itching? You can embed bigger pics, by choosing an option from the drop-down list in Flickr:
He really should NOT have been vaccinated while he was being treated for other ailments. It will say right on the vaccine label that it is for use on healthy dogs and a dog on antibiotics and prednisone is obviously not healthy, or he wouldn't be on those. YOu might be seeing a reaction to a surge of chemicals entering his body all at once. Many things can cause hair loss in that area, mange isn't the only possibility. Transfer from the skin infection on his belly is also possible if he rubbed his eyes in that area, which he probably did. You could call and ask your Vet. Heck, he might even have rubbed it off rolling on rough grass or carpet. Having your Vet take a look is the way I'd go.
Thanks for the replies. I've seen him rub his eyes a few times but not a ton. I'll keep a closer watch on how often he's doing it. Interesting comment about not using vaccines while being treated for the skin infection. I didn't think of that, but he did receive about 5 different vaccines including a 3 year rabbies vaccine, so it was probably a lot on his system. He doesn't have any other symptoms or hair loss anywhere else on his body. In fact his coat overall is in great condition. Other than that hair loss around the eyes he's acting completely normal. I think for now I'm going to keep taking pictures everyday and comparing them. If the hair loss worsens, I will bring him back to the vet.
I'd be changing vets. A vet who vaccinates and gives prednisone together isn't thinking straight. The vaccination causes an immune response while the prednisone suppresses the immune response. I had the same thing with my pup where he got all of this in one go (he didn't lose hair around the eye - sorry, can't help there). Subsequent vets were horrified with what that vet had done.
