I have two Golden Retrievers that both developed hair loss on their rear
flanks. One of them was just diagnosed with hypothyroidism and has been
taking the thyroid pills for 5 weeks now. The other dog was not tested
for hypo, because he displays no symptoms. Anyway, the hypo god has
much longer hair and after the kids pointed out that they both had
developed some balding spots, I began noticing huge amounts of skin
flaking and hair loss when brushing the hypo thyroid dog. The vet had
noticed some hair thinning and skin flaking 5 weeks ago when she called
me back with the blood tests confirming hypo and started the thyroid
pills. The skin flaking has gotten much worse and huge amounts of hair
come out now when I brush him.

The kids insist that they have seen some small black bug around his ears
that crawls under the skin and re-emerges at a different spot. They've
been all over the web looking at fleas and ticks, but tell me that it
doesn't look like either. I cannot see a thing except the slaking skin
and thinning hair. Maybe that's due to my older eye's inability to see
things that small, or the kids coincidentally saw some outdoor type bug
that was temporarily on him when they looked.
I did let them go without flea collars for over a month this summer
because I didn't notice that they were missing after a bath. About a
month ago, I shampooed them and a day or two later put the once a month
Hartz flea and tick medicine on them (the stuff you run down their back
from shoulder to tail).

I have to take the hypo dog back for follow up blood work next week, so
I'll have the vet look then, but I was hoping that someone from the
group could provide any suggestions on what might be the
cause/treatment. I understand that the mites that cause Mange are too
small to see - and the kids say that the black burring bug they saw was
at least the size of a pepper flake. They saw that (those?) bug about 2
weeks after the Hartz medicine application so I'm not sure if it COULD
be a flea or tick. We do have a cat and guinea pig as well, so in
theory, it could be a parasite common those those animals. What ever it
is, it sure is making these guys itch and I don't know how to help them.

I could almost imagine some unusual cause like a bacteria caused the
itch and skin flake. Biting and itching caused the hair loss, and the
bug the kids saw was a hitch hiking plant pest that happened to be there
at the time.
Anyway, thanks for any insight you all can offer. . .

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:37:07 GMT, Me , clicked their
heels and said:

The skin flaking has gotten much worse and huge amounts of hair
come out now when I brush him.
Rub their ear tips. Does the skin flake off? slightly crusty and
crumbly to the touch? They could have sarcoptic mange, which isn't
always easy to find in skin scrapings, but easy to cure.

In any case, the Hartz stuff is potentially harmful - not quality
stuff and I wouldn't use it again (I don't use any flea/tick products,
but if your dogs are flea allergic, also am possibility here, you may
have to). Frontline and Advantix are much better products. Forget
flea collars - toxic and only cover a small area.

Back to the vet - let us know what the prognosis is.



--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album