Help! Spanky losing all of her fur!

[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.

[Denyce]

Ok I know no one is really going to pay attention to this but....

We put Sequoia on Innova Evo last April. At the Ice Cream Social in August one of the dog experts that has known Sequoia since we got her wasn't impressed with her coat. I hadn't realllllyyyy noticed it. Although I did notice that she lost alot of the long guard hairs on her back. Last night I was looking at her and I noticed that the hair around her neck was looking very scruffy and that she is losing the copper color. The hair while in some ways is feeling dry and brittle when you finish petting her you hand feels oily and I have never had that with her before. I just thought I would mention it since this dog is also on Innova Evo. In fact I am going to start another thread.

[Hellow]

You know, i have heard of dogs shedding faster than they can grow their coat back. Also, Reggie has fleas amd she never has lost any fur. And she scratches almost constantly. We are trying out hardest to rid of them. Also, if it turnes out to be fleas, you cant just treat the dog. You must also treat their enviroment. This including your inside of your house and your yard.

[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.