Sorry I know we have been here before, but anyway. Otis had dandruff recently and was all fluffy, so I gave him a good groom and a bath. His coat is now nice and shiny, and no dandruff. However Ive noticed that he has a small bald patch on his tum, and small moth eaten looking patches on the inside of his legs. There are no mites or bugs or fleas, the skin looks very clean, no spots or anything. So is this doggy alopecia if there is such a thing? He is on a raw diet, and gets tinned fish and sea biscuits from fish for dogs, but what would be the best supplement to get ? Is it stress ? He seems quite a chilled passive sleepy dog, so I would have thought not ?? Thanks, Maggie xx
Re: Baldness Ah Maggie I'm sorry,no experience .....what was the cause last time? Did he enjoy his bath
Re: Baldness Hi Maggie, I wonder if its possible that he has a mild case of mange ? There are mites that are so tiny we cant see with the naked eye , I think I`d pop him to the Vets who may do a skin scrape and look under a microscope, just in case , let us know please, poor lad Just had anoher thought , does he wear a harness ? if so, its also possible that its rubbing him ?
Re: Baldness Does he wear a harness or anything that could be rubbing on him and therefore rubbing the fur away? That's quite a common thing if so and it's just a simple solution of finding something that doesn't run! Are the areas flaky? Red? Wet looking? Anything like that at all?
Re: Baldness Hi, Thanks no, no flaky red or weeping skin. Its on his back legs too, not where his harness is. That leaves mange. Looks like a trip to the vets then. When the vet saw the first bit which was only on one leg at the time, I was told to frontline him, thing is I dont think the frontline I have covers mange. He could have easily caught it from a fox, lots around here. Right vet appointment it is . Thanks, Maggie xx
Re: Baldness No frontline won't treat either type of mange. If it appears to be spreading then that could be the likely suspect. I hope that it's only demodectic mange as that is the 'nice' one as far as mange goes... It's not contagious and easier to treat. Sarcoptic mange is fox mange and can be really contagious. Fingers crossed it's neither and just a random bald spot! Let us know how you get on!
Re: Baldness Good luck Maggie , that was my first thought, but its early and can be treated easily, if thats what it is
Re: Baldness Thanks Lauren, Ive got a feeling its just baldness, but will get it checked to be on the safe side. xx
Re: Baldness My Lab had exactly the same, I was scared he had an an allergy, a lifetime problem, I waited for ages worrying. It didn't look typical of fox mange at all, but the vet and I thought we would try a couple of months of Advantage and it cured the problem completely
Re: Baldness Just been googling demodetic mange, actualy it could well be this. At least if it is Ive got it fairly early, and the treatment looks effective . Will see the vet this week and let you know how I get on, Maggie xx
Re: Baldness Demodex is caused by mites so they will take a skin scraping and put it under the microscope to have a look. Depending on how good your dog is, this can be done without sedation so you should get an answer fairly quickly. Strange how a healthy adult dog would pick up demodex though, as I thought it was limited to dogs with compromised immune systems such as young puppies or otherwise neglected or undernourished .... I could be wrong though. That's just the cases I've seen in the kennels.
Re: Baldness Hi Lauren, Otis is just a year old, he has had this baldness for a few months, but it was only on the inside of one leg, its not totally bald, looks sort of motheaten. So as he is just a year, still classed as a pup, till eighteen months old. Thanks, Maggie x
Re: Baldness [quote author=Maggie68 link=topic=5901.msg76276#msg76276 date=1399842392] Hi Lauren, Otis is just a year old, he has had this baldness for a few months, but it was only on the inside of one leg, its not totally bald, looks sort of motheaten. So as he is just a year, still classed as a pup, till eighteen months old. Thanks, Maggie x [/quote] Dexter, our 6 month old has very similar sounding symptoms in exactly the same area on inside rear leg. Have a vets appt on thursday so will get he to have a look and let you know what the advice is!
Re: Baldness There are two forms of demodicosis, adult-onset (over 18 months of age) which is associated with immunosuppression and juvenile-onset (<18 months) which is a delay in immunocompetence to the mites. It is virtually always only spread between bitch and pups in the first few days of life and the mites are only present in tiny numbers in most normal dogs. Because the mites are spread to such young puppies, the commonest site to see lesions is on the face and front legs, where the pups contact the bitch whilst suckling. The commonest form of the mite lives down hair follicles and damages growing hairs hence you tend to see spreading circular patches of baldness initially, especially in pups. This is called squamous demodicosis. Because the mites reproduce and fill the hair follicles, they damage the normal defenses of the skin against infection and often a secondary bacterial infection will form. This is pustular demodicosis. The bacteria themselves produce an immunosuppressive agent which allows further spread of the mites. Unless there is marked secondary bacterial infection demodicosis is not itchy. Treatment of juvenile-onset demodicosis is often not necessary if it remains squamous as most dogs will develop normal immune competence and it will resolve. There are a variety of available treatments, but we do see increasing resistance of the mite to commonly used products so it can be a bit of a hassle treating them. Skin scrapings are diagnostic in most dogs, biopsy is required in certain breeds (Shar Pei being the best example). Hope this helps. Just seen Stacia's post - Advantage will not treat demodicosis, Bayer have a licence for Advocate. But it is a moot point whether Advocate is any better.....
Re: Baldness I didn't think my dog had demodicosis or sarcoptic mange initially. But in desperation, imagining that I would have years of skin problems I decided to try Advantage (and I don't believe in routinely dosing dogs with flea etc prevention), two months later he had no sign of the moth eaten legs and four months later is still clear. One of the vets in the practice thought it was an allergy and the other one agreed with me, that although it wasn't typical, it was worth trying Advantage.
Re: Baldness [quote author=Stacia link=topic=5901.msg76364#msg76364 date=1399884731] I didn't think my dog had demodicosis or sarcoptic mange initially. But in desperation, imagining that I would have years of skin problems I decided to try Advantage (and I don't believe in routinely dosing dogs with flea etc prevention), two months later he had no sign of the moth eaten legs and four months later is still clear. One of the vets in the practice thought it was an allergy and the other one agreed with me, that although it wasn't typical, it was worth trying Advantage. [/quote] I would certainly agree that virtually any animal with skin disease should have a couple of months of strict parasite control to eliminate any contribution from parasites. Many dogs with an underlying allergy will trigger to having overt clinical signs of disease if there is any parasite burden around at all. Treat the parasites and hey presto! the signs of allergy will disappear. My only reason for pointing out the difference between the products is that I believe the OP's dog is not itchy and hence much more likely to have demodicosis than sarcoptic mange, in which the hallmark is severe itch.
Re: Baldness Ahh, Thanks Lochan, really helpful information. As it seems to be spreading and not clearing up on its own, I will pop him to the vets and see what they say. Thankyou again, Maggie xx
