Skin Questions

[cedarvalleynewfoundlands]

Hi All

My 7 month old girl Sara has several big white flaky areas where she is losing coat. At first I thought fleas, but have went through her coat with a flea comb and cant find any fleas or flea dirt. I have blown her out with the dryer, looking for signs of fleas and still dont see any. The area looks irritated, but not red and moist like a hot spot. She is biting and chewing at her tail, where the same thing is starting. I have looked at her with a Woods Lamp, and dont see any signs of ringworm, nor does the irritation look like ringworm.
I bathed her today with Oatmeal shampoo and conditioned her, rinsed her very thoroughly and dried her. We went ahead and reapplied Frontline, even though she shouldnt be due for another week.She has an appointment tomorrow to get her thyroid checked, but she isnt gaining weight, and the haircoat itself is not coarse or poor quality.
We have made a change in her food, switching her from Eagle Pack Holistic Large and Giant Breed Puppy to Orijen Large Breed Puppy. The timing is right for an allergic reaction to the Orijen, but I thought you would usually see ear infection, goopy eyes or just itching from an allergic reaction. Is it normal to see the hair loss, irritation and white flaky areas within a week if its an allergic reaction to a change in the food?
We put her back on the Eagle Pack today, but my gut feeling is that it isnt the food.
Any ideas??

 

[nowhavethreebears]

Some sort of mites, maybe? The vet can take a scraping and look at the skin cells under the microscope. I would not think what you describe would be a food allergy reaction.
Any environmental changes lately?

P.S. How's Clayton?

 

[cedarvalleynewfoundlands]

I'm sure our vet will do skin scrapings in addition to the thyroid test. Hoping its not mites or mange. I dont know where she would have picked up sarcoptic mange(sp), and it doesnt look like the type of hair loss you would normally see with demodectic mange either.

Clayton is doing well. He hasnt limped in quite a while, although every once in a while it looks like his gait is slightly off. Its so slight, I cant tell if its really occuring or if I'm just paranoid and thinking I see things

He only has to wear the brace part of the day now instead of most of the day.

I know its too early to tell, but I'm hoping everything is going to work out.

 

[JDH2]

Could she be getting ready to come into season? My female gets a yucky, flakey, thin coat a little while before she comes in. Then it is soft and silky again after. Just a thought. The first time I wondered if she had gotten something when she was boarded right before but that wasn't it.
Melissa

 

[Wayne A]

My Sons Boxer was under nourished and neglected when he got him.After he had him a few weeks his fur went like your describing.It was a type of Mange and he got it because his immune system was week.Vet put him on some meds and it's clearing up.My Son asked the Vet about it being contagious.Vet told him no as if the dog had a healthy immune system it could easily fight off this type of Mange.My Lab had skin issues same as you describe also once we changed his food he was fine.Could be so many things so I think a trip to the Vet for a scraping would be wise.What ever it is the sooner you get on top of it the better.Good Luck

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

IT could be a food allergy - I had changed a dogs food's and with in a week she had hot spots starting to develop, I switched her back to old food and it went away -not to return.

 

[Elizabeth]

I would have the vet do scrapings and run a fungal culture, only 80% of M canis(common type of ringworm) flouresce with a woods lamp...and other types of fungus do not flouresce. It doesn't sound like a fungus, but presentations vary... Hoping she gets some relief soon!!

E

 

[cedarvalleynewfoundlands]

Just got back from the vet with her. He did an in-office thyroid and we also send a sample to Univ of Mich...The in office panel was all well within the normal values.
He did a skin scraping and didnt find demodectic or sarcoptic mites. He is running a fungal culture to see if anything turns up. He said it looks irritated, but not infected, so we decided against antibiotics, at least for now. Also said it didnt look like a normal presentation for fungus or yeast. Right now, we are leaning towards an allergy to the Orijen, or some sort of contact dermatitis.
I guess we'll wait a bit and see if switching her back to the Eagle Pack will resolve it.
We shaved her everywhere she has even a small irritation so air can get to it, and also to make it easier to tell if she is getting new areas developing.
We also discussed whether it could be hormonal. 7 months seems awfully young to be coming into season, but I guess thats also a very real possibility.

 

[Wayne A]

Sounds like you have a good Vet,and has left no rocks unturned.That's great your right on top of thing.Hope it's something easy like the food but what ever it is Good Luck wishing you the best.

 

[Ohana Mom]

We had a dog (non-newf) who had similar symptoms. We discovered he had an allergy to what we were using to treat our grass! Perhaps something new in the environment?

 

[JDH2]

How is she doing now? I also wonder if she could be blowing her coat due to the food change. My two did blow all of their wonderful puppy coats when I was trying to find a good food that agreed with them. Just another thought.
Melissa

 

[cedarvalleynewfoundlands]

So far, all the testing has come back negative for a physical problem.
She hasnt gotten any new areas since we've switched her back to the Eagle Pack.
Keeping our fingers crossed that it was just a food allergy.