BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) Hi everyone, My 6 mth old BC 'Stella' has a gradual hair loss around her left eye. It is not troubling her at all & she is not scratching it or anything. I am worried about it as I would hate it to spread on her as it looks aweful enough already. I have had her to the vet's twice in as many week's & it even has him stumped.He has taken 2 skin scrapings & checked for Mites or Mange & he found nothing. apart from healthy skin.She has no hair loss anywhere else, infact her coat is looking beautiful, shiny & healthy. I am waiting on the vet to get some sort of wash in that he wants me to wash her in twice a week for a month just in case it is mites, only side effect with it is that it will make her a little drowsey apparently.I have never had any experience with mites or mange on my dogs so am really treading in unknown territory here, if that is the problem I also have a almost 3 year old boy 'Sonny' & he doesn't have any hair loss anywhere on him ( magnificently coated ) I am hoping what ever this is isn't catching Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. '. Edited May 14, 2011 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 are you already using a spot on produt like revolution or advocate? It can mask the mite numbers in cases of Demodex etc. put a cone on her head and see if it grows back. Sometimes dogs can habitually rub hair away. Just watch with BC's the vet doesnt use Ivermectin or other mectins on her if she has never had them before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elise+Hudson Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Sounds quite a bit like demotex mites. They can be sometimes difficult to find on skin scrapings especially if you only have a small area to scrape. It is much more common to get demodex lesions on younger dogs, not so much in older which may be why only one is showing signs. I would discuss this possibility with your vet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Stay away from 'mectin" products - some adverse reactions in Collie types are nasty. I don't know about that wash - anything which is so invasive as to make a dog drowsy would worry me a lot!! And 2x a week? Try a second opinion .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 are you already using a spot on produt like revolution or advocate? It can mask the mite numbers in cases of Demodex etc. put a cone on her head and see if it grows back. Sometimes dogs can habitually rub hair away. Just watch with BC's the vet doesnt use Ivermectin or other mectins on her if she has never had them before. I am using Advantix on her once every 3 weeks as we live in an area which is very bad for tick's pretty much all year round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 If it is these Demotex mites what medication should I get for her as I am reluctant to use this wash with ' drowsey' side effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowanbree Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Can I ask what the wash is? Revolution is the spot on of choice for mites at the moment and is collie safe despite being a mextin product Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Stay away from 'mectin" products - some adverse reactions in Collie types are nasty. I don't know about that wash - anything which is so invasive as to make a dog drowsy would worry me a lot!! And 2x a week? Try a second opinion .... Thank's for the 'heads up' re this Mectin thing, don't like the sound of that & I am worried about this wash too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Can I ask what the wash is? Revolution is the spot on of choice for mites at the moment and is collie safe despite being a mextin product On my account from the vet it is just called Dermadex dog wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 ?Demadex? CLICK HERE for some info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 It is unlikely to be demodex mites if the scraping was negative. As long as the scraping was done correctly- it should be a depp skin scraping, so there should have been some "capillary ooze" ie. a bit of blood. It could be a dermatophye infection- so a type of fungal infection. Do you have cats at all? They can also get an environmental type from the soil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 It is unlikely to be demodex mites if the scraping was negative. As long as the scraping was done correctly- it should be a depp skin scraping, so there should have been some "capillary ooze" ie. a bit of blood. It could be a dermatophye infection- so a type of fungal infection. Do you have cats at all? They can also get an environmental type from the soil. Interesting aussielover but we don't have any cats. And their was no blood when the skin scraping's were done. But her eye does look worse now cause there is more hair missing, naturally enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) I'd also be wanting to check whether a Zinc deficiency could be the culprit. From Dr Jean Dodds and Diana R. Laverdure's book "The Canine Thyroid Epidemic" "Symptoms of 'zinc-responsive dermatosis' include hair loss, dull and dry hair coat, scaly, crusty skin around the legs, head, and face (especially on the nose and circling the eyes, ears, chin and mouth), poor wound healing, and thick and crusty foot pads." Zinc affects the production of thyroid hormones as well. ETA: I don't think I'd like to wash my dog with a chemical shampoo (much less with one that would impact by causing drowsiness) on a "just in case" basis. Edited May 14, 2011 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 It could still be dermatophytes- cats can be asymptomatic carriers which is why I asked, but dogs can still get infections from the environment. Perhaps a second opinion from a different vet might be warranted here? I agree with Erny- would not use the wash- I assume it was amitraz wash? Can cause some adverese reactions like lethargy and drowsiness as you said and has to be done fairly frequently (annoying and difficult to do). There are other options for treating demodex such as advocate and revolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 It could still be dermatophytes- cats can be asymptomatic carriers which is why I asked, but dogs can still get infections from the environment. Perhaps a second opinion from a different vet might be warranted here? I agree with Erny- would not use the wash- I assume it was amitraz wash? Can cause some adverese reactions like lethargy and drowsiness as you said and has to be done fairly frequently (annoying and difficult to do). There are other options for treating demodex such as advocate and revolution. Yes, funny you should mention cats, as we don't actually own one but I have noticed a growing number of them in our area of late. Wandering on our front yard & on the roads. The wash my vet wants me to use is called Dermadex dog wash. He said it smells aweful. Your right it will be annoying & difficult to do. I am reluctant to use it, there has to be a better way to cure her. I thought maybe if I swapped her over to Advocate or Revolution, would that get rid of it? When the weather starts to warm up again I could swap her back to Advantix cause the ticks in our area are really bad especially over Summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Got any wandering jew in your garden? Hair loss around the eyes is the main thing that happens when my lot stick their heads in wandering jew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 It could still be dermatophytes- cats can be asymptomatic carriers which is why I asked, but dogs can still get infections from the environment. Perhaps a second opinion from a different vet might be warranted here? I agree with Erny- would not use the wash- I assume it was amitraz wash? Can cause some adverese reactions like lethargy and drowsiness as you said and has to be done fairly frequently (annoying and difficult to do). There are other options for treating demodex such as advocate and revolution. Yes, funny you should mention cats, as we don't actually own one but I have noticed a growing number of them in our area of late. Wandering on our front yard & on the roads. The wash my vet wants me to use is called Dermadex dog wash. He said it smells aweful. Your right it will be annoying & difficult to do. I am reluctant to use it, there has to be a better way to cure her. I thought maybe if I swapped her over to Advocate or Revolution, would that get rid of it? When the weather starts to warm up again I could swap her back to Advantix cause the ticks in our area are really bad especially over Summer. The revolution or advocate will help IF the problem is mites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonlime Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Can I ask what you feed? The exact same thing happened to my BC, and my vet was also stumped. Switched him to an all natural diet and took him off dry food and the hair grew back within a week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayly Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 If there was no blood when the skin scraping was taken it could quite possibly be demodex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) Can I ask what you feed? The exact same thing happened to my BC, and my vet was also stumped. Switched him to an all natural diet and took him off dry food and the hair grew back within a week! Hi groupfive, That's such a coincidence you had the very same thing happen with your BC I am feeding Stella 1 cup Holistic dry food, 1/2 cup of a mixture of roo mince ( human grade) vege's,pasta, a sprinkle of Rofus & Coco's,'skin & coat vitamin's', 1 fish oil capsule/ flaxseed oil & a chicken wing daily. She is a picture of health apart from this hair around the eye thing. Sooo frustrating I have always feed her the same food pretty much, only the quantity varied. Might be worth a try. Edited May 14, 2011 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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