New puppy, small bald spot

segge · 03-03-2008, 12:46 PM

Hi,

We just aquired a 4 month old Rhodesian Rdigeback and there is small circular area of thin hair on the top of her head. The skin seems a little dry and the hair is thin, it is about 1/2" in diameter. She tries to scratch it once in a while. I have attached a picture. We live in Libya and the vets here are not well trained which brought us to this forum.

We would appreciate your thoughts and any suggested remedies that we could administer ourselves.

Thanks in advance,

Teresa, Steve and Lundi

Mac'N'Roe · 03-03-2008, 01:30 PM

I have two puppies, at 4 months they had the same thing. The picture is pretty blurry, but it looks like a case of demodectic mange. This is passed down from the mother to the puppy during the first day or two of it's life. These symptoms begin to show around 4 months of age.

If it is just this one spot...it is what they call "localized" and they usually will fend this off on their own. For localized demodectic mange, you can apply the ointment "Goodwinol" to the spot for about 10 days to help. However, if you start to notice more spots on different parts of the body, you will need to administer more aggressive treatment. If it becomes generalized, you may notice bigger spots that appear red, moist and may have an odor which they call "hot spots". This picture looks localized. "Hot spots" are caused by a multitude of things...but this is one of them.

Like I said, I have two puppies. One has one spot and it has remained "localized". The other developed general demodectic mange and is undergoing treatment. There are several treatment options for general demodectic mange which include a dip which would be administered by the vet (amitraz is the most common), ivermectin, or a multitude of home remedies which would include you shampooing with a medicated shampoo. There is all sorts of info on the internet about it.

It looks localized at this time (from the picture and the description).

Hope that helps.

ChrissyBz · 03-03-2008, 01:53 PM

I agree. PROBABLY although the picture is really small. I had two with this and we had to treat with amitraz. They're fine now.