Going Bald!

[Bobster]

Hi, can anyone help?

Murphy is nearly 5 months old and he is losing hair from his legs, underbelly and chest. The fur on his legs is getting matted and falling out in clumps and the vets (who know nothing about labradoodles) are bamboozled by this. He has bald patches in all the areas I just mentioned.

Please can someone advise ... is this simply him blowing out his puppy coat or do you think it is something else?

[Tammy-Doodle Acres]

Often a coat problem is the first sign of an inadequate diet. It could be a change from his puppy-to-adult coat but this sounds quite extreme for that.

[Bobster]

Thanks. I think we may have uncovered the problem. The vet has admitted that a shampoo we were prescribed for Murphy to rid him of mites was too strong for puppy fur. We're now supplementing his diet with evening primrose oil and have got a mild ph-balanced baby shampoo to wash his coat in.

I also found some information on 'patterned baldness' which sounds exactly like Murphy has. I don't know whether anyone has heard of this before? Apparently it is a genetic problem. If he hasn't improved in a month we're going to look into this further. Thanks for your help!

[Panacea_M]

Hello! This is my first post. My F1 Black Labradoodle has the same issues...going bald on his back legs and lower side. He has full hair on his head and chest. What's the deal? Seems like I have seen a few posts here that look like the same problem.
Thank you for any help.

[lindamarie]

Allergies? .........or something in the diet? I hate to say mange.......but whatever it is, I would take your doodle to the vet and find an answer?
........and........WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

[Panacea_M]

Thank you LM.
I think it must be allergies. He is scratching a lot. I wonder what can be done? I took him to the vet today for a nasty stomach issue which turns out to Colitis. The vet says he is in the "early stages of allergies" whatever that means and that we should just watch him for now. I don't want him to go bald in the spots that are thin now though! He mentioned benedryl when he gets is tummy feeling better.
I feed him IAMS pup in the orange bag. Should I switch up foods to see if he does better?
Thanks for any advice.
PM

[MaxandMe]

OKAY PLEASE do me a favor ok??????

there are two types of Mange.....don't cringe at the word okay????

NOW a PATHOLOGIST VET IS ONE TO GET AS THEY CATCH WHAT REGULAR VETS MISS........MAX HAD SAME THING.
NOW we tried everything and live on 6 acres with red fox, deer, etc........so Max was given prednison and WOW he stop scratching

BUT once off the prednisone he went WILD WITH ITCHING AND OMG i cried as he went BALD!!!! and i could do nothing to help him
tried Aloe Vera Gel, unflitered vinegar with water, cool showers, then oatmeal shampoos from VET via RX

OK..........my pathologist VET FOUND a sarcoptic MANGE!!! yessssssss it's treatable but a PITA at first


NOW i said there are two types SARCOPTIC that is a slow crawling mite......the host lives 4 weeks laying eggs and prednisone
is like speeding up the breeding process. OTHER is a DERMATISIS MANGE
also CANDIDA type of problem is another cause

IF it's sarcoptic mange.....my vet's wife is the pathologist vet that found the mite on skin scrapings AND HOLY MOLY only in 20% do they ever see
a mite!!

NOW YOU MAY NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM BUT A SKIN SCRAPING SHOULD BE TAKEN TO RULE OUT TWO TYPES OF MANGE
JUST IN CASE....

IF it's sarcoptic Mange i'll post my LINK to a thread I PUT UP as it takes 3 doses of Revolution 2 weeks apart, vaccuming every 3 days to get up
dead eggs, disinfecting the house, washing everything in hot water and GOOD NEWS: a human is NOT a host thus rarely gets it
and what is sarcoptic mange like fora dog?
its like when a human ges scabies BUT isn't contagious to humans.......HOWEVER I PSYCHOLOGICALLY ITCHED for weeks

NOW PLEASE KEEP US POSTED.............all i know is MAX poor thing i mean clumps came out just by touching him, he scratched 24/7 till he
bled and OMG i felt horrible for him.

DOES YOUR doodle have any tiny like scabs on the TIPS of the ears????????????? also any signs of ear infections? as that is a 2ndary infection


************************************************** **
PLEASE i am NOT tryign to alarm YOU but trying to help as there are MANY OTHER CAUSES ,

whether it's staph infection, mange or candida ...............or some other cause

NOTE: DIET is important meaning as is VITAMIN E OIL FOR SKIN REPAIR AND REGROWTH OF HAIR BUT TILL IT'S DIAGNOSED
it is at temporary means of measure.


YOU can PM me if you want for support...........I FEEL FOR ANYONE GOING THROUGH THIS
i had to cancel my whole family visiting for 3mos ohhhhhhh and i went nuts waiting for MAX to heal

OH good news: peanut we caught in incubation period.............they got it from a red fox and/or a carcass of red fox by rollign in it.

doesn't matter................anytime YOUR DOG LOSES HAIR AND ITCHES LIKE crazy......a regular vet doesn't always know and/or
know how to obtain right skin scrapings
a PATHOLOGIST VET IS highly trained in this as well as nutrition and allergies.............OH OH did you check for Flea allergies???

my cats if they got ONE FLEA bite .........same thing they went bald from itching etc.


.......................................sorry to be so long winded i just am so heartfelt for YOU and your doodle
PS
nice to meet you i had a leave of abscence with surgery and am back now

[MaxandMe]

HI....i didn't want to mention mange but at same time if i didn't and it happend to be it then i'd feel bad i didn't give you the warning signs of it as my own vet missed it and the patholgist vet picked up on it

NOW MAX has food allergies as well it's too HIGH PROTEIN FILLERS and also lamb and/or too high protein which makes him itch and also lick his paws and then get mushies if you know what i mean.

Please keep us posted as i'd love to hear the outcome and hear your doodle's health be bacck to normal asap

PS it's also a great way to share for other to learn while we also give you support

[Diane at DVL]

Here is a link to an interesting article that I just read from another forum. It suggests that this hair loss is also caused by a dog being exposed to Hormone Replacement Therapy creams, gels, and sprays. Very interesting....wonder what it does to children??!! VIN News

[MaxandMe]

hi.......wondering if there is any updates to this situation?

[lindamarie]

Ditto!

[LabyLabradoodle]

Try using Dr.Kaufmann soap, It will help lessen hair loss and will prevent infection if hair loss is accompanied by wounds.