Our charcoal lab has been shedding like crazy for a few months. We've tried oatmeal shampoo and stuff our vet gave us. Also tried Aragon oil. It's not helping. I also give her fish oil daily. We're starting to notice spots on her skin especially in her ear. Pic is attached. There's also spots where she doesn't have much hair as other labs do. An example is the outside of her ear. Pics attached. I plan to get her in to the vet but in the meantime wanted to see if anyone else has seen this and what helped.
Yes, that definitely looks odd. She might have some kind of allergy - there's something going on, that's for sure. Does she scratch a lot? The shedding is pretty normal for Labs, but you never know, it might be related to whatever the other issue is. Hope your vet has some answers for you!
That doesn't look right at all - I hope the vet can help. The inside of the ear looks like it has been scratched over some time, and the skin is thickened through the damage. I wouldn't hang around anymore in getting that seen to, it is very hard to reverse skin changes. If your vet can't suggest a convincing way forward with a good diagnosis, I'd see a specialist dermatologist without delay.
Funny, I just noticed the same looking thing as your first picture inside Quinn's ear last night. She has been shedding like mad for a few weeks and her tummy and hind legs are very patchy and missing hair. She has never really had much hair in her "arm pit" area, but now even less. We had the vet check her a few weeks ago and she seemed to think that it was from her harness rubbing. We have another appointment tonight as she has lost more hair despite not using her harness so it may be an allergy or something else entirely. I would get that vet checked to be sure.
I would echo Julie's recommendation to see a dermatologist if your vet has nothing more to offer you than suggesting the hair loss could be from a harness. If she wore it 24/7, well, maybe. But I would doubt it otherwise.
Still no answers for us - a different vet does not suspect anything related to allergies, autoimmune etc as there is no redness, or scabbing and no signs of stress and hair is starting to grow back in areas. She is in excellent health and the rest of her coat is thick and shiny. Vet suggested it may be something related to hair follicle and we have a shampoo and some omega 3 vitamins to try...will watch for a few more weeks. It could very well be the last of her puppy coat being shed along with seasonal changes but seems a bit much for that. If no improvement, we will get skin samples taken and investigate further.
Skin infections (bacterial or fungal) can cause hair loss without any sign of redness (based on my experience with my first dog). I'd say the raised, lumpy looking skin is the result of damage from scratching. I'd definitely see a vet dermatologist asap. Hope you can get to the bottom of it.
Update. Today my vet saw her. Scrapped a few spots to check her skin and he said was good. He said it's yeast and staph that's causing it. He said she had a lot of yeast in her ears and gave me some ear drops for that. Gave me some spray for her on spots where the hair is dense or less and where we see the red dots. He said the red bumps are staph. Also gave us Cefpodoxime Proxetil tablets to give her. He said it should start improving in a week or 2 and if not to come back. I've already switched to grain free food a few weeks ago to try and get a start incase that was it. Was using Fromm Gold Large Breed Adult but went to Fromm Four Star Game Bird recipe.
Wouldn't allow me to edit my post. The spray he gave me is at the link below. It's supposed to help with fungal or allergy stuff. The spray left a bad residue after drying. I looked around and found they make a shampoo and it's in amazon too as well as the spray. So I ordered the shampoo so we don't have the residue issue. http://www.dechra-us.com/products/details/miconahextriz®-spray
That spray is a combination antifungal (the miconazole) and antibacterial (the chlorhexidine). If the vet has given you the spray then I'd continue with that. The residue will be having an ongoing effect on the problem microbes, which is what you want. When my first dog had something similar we had to use an antifungal/antibacterial ointment that was like vaseline. So I know what you mean about dealing with residue (!), but I really would stick with the spray.
Ok thanks for that info. Do you think it'd be ok to still use the shampoo with the spray? I'm thinking I might have used too much spray yesterday. Just want her to get better. You don't think it can hurt her do you? Also, do you think it's safe for the kids to still pet her with the residue on her from the spray? The bottle says keep away from children but I'm just curious if the residue getting on them is the same as if they touched her right after I sprayed it on her and rubbed it into her skin and coat.
I think the main issue with kids would be getting hold of the bottle and eating some of it. Although chlorhexidine tastes absolutely disgusting (extremely bitter) so I doubt they'd eat much! I'd guess that there isn't really any risk to the kids from the use of the spray. Just to be on the safe side have them wash their hands after patting her, before eating etc. I would say there's no risk to them just from getting the substance on their skin though.... I guess that if you need to give her a bath for some reason then using that shampoo would be good. But I wouldn't be routinely washing her affected bits with it....I would just use the spray. The best thing to do to resolve any doubt would be to call your vet and ask.
Just thought I'd post an update and progress pics. I'm using the shampoo every few days to use less of the spray. I do put a good amount of spray in the problem areas. She's going a lot better. Here are a couple pics showing improvements.
Glad to see her so improved x Hmmmmm I've got to wonder how you know that but I guess I know how Fish4Dogs salmon mousse tastes so who am I to ask?
He's still scratching but I think she's jut got dry skin. So I'm gonna start back on the shampoo we got for her that's for dry skin and a conditioner to help with it starting tomorrow. Hopefully the other is gone and if I go to that she'll stop scratching from dry skin. Any recommendations on shampoo for dry skin? I think I have some but nothing better than reviews from others that have the same issues.
Glad to se her looking better! Sorry don't have any shampoo recommendations. I've never had to bathe my dogs much so when I do it's basically just generic dog shampoo
So glad she's better. I'd think dry skin is better treated via diet - to get to the root cause. Shampooing might just alleviate the symptoms. Salmon oil capsules really do make a difference.
That's a dramatic improvement, thanks to your perseverance. We used fish oil capsules for our old boy's dandruff problems - ?dry skin. It cleared up with them.
