Hi all,

I'm hoping some of you can give me some insight about whats going on with my dogs coat. Over the last week or so, he's been shedding like crazy and now has some bald spots with dry skin along the top of his back. He looks moth eaten. He dosen't seem very itchy.

Here is some history....

In September he had major itching and hair loss issues, after numerous trips to the vet, skin scrapings, antibiotics, prednisone, food changes it was determined he had sarcoptic mange. He was finally treated in December and regained the 15 lbs he lost and was looking fantastic.

I had switched him to Raw around December and he really was thriving on it. Recently my local RAW Coop has had some issues and getting enough food for him was getting very expensive. He's 140 lbs.

Last month, I picked up a bag of EVO and he liked it. That too is quite pricey to feed. So I then picked up the regular Innova. He started that about 2 weeks ago. He also gets supplmented with salmon oil and vit E. And the occasional raw egg.

My other thought other than food, is I put a flea and tick collar on him about a week ago. SO I'm not sure if it's the food or the collar that is causing this.

Anyone ever have any issues like this with a flea and tick collar? I took it off.

I'm planning on going back to RAW as soon as my Coop is back in operation.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tracy

do you have a large grocery chain nearby? You can get chicken backs and quarters pretty decently priced there, and it's all human grade. Coop is better, but when there are no other options?
Could it be flea bite allergies?

Before I joined the Coop, I was getting quarters for .89c/lb. Not too bad. Thats what I'll do in the meantime.

He definitly doesn't have fleas. And he isn't really itchy.

I'm just wondering what is more likley the cause. The flea collar, or the food? Since they both were new about the time this started.

I sound like a broken record (there's an analogy that doesn't make any sense anymore ) but start a log of what you're doing and what's happening. In the last few months, in diet alone, you've gone from something pre-raw to raw to EVO to Innova. If you write this all down, you may find months down the road some patterns that make more sense or be able to rule out something that seemed at the time as a possible contributing factor.

I'd also consider seasonal changes as a possible factor as well. Spring - and pollen! - is in the air. I often check the weather.com site for my area to see what the pollen count is going to be, another good piece of info to add to the log. You can even go back and look at a "pollen almanac." And how much salmon oil is he getting . . . is it enough? For comparison, I give 4 pumps/day to a 65# GSD.

If your raw source is not dependable, you might consider buying a good grinder and shopping for the $.50/lb. sale prices on whole chickens or anything else that'll fit in the grinder.

Mike

To the O.P.,

What kind of flea collar?

I believe it was an Advantage. It was a freebie from the vet.

OK, that's not the one with all the lawsuits, etc.

Because alopecia can be a symptom of so many different ailments, serious and not, I'd have the dog checked.

Already made the appt

Now to throw another wrench in the works.... I also recently gave him a bath with a human product I assumed was safe cause it's all natural. It was Burts Bees citrus and ginger root body wash.

What do you think? Bad move?

it's possible. Allergies crop up for many reasons. That is why isolating the cause is so difficult.
Typical allergy isolation usually involves simplifying what your dog comes into contact with.
So, you can try going to a diet that is simple, only involves one or two ingredients and keep it EXACTLY the same for a few weeks. that will give the reaction a chance to clear up (unless the dog continues to be exposed, but this is a clue if it doesn't clear up) Other steps to think about are: fragrances in the home (candles, air fresheners, laundry soap, etc.
It's easy to get carried away, but if you take a commmon sense approach to it, and try to start paying attention to what your dog is exposed to it usually gets figured out. Try to avoid giving baths, exposing the dog to anything new, and simplify the diet. If it clears up, start to add one thing at a time (if it crops back up, bang, there is your culprit! If you add things in two or three at a time, you won't be able to isolate the culprit. It takes some time because you have to introduce new things and new foods slowly to figure out the cause.

 Quote: TracyRTouzjian

Already made the appt

Now to throw another wrench in the works.... I also recently gave him a bath with a human product I assumed was safe cause it's all natural. It was Burts Bees citrus and ginger root body wash.

What do you think? Bad move?

Well, remember that contact allergies in dogs are pretty rare rare. Rarest of all the types.

When we talk about rinsing off pollen, etc., we mean so that it's not inside, on the dog and his bedding, to be breathed in 24/7 -- not because of contact.

(BTW, elimination diets for food allergies are indeed the only way to go -- but it has to be protein source that the dog has never eaten.)

However, all of this is shaky to me because of what you said about not itching. I'm not saying that all canine allergies manifest in the skin. I AM saying that if it does, then the dog will itch. The exceptions are not worth addressing, IMO.

In other words, if the allergies (food, or the much more common inhalant/environmental, or the most common of all, flea hypersensitivity) affect the skin in the dog, it will include itching. It's almost the definition.

Sensitivities are something else.

All JMO.

I imagine that you might have thyroid and other tests done if the vet doesn't see surface clues.

I hope you'll post back.