Your dog’s hair is falling out. And I’m not talking about just a few, I’m talking about strands of hair rolling down the hallway like tumbleweeds in the Wild West. But before you panic, here’s some information you need to know about dog hair loss.
“Some breeds naturally shed a lot of hair, while others shed very little,” says Dr. Chris Reeder, a board-certified dermatologist and veterinarian at Blue Pearl Veterinary Partners in Nashville, Tennessee. ” he says. . “You need to consider what kind of dog you have and whether it is normal and natural for them to shed a lot of hair, compared to dogs that normally shed less.”
But what is not natural is the presence of bald spots on the dog’s body. “If there is some degree of alopecia (aka baldness), owners may want to look into it a little more closely,” he says.
Whether your pup has bald spots or appears to be starting to lose hair, here are some causes and treatment tips for hair loss in dogs.
Nutritional alopecia in dogs
Dogs may shed their hair if they are not receiving proper nutrition. “There are a lot of owners out there who are very interested in a home-cooked diet, and that’s one I would be wary of,” Reeder says. “I want to keep a balanced diet.”
Most commercially available foods are well-balanced, but if you make your own food, you need to make sure it has everything your dog needs to stay healthy. Mr. Reeder says.
“In some cases this can be a problem because so many people are cooking their own meals,” he says.
Treatment: Veterinarians usually first investigate other causes, check the dog’s body condition score (equivalent to the human body mass index) and ask questions about the dog’s diet, Rieder says. If a nutritional imbalance is determined to be the cause, you will need to work with your veterinarian to change the diet.
Hormonal hair loss in dogs
“There are a lot of different hormonal reasons why dogs shed hair,” Reeder says, adding that hormonal hair loss is usually very symmetrical and usually affects the dog’s torso.
One of the most common causes of hormonal hair loss is hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid.
“I feel like it’s overdiagnosed, but it does cause hair loss,” he says.
Additionally, Cushing’s disease or atypical Cushing’s disease is also a common cause.
“It’s an overproduction of hormones,” he says. “Hair loss occurs when there are too many hormones produced by the adrenal glands that inhibit hair growth.”
Treatment: If hormone production is too low, your veterinarian will prescribe thyroid replacement. If levels are too high, drugs are prescribed to suppress hormone production.
“Many things can affect the thyroid, so it will need to be checked by a veterinarian,” he says.
allergic hair loss in dogs
According to Rieder, there are three most common types of allergies: environmental allergies, or atopy (meaning things in the environment that cause allergies), followed by flea allergies and food allergies.
“All of these can cause traumatic hair loss, which means your dog will feel itchy and prickly, and will have other symptoms of the allergy besides hair loss,” he says. “(Symptoms) include scratching, and sometimes you can see fleas, and sometimes you can’t see them. It’s really itchy.”
Allergic hair loss is usually not symmetrical, he added.
Treatment: There are different types of treatment options for environmental allergies.
“There are medicines, there are supplements,” he says. “What we do in our practice is do allergy testing and provide custom allergy serums and shots for dogs. We also have liquid oral formulations. Same tests, same content, just like we do for humans. is.”
Determining the cause of a food allergy is not easy, and it is important to work with your veterinarian to determine what foods your dog is allergic to and to “feed an appropriate diet that does not contain the causative ingredients.” He says that is necessary. The treatment for flea allergy is flea extermination. There are over-the-counter and prescription medications.
Hair loss due to infection
Examples of this include bacterial or yeast infections, as well as ringworm, which is a fungal skin infection. Bacterial and yeast infections are “usually secondary to some underlying cause,” Rieder says. “In some cases, hair loss can have multiple causes and can often piggyback on parasitic infections, hormonal imbalances, or these allergic symptoms. They can be linked to other ongoing symptoms. This can be a secondary complicating factor with other events, making the situation even worse.”
Treatment: Your veterinarian will treat bacterial or yeast infections with antibiotics. Antifungal medications, such as topical creams and ointments, are used to treat ringworm.
parasitic alopecia
This type of hair loss can be caused by scabies, a skin disease involving parasitic mites. There are two common types: demodectic mange, which is not contagious, and mange, also known as mange, which can be contagious.
“Demodex lives inside the hair follicle, and that location causes the hair to fall out,” Rieder says. “Scabies tends to be very itchy, and hair loss allows the scabies mites to live in the tunnels beneath the top layer of the skin.”
Treatment: These symptoms cause unsightly scabs and sores, but are easily treated with common flea and tick preventatives.
“They absolutely treat it in both cases,” Reeder said.
hair loss due to cancer
One of the most common types of cancer that veterinarians see is cutaneous lymphoma, which is diagnosed by biopsy during a veterinarian visit, Reeder said.
“The other cancer we see is metastatic cancer, sometimes called paraneoplastic cancer, which is something that’s internal and happens to show up on the skin, and that’s why it’s causing hair loss. can also be lost,” he says.
Treatment: Treatment for both cancers is drug therapy and chemotherapy.
“Most of the time, it will be,” he says. “Say a dog has an adrenal tumor, and if you remove it, it might be curable. But cancer is usually not curable.”
Various other causes
1. Sebaceous adenitis
This is an inflammatory skin disease that can cause hair loss.
“It’s most common in poodles, standard poodles, and Akitas,” he says. “But it can be seen in all breeds. There is a lot of hair loss with this condition.”
Treatment: Sebaceous adenitis is diagnosed by skin biopsy and is most commonly treated with medications, but topical treatments are also used in some cases, Rieder added.
2. Seasonal flank alopecia
This is seasonal hair loss in some dogs.
“This is commonly seen in English bulldogs and Airedales, but it’s also sometimes seen in French bulldogs,” he says. “It has a very classic saddle appearance, with hair loss all over the back, on the sides of the skin, and is usually very smooth, darkly pigmented, and most of the time non-itchy.”
Treatment: “The treatment is to do nothing or use melatonin occasionally after consulting your veterinarian,” he says. “They’re doing a little bit of microneedling treatment in Europe right now, and they’re using that to grow hair back.”
3. Color dilution type alopecia
This is a genetically inherited condition that is “most commonly seen in blue Dobermans with silver labs,” Reeder said. “It’s a genetic issue. Hair color genes are abnormal or mutated, causing hair loss.
Treatment: There is no cure for this condition.
“Most of the time, diagnosis is based on appearance alone, but sometimes it can be diagnosed in the clinic with a hair sample or biopsy,” he says. “The most important thing here is to avoid using harsh shampoos and avoid excessive brushing or grooming. Hair can easily break and fall out.”
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