She's going BALD!!!

[inkondesk]

I have a six month old female Doberman pup, unaltered. No known health problems. She's black and Tan in colour, with a thinker coat than some.

Her mother was Brown and Tan (Red & Rust). HER mother was black and tan, and her father was 'Isabella'.

My pups father was Black and Tan, with the same sort of coat as her. His father was also Black and Tan, but with a thinner coat. I didn't get to see his mother, but I think I remember being told she was Black and Tan also. Her coat condition isn't known by me, but, as I saw siblings of my pups father, I'd say she had a thick coat, as well.

That's as far back as I know about coat colours and conditions of her relatives.

I'm not in charge of her main diet. The owner of our oldest Doberman is in charge of that. However, I can add supplements, such as fish, 'raw' tripe and oils with Omega 3 into her daily diet.

She doesn't seem to find the bald patches itchy or uncomfortable at all. I know she hasn't 'self inflicted' them, as the first bald patch that arose is on the underside of her cheek.

I DON'T WANT A BALD DOG! :(

At first I thought it was caused by my little dogs nibbling at her, but when she got a second bald patch, and the first one hadn't even started growing back...:confused:

Here's a photo of the patch on her throat.
http://i53.tinypic.com/1079wr9.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/w1zhpf.jpg
And here's a photo of the one on the side of her body.
http://i54.tinypic.com/2rm9unq.jpg

Excuse the bad quality please.

Any advice? Words of wisdom? More questions? Things I can give her to help improve her coat? :( :)

[lizbud]

It could be stress related as well as diet. Have she seen a Vet about
the problem? How many dogs does she live with?

[Karen]

Definitely time for a quick vet trip, as she's getting more ... and it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the exposed skin look a little flaky, so better safe than sorry, to the vet!

[Freedom]

Yes, a vet visit is needed.

Lots of flaking can be seen in these photos, so she is not healthy.

What food is she getting? She needs a grain free food, with a protein content of about 40% while a baby.

Is she getting baths? Too many? What shampoo?
Is she having flea treatments - those topical drops? Which brand

Just thinking out loud of things which can cause or contribute to these skin issues. The skin is the largest organ of the body, so she is definitely not healthy at this time. :(

[NicoleLJ]

I agree with the others. A vet trip is in order. They can do a scrapping to see if there are any parasites causing the issue along with other tests if it is caused by something else.

[inkondesk]

How many dogs does she live with?

6. :eek: My three are exercised daily for 80 minutes (1 hour, 20 minutes) separately, and then a 30 minute run up the field (all 6 together) at the end of the day. They get two 'walks' on Saturdays. We get in the car, drive five minutes, let them out, take their leads off and let them run with a 'doggy pal' who we meet up with. And then, at the end of the day, up the field for 30 minutes.

The pup gets taken out three times on Saturdays, as she goes with me when I walk a friends dog.

On normal days (Sunday - Friday) she gets taken out once in the morning for ten minutes up the field with the ball and my two other dogs, then out for a walk from 2PM to 3PM, then another walk at 5PM, solely for training purposes...And just before it gets dark (8-ish now) all the dogs go up the field for a game of fetch. It's literally in our back garden, so for the evening run, they just get sent up, no leads, and run straight out into the field with us following behind.

There's sometimes a ball, but mostly they just run and play.

The two others that I own are walked three times a day. A morning trip up the field, then an evening trip, and one is walked from 12PM to 1PM, the other from 1PM to 2PM, then I go out with the pup to walk friends' dog.

I know exercise is a common cause for stress in dogs, so I make sure they all get at least one decent run during the day. The other dogs are owned by members of my family, and the only walk they get every day is the run up the field in the evening.

My other two are over 3 years old, so they no longer have timed training sessions. When I'm having a basic "Sit, Down, Wait, Look at me" session with the pup, they sometimes come over and join in, but it's not a routine for them anymore. I stop making it a routine when they turn a year and a half. That's when both the little ones had calmed down, learned advanced obedience, and simply didn't need the training anymore. I'll probably stop doing the routine sessions with the pup when she's around 3 to 4 years old.

I try to keep her mentally stimulated by introducing her to a new trick every few days and playing hide and seek games when we're on walks. We also do lots of attention games with just hand signals, just voice commands, that sort of thing.

Her diet most likely has a huge impact on her coat condition, but I really can't do anything about that at the moment. :(

We called the vet when we saw the one on her neck, and were told it could have been where the others were playing with her or maybe excessive brushing with tough combs. We asked the vet this afternoon and were told to add more protein and 'Fishy oils' to her diet, and to take her in if any more patches occurred. I really don't know anything about the 'food' sort of thing, but stayed away from cans of fish that included high traces of salt, and went with ones that contained lots of Omega 3, "in Brine" and that was made from Tuna.

I didn't even think stress could be the cause, to be honest. :(

I'm adding more oils and protein to her diet starting this evening, and (under vets new recommendations) am going to brush her daily with a bristle brush. I used to brush her maybe twice a week.

We've always used this vet, and he's been great with our other pets (from Dogs to Guinea pigs)...Should I still take her in ASAP? :confused: Or see if it improves rather than declines with the advice he's given before having her checked out by a professional?

Her fur is very flaky at the moment, due to the fact she's been swimming in dirty water during the week and hasn't been washed off properly. Or, that's what I think caused it. Seeing as when she's clean, her skin is not flaky. The next sunny day she's getting a proper bath, but when she got back from swimming, she was just hosed off outside and towel dried.

Tomorrow is meant to be sunny. So, that should give us a good start on making her skin better.

If stress is (partly/) the problem, how would I start to 'ditch the stress' for her?

[IRescue452]

I would think that without seeing the spots that a vet on the phone would immediately think ringworm and/or want to test for mange. I don't think its ringworm but I'd do a test for mange if that were my dog. If the vet is mentioning stress first without ruling out simple conclusive skin scrapes or even seeing the dog, I'd get another vet personally.