hair loss in dog

[cupika]

Dear Doctors,

I am wrting you from Hungary as we seem to be stuck with a problem. We have a 6 years old female, German Shepherd which was spayed in 2003 due to her hair loss. When we got her she was very unhealthy. We got her when she was about 3 months old. She was almost completely bald due to what seemed to be a fungal skin infection... this was treated and later the fur grew back except on her sided where it always has seemed a little thinner.

About 2 months ago we noticed drastic hair loss on her her sides and neck. Her skin is dark and there are some white spots on her bald parts, a lot and random size but never bigger that 5 mm. She does not scratch them or seem to be bothered by them.

We had some hormonal tests done, the result was the following:

Result  Sign  Reference value  Unit  Remark  
Oestradiol     5.1      <10 - 100   ng/l    
physiological < 15 borderline 15 - 30 esp. in sertoli cell tumours > 30  
T3 ( triiodothyronine )     0.9      0.2 - 2.0   nmol/l    
T4 (total T4)     27      19 - 58   nmol/l   1)  

Interpretation:
1)    Thyroxine concentration is within normal range, hypo- or hyperthyroidism is unlikely.


so, based on this our vet thought of hormonal problem and now we have to give her Ovarid 20mg, twice a day one pill. We were told to give her treatement for 10 days. What we have noticed that she is a bit more irritable that usual, wants to eat more than usual and also always is looking for food /something that she never did before/, and drinks more that usual. Also her breasts have started to grow.  She also seems to chew her paws sometimes.

Apart from that she seems to be fine, eager to play and be with us. Sleeps normally as well.

I would like to ask you to give us some advice as I was thinking of having some skin tests made to find out if she has a fungal infection. We have asked many vets in our town but no-one seems to know what the might be problem.

thank you so much for your time and help,
best wishes
Raisza

[cupika]

Hi Guys, I wanted to ask the VET, and may be I posted it to the wrong link? I am new to this site, so I should have done more reading about what to whom to post:-)))) but I posted this question to the vet as well. Our doctor did not take skin samples as the dog does not scratch herself. but I think next week I am going to ask him to do that. cos I dont see point of wasting time on money on something that does not bring any results, yet makes the god misarable. mainly because she is hungry all the time and I know that we should not give her extra food as she will get fatty. also we do not feed our pets "off table", so they have nothing to do in the kitchen. Poor Manu every morning she stands at the doorway and looks at me. so hard.
so, thank you for your help, i would certainly use it,
xxxx

[Jaybay]

I can't help you with the hormone issues, but the hair loss with white spots sounds very familiar.  Mange mite infestation can cause hair loss, and the damage done to the hair follicles causes secondary staph infection (the white spots).  Has your vet done skin scrapings to determine if mange mites are present?

[Fourpaws]

Did you post this on the Ask a Vet forum? Doctors don't answer on this forum.