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

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

We would love to see the photos!  Please let us know what you discover!

[cupika]

Dear Dr. Cheng,

Thank you so much for your answer. I read a bit about corticol last night and may be what she has it is the illness you named as well: hyperadrenocorticism. Mostly all the symptoms show that she possibly might have it: symetricall hair loss, hunger /might be becasue of high cortisol/, drinking more water. But then I am not sure what to think about her paws chewing?

We had a special hormonal blood test done which was huge amount of money, just to compare: I earn 574 US dollars a month as a teacher and just the test was 92 US dollars and what we got in the end was not a full blood test that might have shown any infections on the body or any disorders. I am upset about that as to take another blood sample means putting Manu to sleep as she is very nervous round the doctors to a high level. The vet cannot even examine her ears without her trying to escape and scream. She hates being put to sleep as I can see in her eyes huge panic when the injection starts to work. So, this week we have National holiday but from Monday I will ask our Vet to look into this matter more carefully. No, he did not take the skin sample and no, we did not take her to the dermatologist as out town or nearby do not have specialists as such.

We did not have her for a diat trial, as we feed her good pet food, never give her left overs from table /due to the salt and spice content+preservatives/, give her bones every two weeks /raw cow bones or cooked pork bones/, she does not get any sweets either. But I think your idea is very good and we shall try this s well. Thank you.

so, I think the first thing we will have her tested for the hyperadrenocorticism as this seems to be the most likely. I will email you her baby photos and the way she looks now. I have to ask Matthew, my partner to do that.:-)))

also I shall keep you updated about the results and what vets say.
thank you so much for spending time on us and we really appreciate your help.
bets wishes raisza

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

This is Dr. Cheng answering.  I have some questions of my own as follows: Has she been evalulated by a veterinary dermatologist?  Have skin scrapings, culture and sensitivities and skin biopsies been performed?  Has she been tested for hyperadrenocorticism?  Has she been tested for environmental allergies either by a blood test or intradermal testing?  Has she been put on a food isolation trial, such as not feeding any grains for 12 weeks,  or just feeding her a special diet of duck and potatoe, for example?  If any of these tests have been performed could you please email me the results in this forum.  If they have not been performed, I think that it would be valuable to have some or all of these diagnostics done.  I am not familiar with any vets in Hungray, but I assume that there are veterinary specialists there.  If she were here as my patient I might refer her to a veterinary dermatologist if all the tests that I have listed above turned out to have normal results.  Additionally, it would be helpful to see photos of her lesions.  You could email a link with photos.  Lastly,  when all else fails in traditional medicine than it is time to seek help from a veterinary acupuncturist, or holistic Western and Eastern herbalist, or other alternative veterinary practitioner, but I will try to help until you can find one.