Baily's bald spot
Short of putting one of those cones on her head, I'm not sure how to stop her. If I see her scratching, I tell her 'no' and touch her leg and she stops but obviously, I can't watch her 24/7. Anyone else have this problem? Thanks for the input. Lorraine |
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| I think this could be an allergy. Maybe to something in the environment or to her food.
Did the Vet suggest anything like Benadryl to see if the itching stops? You could ask about giving her that - just check the dosage for her size! Does she appear to have hairloss anywhere else? When Presley was that age - her hair started to fall out by the roots - but it came out in certain areas first. There was no known cause - but they said it could have been stress - she had some other health problems as a young pup (infections, worms, etc.) - she also had littermates with thyroid problems. Kristen |
| Eeek! It's like Ben's history! Ben had this same issue. Literally we were kept up at night because he would scratch all night and it would rattle his crate. We had clumps of his hair everywhere, too.
Please beg your vet to retest him for mange. Our first vet kept telling us he just had a little staph infection and kept prescribing medications and ointments for the poor guy. He didn't have any noticeable rashes when we got him and eventually had sores from the scratching - or so we thought. After tons of online research all the symptoms of mange really fit Ben. I took him to our old vet in the town we lived in a couple of years prior. They took skin samples and determined it was mange. However, the vet did tell us it was nearly impossible to detect the mites (I think they are mites?) under a microscope in the sample. It wasn't the fastest recovery but after he got started on the medication it was night and day with the scratching. You could tell he was so much happier, I can't imagine why! The vet showed us one of the tests for mange. Check her ears around the hair line. Ben's were very flaky, like horrible dandruff. If I remember correctly they eventually were yellowish flakes. Rub the ear near the tips between two fingers and the dog may move her back leg, almost like a reflex. Good luck! |
| I agree....have your doctor check Baily for mange. However, you should know that quite often, it is difficult for the mange mites to be found. We just went through this with one of our cats. Although the doctor identified the problem with the first visit, it took several skin scrapings before we could confirm the diagnoses. Fortunately, the mange did not spread to the rest of the gang. The doctor also mentioned that she was seeing a huge increase in the incidence of mange in her practice this year (we are in New Hampshire). |
| Thanks for all of the inputs. Right now the Vet is suggesting bathing her with an Aloe moisturizing shampoo. He thinks he may have to do with the heat and dryness that we have been having for the last weeks. If it doesn't improve now that it has cooled a bit, back she goes.
Lorraine What exactly is mange? |
| Mange is awful -- Henry ate his skin raw and bleeding from the time I got him until 8 months later when he was finally diagnosed. Mange is a type of mite (demodex) that we all have in all our hair. However, they are generally benign and we never know they are there. When an animal gets stressed -- in Henry's case it was probably escaping from his original abusive owners and being on his own with poor water, no food and general terror--these mites get out of control.
My poor Little Boo was miserable. He was treated several times for allergies rather than mange. Unfortunately, when I got him he had so many problems it took a while to sort out what he had (kennel cough, giardia, flea allergies, and mange.) Eventually my vet recommended a dematologist vet. The dermatologist knew immediately what the problem was and could find the mange even though my regular vet had done several skin scrapings and had never found the mange. Note about specialist vets, I paid about $1000 for the course of treatments including office visits, medicine, special shampoos, etc. She was worth every penny. The treatment is a daily concentrated dose of the medicine used in your monthly heartworm pills, you must give this daily dose for 8-12 weeks. It tastes foul and it took all my culinary skills to get Henry to eat it every day for 12 weeks--by the end he was getting peanut butter and Haagen Daaz sundaes. The good news is that Henry healed completely. His hair grew back and more importantly, he stopped spending a good part of his day scratching himself raw. |
| Lorraine,
What happened with the bald spot - did you see an improvement? Just curious! Kristen |
| Sorry it took so long for the update. I was waiting to see how the medication worked. Baily was recently spade (I think that is spelt right). Anyway, when the doctor shaved her tummy he noticed some little red spots which he felt were a skin infection of some sort. He put her on antibiotics for a few weeks following the surgery and that seems to have cleared the problem. I'm keeping an eye on her to see if the scratching starts again. She has been off the meds for about 1 1/2 weeks now and she seems to be doing ok.
Thanks for the concern. Lorraine |
| Glad the antibiotics are working but I'm still concerned for you, as I'm sure
Henry's Mom can relate to as we both had similar issues with mange. Ben had lots of treatments for his rashes and at first they cleared and then soon resurfaced somewhere else on his body. It was such a long hard ordeal for both Ben and our family. It's amazing how much a dog scratching and biting itself around the clock can wear on your nerves! Keep us informed, my best wishes are with you and Bailey! |
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