Help! Spanky losing all of her fur!

[Daisy and Delilah]

Even with the Advantage, Daisy might start going crazy if a flea is biting her. She just can't stand it. My RB, Killer(looked very much like Spanky)had the same problem. A flea would drive her crazy and she would scratch until the bald spots appeared.

I also use baby shampoo on the girls and they only seem to get a flea once in awhile. Maybe a good lathering and scrubbing in a bath and the flea comb afterward. It always amazes me that sometimes the bath and all the scrubbing doesn't kill the single flea though. She will still scratch after the bath. Where do they hide?

I can feel your pain. It's very frustrating!

edited to add: those pics look exactly like RB Killer did when she had a flea

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

You need to put some bottoms on poor Spanky, her goodies are all hanging out!! Poor thing. Looks like an allergic reaction to me. When Duke was little he was allergic to all shampoos (because I bathed him too often , well he slept in bed and I did not want him all stinky LOL) My vet told me I could use baby shampoo so now that is pretty much all I use. I never have problems with fleas. Well that is not true around November sometimes I will notice a couple then we get advantage and use it for a month or two and that is it. I hope her little bottom is all itchy free soon.

[Canis-Lupess]

Those patches don't really look sore enough to be caused by fleas but the photos aren't the best so it's hard to see. Normally, with fleas, they lose the hair because the dog chews and bites so hard, it damages the skin too and leaves it sore, red and manky and it's usually on the croup, loin and on either side of these and the base of the tail thats worst hit. Both our Jess and Mist developed Flea allergies when they got older so I had to make sure they remained flea free but, fortunately, they didn't get them that often and with living outdoors, only needed to be treated in summer occasionally. It was rare they got them to start with.

My sisters dog recently lost all the hair off his backend and he didn't have fleas. It looked very similar and the skin looked normal but he did scratch quite a bit. I told her she should get him seen by a vet but she didn't take him. Fortunately, it just grew back on it's own. I know there are conditions that cause hair to just fall out like this and it grows back.

Obviously, treating for fleas is still something to do but I get the impression that this isn't down to fleas.
A vet will have a better idea though.

[Catlady711]

If a dog is allergic to flea bites, as little as one bite a month can cause a reaction like that. You really need to be using that Advantage every month. You'd said you put some on 'not that long ago' but how long ago was it? If it's been longer than a month then it probably isn't very effective anymore.

Dogs should only be bathed once every 2 weeks or longer or it dries out their skin which can also cause itching.

Shampoos not formulated for a dogs PH balance can dry out skin and cause irritation, as well as chemical laden flea shampoos. Advantage will do a much better job killing those fleas than any shampoo can.

A single female flea can lay 2,000+ eggs in her short lifetime. Those microscopic eggs and larva can live in your home for up to 2 years. Only 5% of the flea population is visable as adults, so for every 5 fleas you see there are 95 immature stages you can't see waiting to hatch. Year round treatment with Advantage/Frontline Plus/Revolution will be needed for a year or two to totally get rid of your existing flea population. After that just treating during the summer months should be sufficient. Treating for just a month or two until you don't see fleas then stopping treatment wastes your money. I can't count the number of clients I've spoke to that have done that and ended up with a worse flea population than they did before and they are shocked why they had fleas again. Flea treatment is far more expensive than flea preventative measures.

As far as your dogs skin/hair loss goes that is assuming that this problem is caused by the fleas, which you apparently need to deal with anyways. There are other things that cause itching besides fleas; ringworm, mange, staph, food allergies, etc. (BTW food allergies can take a while to show up and may take months of being off the food before the effects go away).

The best thing you can do for your dog is make an appointment at your vets office. Regardless of the reason for the itching, they will be able to give your dog something to help calm the itching down and prevent or take care of any skin infections causing or resulting from the scratching.

Keep us posted.

[Sevaede]

I haven't been using Advantage because she is very tiny and I wanted to be very sure she would not get hurt. The only reason she was getting bathed so much was that I was trying to relieve her. I used dish soap because I've heard good stories (on how effective it was). "Not that long ago" means a couple of weeks.

The shampoo I HAD been using BEFORE I tried the dish soap is called Sulfodene. It's a medicated shampoo for dogs and it did not help. Not even an ounce.

I know what ringworm, mange, and staph infections look like. I am pretty positive that it is not any of those. There is no real pattern, in any form, to her hair loss. She just itches and scratches, nothing really secondary to any of it.

She will go to the vet after I get paid next week. She would have gone sooner but this issue didn't pop up until after my paycheck had been spent. (vet doesn't do payment plans, they use CareCredit).

If a dog is allergic to flea bites, as little as one bite a month can cause a reaction like that. You really need to be using that Advantage every month. You'd said you put some on 'not that long ago' but how long ago was it? If it's been longer than a month then it probably isn't very effective anymore.

Dogs should only be bathed once every 2 weeks or longer or it dries out their skin which can also cause itching.

Shampoos not formulated for a dogs PH balance can dry out skin and cause irritation, as well as chemical laden flea shampoos. Advantage will do a much better job killing those fleas than any shampoo can.

A single female flea can lay 2,000+ eggs in her short lifetime. Those microscopic eggs and larva can live in your home for up to 2 years. Only 5% of the flea population is visable as adults, so for every 5 fleas you see there are 95 immature stages you can't see waiting to hatch. Year round treatment with Advantage/Frontline Plus/Revolution will be needed for a year or two to totally get rid of your existing flea population. After that just treating during the summer months should be sufficient. Treating for just a month or two until you don't see fleas then stopping treatment wastes your money. I can't count the number of clients I've spoke to that have done that and ended up with a worse flea population than they did before and they are shocked why they had fleas again. Flea treatment is far more expensive than flea preventative measures.

As far as your dogs skin/hair loss goes that is assuming that this problem is caused by the fleas, which you apparently need to deal with anyways. There are other things that cause itching besides fleas; ringworm, mange, staph, food allergies, etc. (BTW food allergies can take a while to show up and may take months of being off the food before the effects go away).

The best thing you can do for your dog is make an appointment at your vets office. Regardless of the reason for the itching, they will be able to give your dog something to help calm the itching down and prevent or take care of any skin infections causing or resulting from the scratching.

Keep us posted.

[critter crazy]

My RB boy Zues was allergic to fleas, and would have the same problem. He would scratch like crazy, and loose all his fur on his back end. we used advantage after we found out what the problem was, and never had another problem with it. we also had a medicated spray from the vet that we used.

[Daisy and Delilah]

How is Spanky now? I am lol that her name was almost Killer!!! My Killer was a real pistol too. What a personality she had. I often bring things up and laugh about them. She was something else.

The baby shampoo seems to leave no extra traces of stuff to make them itch. Is she still scratching at all? Good luck. I know what you're going through.

[Sevaede]

Sorry for the poor photos. It's hard to take a close range picture, adjust settings, and get a wiggly puppy to stay put!

I guess I never thought about getting any flea preventative. She's just really tiny and only just turned a year old not too long ago so I didn't want to hurt her.

Those patches don't really look sore enough to be caused by fleas but the photos aren't the best so it's hard to see. Normally, with fleas, they lose the hair because the dog chews and bites so hard, it damages the skin too and leaves it sore, red and manky and it's usually on the croup, loin and on either side of these and the base of the tail thats worst hit. Both our Jess and Mist developed Flea allergies when they got older so I had to make sure they remained flea free but, fortunately, they didn't get them that often and with living outdoors, only needed to be treated in summer occasionally. It was rare they got them to start with.

My sisters dog recently lost all the hair off his backend and he didn't have fleas. It looked very similar and the skin looked normal but he did scratch quite a bit. I told her she should get him seen by a vet but she didn't take him. Fortunately, it just grew back on it's own. I know there are conditions that cause hair to just fall out like this and it grows back.

Obviously, treating for fleas is still something to do but I get the impression that this isn't down to fleas.
A vet will have a better idea though.

[Sevaede]

You need to put some bottoms on poor Spanky, her goodies are all hanging out!! Poor thing. Looks like an allergic reaction to me. When Duke was little he was allergic to all shampoos (because I bathed him too often , well he slept in bed and I did not want him all stinky LOL) My vet told me I could use baby shampoo so now that is pretty much all I use. I never have problems with fleas. Well that is not true around November sometimes I will notice a couple then we get advantage and use it for a month or two and that is it. I hope her little bottom is all itchy free soon.

Heh, I know! She says she used to have a pair of furry pants but they're all gone now!

I've never had a problem with fleas. It just never occured to me, I don't know? She's only two or three pounds and she's just over a year so I just want to make sure she doesn't get hurt. Thank you for the well wishes!

[Sevaede]

That's what Troy has been saying too. That she might just be chewing herself like that. I've been trying to keep her from scratching and she's taking it pretty easy.

I went and bought some baby shampoo and bathed her with it. It seemed to have helped her quite a bit! She doesn't really try to scratch and I saw a few fleas at the bottom of the tub while cleaning it, although I'm gonna take your cue and keep an eye out! They hide in the spots we just got done looking in, I bet!

On a different note, Spankys name was almost Killer!

Even with the Advantage, Daisy might start going crazy if a flea is biting her. She just can't stand it. My RB, Killer(looked very much like Spanky)had the same problem. A flea would drive her crazy and she would scratch until the bald spots appeared.

I also use baby shampoo on the girls and they only seem to get a flea once in awhile. Maybe a good lathering and scrubbing in a bath and the flea comb afterward. It always amazes me that sometimes the bath and all the scrubbing doesn't kill the single flea though. She will still scratch after the bath. Where do they hide?

I can feel your pain. It's very frustrating!

edited to add: those pics look exactly like RB Killer did when she had a flea