# self chewing, bald spots



## peedo

My dog is 8 months old and he has recently started to chew on both sides and it is progressively getting thinner and thinner. I took him out of his crate after being in there for 2 hours and noticed the one side got bigger.
Is it because of boredom?
or is it something more serious?


----------



## onyx'girl

Take him to the vet. What are you feeding him? 
I wouldn't take the vets advice if they want to put him on a prescription diet, just go with a good quality no grain or limited ingredient kibble(transition slowly) than the stuff they push on you...Wellness, Orijen or Blue Buffalo to name a few. No science diet or Iams.
Could be hot spots, allergies, ringworm or a puppy mange(though I'd think hot spots or allergies) Are you giving salmon oil? Human grade 2000mg daily with a vitaminE(400iu) along with about 1000mg vitamin C will help your pup get over his skin issues. But vet check first to rule out other issues.
Karlo had a spot in the same area(one side only) and it was from pollen. He has grown back the coat, but as a dk. sable it was light colored for a couple months til the outercoat grew back.


----------



## gsdmi

We have a foster dog who recently started this too -- within the last 4 -6 weeks. We have not been able to identify for sure, but leaning towards a beef allergy. He started his H/W preventative on May 1 -- all was fine until he had his second dose. He had so much hair loss and horrible itching/chewing a vet visit was in order. On recommendation of the vet with all factors considered, we decided to start with the beef. When checking other things (cookies, treats, etc) we had major beef happening. 

We did pull him off all beef related things, and switched his H/W to Revolution and put him on a fish based food (NB ). So far so good, no more hair is missing (there was A LOT) and it seems to be starting to grow back a little with the itchies subsiding. 

Potential allergies are a tough one, you may have to try a few things.


----------



## lylol

I agree it isnt easy to narrow down specifics via email... and sometimes you have to try a few things. If you arent all ready on grainfree food, it made a HUGE difference for my dog who had both flea itchiness and hot spots/alergies. He has not had a single hot spot for 4 years now, he smells good, and his itchiness is very low. He also had a flea reaction and for a while I used both an oral and a topical flea preventative. Good luck in finding the combination that works for your dog.


----------



## peedo

*This is what I feed him...*

I feed him per day:
~1.35 lbs of chicken necks or quarters or turkey necks
~1.35 lbs of beef hearts or chicken hearts or gizzards
~1 fish oil pill 1000mg
~2 Tbs flax seed meal 

For occasional snacks:
2 cups of yogurt or
1 bananas or
1 apples

He has been on the this diet since late April 2010. 

Treats:
Dried Chicken

Meds:
We give him Ester C once in a while.
Heartgard once a month
No Frontline or anything similar, we just use neems oil(almost daily) and sometime we spray him with Vet's Best Flea Itch Relief (smells like cloves) and the shampoo. We also change it up with oatmeal shampoo. We give him a wash once a month.



We have an appointment today with the Vet so hopefully I can get this resolved soon.


----------



## peedo

*After the Vet visit*

I took Lobo to the vet and they did a skin scrap. The test came back negative for any parasites. They concluded that it is allergies but another doctor says that it may be signs of demodetic mange so he prescribed Goodwinol ointment. I put it on the areas he tends to bite and scratch and it seems to have reduced the itching. They also have me give him 50mg Benadyl/day for his allergies. I hope his fur grows back soon.


----------



## LaRen616

peedo said:


> I took Lobo to the vet and they did a skin scrap. The test came back negative for any parasites. They concluded that it is allergies but another doctor says that it may be signs of demodetic mange so he prescribed Goodwinol ointment. I put it on the areas he tends to bite and scratch and it seems to have reduced the itching. They also have me give him 50mg Benadyl/day for his allergies. I hope his fur grows back soon.


I took my boy to the vet because he had hair loss around his eye and mouth, everyone on this board told me it was demodex mange. My vet told me that it was allergies and also gave me the ointment and Benadryl (cost me about $125) and when I asked if it could be mange, she told me no because mange doesn't start on the face. Well a couple days later nothing was getting better so I went back and demanded a skin scrape be done, well surprise! He had demodex mange! I then had to give him a oral injection of medicine to cure it, almost $700 later, he is mange free. 

Did they give me a refund when they claimed it wasn't mange and gave me different meds? NO, they did not. :angryfire:


----------



## Jax08

If you are treating with benadryl and an ointment then you really don't know which is working. If it's an allergy then the benadryl is dealing with it but as soon as you take him off, or he builds a tolerance to it and he will eventually, then things will go right back to where they were. If it's mange, then the ointment will clear it up and be done with it.

Personally, I would start with an elimination diet. I would feed only chicken to start for a 3-4 weeks. Then I would move to a different protein. I think it would take that long to really see if one protein over another is a problem. Or take him to a allergist and get him tested for food allergies.

I see you feed mostly chicken. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems alot of dogs have allergies to chicken? IMO, I think they need more variety. I try to feed a minimum of 5 different proteins. I feed fish, chicken, duck, turkey, beef, pork and lamb. Sometimes it's hard to find a good variety but I'm slowly finding sources.


----------

