There's a fungus among us........

Well, I don't think I even mentioned this before, but about 3 weeks ago, I noticed that Lilly was losing a tremendous amount of hair on her back, way more than is customary at this time of year. I watched it for several days, brushed her lots, and more and more hair fell out. Then it started falling out of her tail. So I took her into the vet, thinking that it was probably more of the seasonal allergy symptoms, since she had been broken out on her belly, and had lost most of the hair there.

Dr. Robinson put her on a course of prednisone for the itching, plus gave her an injection. But he said there was something unusual about so much hair falling out....she's almost bald on her back, not even as much hair as a Lab. Plus, there was some flaking, almost like dandruff. He said he wanted to grow a culture and that it would take seven day, but wanted to be sure it wasn't a fungus of some sort.

You can tell by my title, it is a fungus of somesort....I'm not even going to attempt to give you a name, although he did give me one. I saw what grew in that little vile.....it looked like mold!!! Now she is being treated twice a day with a big pill...which she doesn't mind, since she gets some cheese. He will test her again in two weeks, and perhaps run her though one more course of medication, just to make sure it is completely gone.

Poor baby, her front end looks just fine, but from her waist back is pretty pitiful. Dr. Robinson says the chances of Honey, or one of us contracting it is very slim, thank goodness. We have no idea where she picked it up, but I'm wondering if she could have picked it up at the beach since this started about a week after we were there. No telling......

Anyway, we'll keep you posted on how our little fungus girl is doing. She acts like she feels fine. Dr. Robinson says for sure that the next wing of his hospital will be named for me and my gang, since we go there so much!! :D

Poor Lilly :( I hope the medication works fast and she gets all her hair back. Give her a big hug from me.

Poor Lilly! What a horrible thing for a beautiful lady such as Lilly to be having hair loss problems! :o If she was a male I would suggest Rogaine! :D Getting serious for a minute here, when you first mentioned this Logan, I sort of had a hunch it may have come from the beach. Who knows what washes up there and of course dogs just love to roll in everything! Whatever the cause, it sounds like your vet has a plan to fix her up and return her to her gorgeous old self. Keep us posted and tell Lilly we think she is still just as pretty as ever!

Kisses to fungi girl Lilly!

Yikes! Maybe Lilly has been eating too many mushrooms! :D :D :D
Hope she feels better soon and her hair all comes back!

Oh no, Lilly, not your beautiful, flowing golden hair :(

I hope you get that icky fungi off of ya, and your lovely hair grows back.

Oh Lily, why do those things happen to the most beautiful girls. As in many cases maybe her hair will grow back more beautiful than ever. I'm glad the Vet knew what to do, and I'm sure with a little time she will be back to normal. Lily, you get hugs and kisses from Daisy and Perry and me, and of course Honey gets one too. Let us know how she is doing.
Jackie

Logan, Give Lilly a hug for me and tell her I wish her a speedy recovery, coat and all. I'm sure she will be her beautiful self in no time at all.

Awwww poor Lilly and her beautiful golden hair!! Almost sounds like a case of the ring worm fungi!!! Especially since it happened after a trip to the beach. Ring worm likes moist climate...and animals...bad combination!! At least it can be treated and she should be as good as new in no time!! **hugs**

Not the beautiful golden girl Lilly!! :) Poor baby! But, mom was on the case PRONTO as expected, and all signs point to a positive prognosis, a speedy recovery and lots of extra loving from all of us! Give that gorgeous Lilly girl a big hug and tell her that before long her fabulous Farrah Fawcett locks will be flowing again!

Lots of hugs and well wishes
for Lilly. :)

Logan, how awful for Lily (and you -- you had to be freaking when all that hair was falling out!)!! ;) Did Dr. Robinson say if he thought it came from the beach or whether he thought it might migrate to the others? Gosh, I hope not. Monocle would be glad to come over and help groom as new hair comes in if Lily promises not to eat the cat person. Hope she gets better real fast. Trev did the same thing before I realized she was allergic to fleas. Looked really funny with coat on the front and tail and naked from the ribs back. Doggie kisses and hugs from our house to yours. :)

Thank you so much, everyone for your concern about Lilly. This is so minor and curable compared to what some of the others have been dealing with, that I almost hesitated to even mention it! Lilly will be fine. She looks a little pitiful right now and her lovely curls are missing on her lower back and her tail, but she'll be ok. Dr. Robinson and I will make sure of that! :D

And Chris, he did not venture a guess about where she could have contracted the fungus. She and Honey basically took all the same steps at the beach, so I really have no idea "why" Lilly, and not Honey. Lilly does have very sensitive skin, so maybe she was just more susceptible than Honey, or maybe she picked it up right here at home. :eek: I swear, you can't see any fungus growing in my house!! :D

As we all know, before the cure comes the correct diagnosis. Congratulations to Lilly's vet for a good job. He gets an *Atta Boy* for this one.

Tucker and Hannah send their best wishes for a hairy butt to Lilly.

Hope your hair grows back fast, Lilly!! I can donate some hair if you want some (Killi and Shiloh always leave a lot hanging around)!

Oh, Lilly, I'm glad this isn't that serious and you're going to be just fine. I'll join Sue is sending some hair. I have a long haired cat the same color as your golden who always has hair laying around. :D ;)

Tucker is offering up some white with tan. Maybe Mom can dye it for you!

The mental picture of Lilly with a donated butt rug is pretty funny.

Lilly says "thanks" to everyone for the offer of a "butt wig"....but her Mom can tell you there is plenty of hair right here if we need it! :eek: Between what she has lost, plus Honey's shedding, and two cats...she could look like Joseph in his coat of many colors!! :) Can you tell I am teaching the six grade Sunday School class tomorrow??? I've been reading about Joseph tonight!!! :D

Oh poor Lilly girl! I hope she gets well soon! Big kisses for her!

So, this mushroom goes into a bar, and all the beautiful women crowd around him. They buy him drinks and laugh at his jokes and whisper in his ear. The men at the bar can't figure out why this mushroom is getting all the attention. So one fella says to the bartender "What is the deal with him?" The bartender replys, "Oh, you mean Gus? He always gets the girls because he's a real fungi!"

(Sorry, I couldn't resist!) :D :D :D :D

I hope Lilly is her sleek self very soon!

[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: TheAntiPam ]

My friend Paula has a golden retriever, Molly, who had some trouble like this about a year ago. It was so bad, her tail was bald, her butt was bald. She itched so bad and was so miserable Paula considered putting her to sleep.And Paula is just as crazy about Molly as the rest of us are about our doggies! So this was a major thing. She was just miserable. And so was her mom. She took her to several vets. On several meds. They finally realized she was having an allergic reaction to Kibbles and Bits!!!!
So she took her off that and put her on I think Purina Pro Plan or something. She is doing wonderful.
Everything grew back.
I refuse to use Kibbles and Bits at all.

Good news and then even better news!!! :D :D :D
Lilly went back for a recheck on the nasty fungus today. He thought she looked much better, but said let's do another course of medication, just to be sure. Lilly said "yes" because that means she can get two extra treats a day when she takes the pill! :rolleyes:

And the Best news is that Lilly weighed in at 87 pounds today!!! YIPPEE!!! :D The diet is working, finally, after all this time. She has lost 9 pounds and looks wonderful!!! Thank you, Iams Weight Control!!! :) Just 7 pounds to go!!

[ November 30, 2001: Message edited by: Logan ]

Gosh, Lilly ~ Winterz comin! This izint the season to be wiffout :eek: yer fur coat! Have ya asked yer Mom ta nit up a pair of britchez to ware? Mebbee Sandie Klawz will bring ya a pair :cool:.

Oh; will you ask yer Mom to paleeeeze stop talkin bout that *D-I-E-T* stuff? Dad is starting to furgetz that we're supposed to be on wun, too. He sumtimez akchully fills up our krunchie kupz afore he pours it inna gobbel-up bowelz. That lil bit extra sure helpz give us that full tummie feelin :).

Sure hope ya start feelin better, Lilly. And try ta find sum pantz so ya duzint freeze yer lil tusshie ;).

Great news, Lilly!!!!

Congrats on both counts Lilly! You are doing just great! I wish IAMS made a weight control product for humans! Either that or your mom could come up here and dish out my portions at meal times! :D :D

Pam,
The problem with Lilly's mom is that she doesn't practice what she preaches!! :rolleyes:

Hurray, Lilly! That is great news! Logan you must be so happy :)

Good for you Lilly! What a gorgeous girl you are going to be when your coat grows back and your weight goes down a little bit more. A top fashion model. :D :D :D
But, you are a beautiful, sweet Golden no matter what. Many kisses and rubs behind the years, I bet you like that ;)

Man, I'm way behind on my posts and reading, but am up and running on a faster computer and will make up for lost time. I'm so glad Lilly is doing well and losing weight (sigh), I wish I could do so so easily, but then I don't have anyone but me dishing out the food, either!

That "fungi" joke was just precious! I'll have to remember to tell it at work.

So, is the coat growing back fast enough so she isn't going to freeze her a** this winter? I hope so, but you could always get her a long mink coat to wear (yeah, right, right after Mom gets one) :rolleyes: LOL. Tell your vet we all appreciate his prompt diagnosis and treatment. Yea for Lily. :D

Just checking in to see how Lilly is
doing. Is that Beautiful furry coat growing
back O K ? Congrats to Lilly for being so
good & "slimmin down". Bet you will have to
post another picture of the Glamor Girl when
she's all better. We might not recoginize her.

One thing is for sure.....none of you need to worry about Lilly "freezing" anything this winter. First of all, we have yet to have our first freeze, but secondly, that girl is a "house dog' and she HATES to be outside!! She ought to be a little foo-foo dog (no offense to my poodle friends)...instead she is an 80+ pound lap dog!! LOL!!

And Liz, our Lilly is getting her hair back, slowly but surely. She looks wonderful. It is coming in and right now it is straight. I am longing for her beautiful curls to return, but they will. It will just take some time.

Thank you so much for asking about our little fungus lady....she is so dear to me. the best thing is that she was never uncomfortable.

Logan

Quote:

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Originally posted by Albea:
<STRONG>Poor Lilly :( I hope the medication works fast and she gets all her hair back. Give her a big hug from me.</STRONG>

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web pageHello, With your poor little doooog with hair loss. I have a 5 month old staffordshire . About 6 weeks ago she started to lose hair on head and flank.... vet job. No sign of Demodex Mite. However i know thats what it is.. checked with Breeder n sure enough Dam has it on n off. told vet this but to no avail........ Now treating her with Neem prep from health food shop. Kills Head lice in Humans..... hopefully helps my babe. Good luck with your sweeties. Glor :eek:

Gloria,
Welcome to Pet Talk, and thank you for asking about Lilly's fungus. She is so much better, no signs of fungus now, and her hair is growing back in, slowly but surely. It is too bad that it doesn't grow back as fast as it fell out! :) But she looks great and we're so happy that she is better.
Skin problems are no fun, are they? Good luck with what you're dealing with too. Come back and tell us more about your family.
Logan :D

Logan:
That is good news about Lilly.
Do you think that she could be related to my baby? Carina doesn't want to go outside in cold weather either and she also thinks she's a lap dog. But then, most Goldens believe they are lap dogs ;)
Hugs and kisses for Lilly and Honey.

Glad Lilly is still doing fine!!

Welcome, Gloria!!! What's your dog's name? Good luck with your pup's treatment!!