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Hair Loss on face...

EmmasMommy
January 15th, 2008, 07:08 PM
I have a 4 1/2 month old Yellow Lab named Emma. Recently, she has some patches of hair loss on her face. There are four patches, one above her left eye, the others are on her cheeks and her chin. I noticed that she has some tiny black spots(?) (looks like dirt, but isn't) in these areas, as well as on her tummy and legs. She does not have hair loss in these areas. I have been checking and checking for fleas, but have not seen any. She doesn't seem to be very itchy - she does scratch, but not a lot. Has anyone experienced this with their dog? We will take her to the vet, but thought I would post in the meantime. Until the vet appointment, I have bathed her (used Aveeno - thought if the skin was irritated an oatmeal bath might help), and have been applying polysporin on the bare patches.

Any thoughts/answers are appreciated.

Thank you from Emma and her Mommy.:dog:

Frenchy
January 15th, 2008, 07:36 PM
It could be food allergies .... could be flea allergies too. I know you posted you haven't seen any , did you see flea droppings ? My Sam (golden) has tick fur and I couldn't see the fleas nor the droppings but had what you described. He was ok after a round of antibiotics and flea treatment.

satchelp
January 15th, 2008, 10:14 PM
In a puppy, the bare spots could be demodectic mange. Probably you need to take Emma to the vet so they can take a look and possibly do a skin scraping to check this.

hazelrunpack
January 15th, 2008, 10:19 PM
In a puppy, the bare spots could be demodectic mange.

That was the first thing that came to my mind, too. It's an easy thing to check--your vet will do a scraping to check for mites. The sooner you can get her in the better--if it is mange, best to treat it as fast as possible.

Oh...and welcome to the board, EmmasMommy! :D We love pictures here, so if you could post a few of Emma, we'd all be very appreciative! :o

EmmasMommy
January 16th, 2008, 12:31 PM
Thank you for your replies. I have done some reading on mange, and that is a possibility. Although, she has those tiny black dots/spots, that look like dirt in the areas she has been losing hair. I have found these black dots on other areas of her body. They do not come off easily, I have tried to wash them off in the bath, but they don't seem to wash off. After extensive searching of her last night, I have found another bald spot (on her neck), and have have found no trace of fleas (thinking these black dots may be flea droppings or something), but have not found one.

Other than fleas or mites, does anyone know of any other parasite that could cause this type of irritation/hair loss and these little black dots? We purchased her from a breeder that lived on a farm. The puppies and their mother were separated from all other animals.

Thank you again.

t.pettet
January 16th, 2008, 10:59 PM
To determine if the 'black dots' are flea dirt, put them in a glass of water and if they disintegrate and the water turns reddish they you know it is fleas.

rainbow
January 17th, 2008, 04:10 AM
It sounds like mites to me as well and the longer you wait the worse it's going to get. Please take her to the vet asap and post with an update. Good luck. :fingerscr :goodvibes:

EmmasMommy
February 4th, 2008, 09:53 PM
I thought I would send a follow-up note on Emma's condition.

She was diagnosed with Demodectic mange. She has been on antibiotics for her irritated skin (that has been a challenge trying to trick her to take a pill, lol), as well as Ivomec in liquid form. She has been taking .7ccs per day, and goes back to the vet at the end of the week for another skin scaping to see if this is helping. Apparently, she could be on this medication for 3 months or longer. I have been inspecting her daily and do not see any new locations of hair loss. As far as the bald spots go, it looks like hair is starting to grow back, although they are still tiny and few of them.

After doing research, and speaking to the vet, this is caused by a compromised immune system. I asked the vet if there was anything that we should be giving her in addition to her medication, and he said no, not medically, but perhaps homeopathic.

So, my next question is, does anyone recommend a good mulit-vitamin with essential fatty acids for puppies?

Thanks again for your replies :goodvibes:

hazelrunpack
February 4th, 2008, 10:38 PM
What does she eat? A high-quality diet is a good place to start, then depending on what she's eating, different supplements might be useful.

Seeing hair (even though it will be sparse and very fine at first) is a great sign of recovery! :thumbs up Our Macie also had demodectic mange when we first got her--when we first saw those tiny hairs it was hard to tell if we were just wishful thinking or if there really was new hair there. :D