Thread: Dog Losing Hair- Parisites? Allergy?

My dog has recently started to lose hair on his face. First it was the begining area of his eyebrows, now it's spread to his nose. At first I thought it was a scratch that an outdoor cat had given him (happened once before) or that he scratched himself on some tools left over from the construction workers in the backyard (since construction has recently stalled due to some disputes), but the vet said it was allergies. Again, I thought it might be an allergic reaction to the tools outside so I've been letting him out in the front where no tools/chemicals are to avoid exposure but his hair still seems to be falling out. I don't see how it can be an allergic reaction since we've been in the house since early June with the tools in the backyard and no hair has fallen out since reacently and it's at a pretty fast pace (just now his nose area that's thinning had some white stuff on it that looked almost like dandruff or dry skin which I've never seen him have). He's nine years old and has never had such a strange reaction before so I don't see why suddenly it would happen unless it's a parasite. Is it just me or could he have scabbies? How does one test for that? Is there something that tests for all parasites? Any help or info would greatly be appreciated.

Could be this or could be that, and has your vet done any testing or suggested a course of action to rule out possibilities to finaly come to a diagnosis which maybe treatable. The first thing I thought of was the Demodex Mite which can cause a skin disease known as Demodectic Mange or Demodicosis that includes hair loss, especially around the face. Normally the mite, known as Demodex Canis, is present in almost all dogs. However, an inflammatory reaction develops when the population of mites becomes too large for the immune system to regulate. Maybe your vet might do some testing starting regarding this, and if it is this then they might prescribe some treatment that may address the problem, and I think the treatment is with a product called Revolution.
.

My dog started out the same way:

My dog has the same allergies. I have a 5-year-old black lab female. She started out with allergies and they couldn't figure it out. Eventually it turned into Pemphigus Foliaceus. Its an autoimmune disease. Once it was finally diagnosed she had to be on Predinsone...100mg a day (5 pills) in conjunction with Ciprofloxacin, 1500mg a day. It makes her feel so much better and the vet said that 2-3 months of this and slowly tapering off would cure the Pemphigus Foliaceus but allergies would still be there and that is what the Ciprofloxacin is for. However, we have taken her off and it came right back so we started giving her the Prednisone again and it cleared right up. Although, she may feel better but in a mere 4 months we believe that the high doses of Prednisone has made her almost completely blind. having a 115lb dog blind in the house is a bit hard.

Make sure your dog doesn't stay on the Prednisone for long periods of time and make sure he gets regular blood tests to check for liver and kidney count.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by LabLover0303

She started out with allergies and they couldn't figure it out. Eventually it turned into Pemphigus Foliaceus. Its an autoimmune disease.

A skin biopsy is required to determine if the condition is in fact one of the Pemphigus diseases and if so, which one. Yes it could be this or could be that, and it's best to have a pathologist who specializes in reading skin tissues process the sample.
.

Obviously I can't know what the problem is, but I will share my problem with you. I have a mini dox, who around 9 months old started losing hair (thinning) around this temples and ears. Went to vet, said it was demodex, gave me ivermectin. 6 months later, hair is thinning again this time all over body. Took dog back to vet, said it was demodex again, gave me ivermectin. Now (3 months later) hair is thinning again so decided it was time for a second opinion. Took the dog to another vet, said it definately wasn't demodex. That the dog didn't have any symptons of demodex and did a skin scrape (which the other vet would never do) said there aren't any mites. Pretty convinced it's a thyroid problem. Waiting on blood work, but just wanted to throw this out there as a possible problem. Hoping I can finally get a solution to my problem and I hope you can too.