I posted a question a while ago about my dog losing his fur, well I went to the vet and she had no answers?

Question

here is my original question with pictures of my dogs fur loss/sores:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuDbL9DGwpjQiRjKcK0bLsLsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080810145151AAcdoF9

The vet did a skin scrape and said there weren't any parasites like mites so it isn't mange and that the skin she scraped where there was sores were normal eukaryotic cells, no bacterial or fungal cells indicating infection. She gave me an expensive shampoo which I've been giving Jasper, his fur seems to be growing back in but today I noticed he had another sort of scab. This is very aggravating spending a lot of money at the vet and getting no answers. The vet suggested if it didn't get better I could try going to a dermatologist. She said she didn't think it was allergies. So what is wrong with my dog and what do you suggest I do?? I feel like I've tried everything, shampoos, getting him soothing creams, hot spot treatment, giving him fish oil with his food to help his coat. I don't know what else to do. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think it can't hurt to try to change your dogs diet... find your local naturopathic pet store and find yourself a dog food brand with as close to 100% organic and natural ingredients as you can.  A lot of dogs these days are sensitive to the more popular commercial dogfoods (purina, iams, eukanuba, science diet).  

Also it can't hurt to assess what treats you're giving your dog, what you wash his bedding in, what cleaning products you're using on your floors, and stopping/changing those producits.  If you're using herbicides/fertilzers on your lawn, you could try stopping using those.

To me even though the vet doesn't think it's allergies, your dog really sounds like he's "reacting" to something and it's showing up in his skin problems.  

One thing though:  my cat had a mast cell tumor which looked just like a sore or scab, with hair loss on and around it.  I'm not sure if your vet sent those cell samples away for testing, but it's a question you could ask.

Answer 2

First thing change his food. Secondly does he sleep on a dog bed? If so get rid of it. Might be something in the bed he is allergic to. What kind of chemicals like cleaning products you use that he can come in contact with like washing your clothes in a detergent that he could be allergic to. Start eliminating things your using one by one and see if after eliminating one doesn't stop the problem. Also it possibly could be a nervous disorder. Did your vet check for that? This is all i could possibly think of that might cause him to loose his fur.

Answer 3

is the dog under stress? sounds dumb but is a serious consideration.  anything new around it that it doesn't like?

Answer 4

My Chi did the same thing. Vet took skin scrapping checked for everything. And come up with nothing. I found a dog Bath Spritz from the Cain and Able Collection Peppermint/Tea Tree and after using it for 3 weeks her skin had almost completely cleared up. And it was only like 10 dollars. The Tea Tree Oil is what did most of the work. If you can find something with Tea Tree Oil in it it should help.

Answer 5

Get a second opinion from another vet