skin issues

[boosmum]

i have a pomeranian who is 12 years old. she was diagnosed with a thyriod condition 2 years ago. up until recently she was 75% bald. she has been on daily medication since first diagnosis. this summer she got a bad case of fleas. while i was bathing her for the flea treatments i noticed that most of her bald spots were covered in black flacky skin. after her baths as i was brushing her the skin flacked off leaving pink and white patches which eventually started to be replaced with hair.she stil lacks about 25% of her hair. i have also taken her in to be treated for arthritis. right now my concern is that she has lagre clumps of dead skin all over her body. if i soak her in a warm bath and use baby shampoo on her it seems to loosen the stuff up and i can brush most of it away but it come back within a week. can you tell me what this is and what is causing it and most of all how to treat it.

[hazelrunpack]

What does the vet think it is? It sounds a bit like a skin infection one of our dogs from long ago used to get--black flaky patches that were pink underneath. Turned out it was staph and we used a prescription medicated shampoo to get rid of it. Another thought--has she ever had a skin scraping to check for mites?

[clm]

Too much bathing will make it worse. Stop the bathing. My guess is she's never going to have great skin, our first dog, a breed with the same lines as poms, also had a thyroid condition and his skin was always a problem, on medication or not. You can get cream from the vet to treat the patches that are a problem.

Cindy

[boosmum]

thank you for the suggestions. my neighbor seems to think it might be a yeast infection. my dog also sits on the rug and rubs her female parts back and forth in a frenzy. she has been spade so i know it is nothing to do with being in heat. she seems like she is having a real good time when she is doing it. have not gotten her to the vet yet because i am laid off and money is really tight.