my mom called me today and told me that my dog is losing her hair. so what i'm asking is: does anybody here know alot about dogs? because i'd like to know if there's something REALLY wrong with her before i take her to the vet.
i just don't want to end up wasting my money again just to hear from the vet that she's "going through a phrase." i mean, in the past, every time my dogs are bleeding or is limping, and we took them to the vet, it's always the same answer, "oh this is normal when she/he comes of this age, it's just a phrase they're going through" and we ended up about $50 to $100 per visits!!

my dog: her name is Shondra, she's 7 years old, and is a purebred keeshond. if you have never heard of that breed before (i get that a lot) then here's a picture of her.


i also have another purebred keeshond, a male and his name is Hunter, he is 4 years old, and is perfectly fine. last year though, someone apparently was trespassing on my mom's property (25 acres, she only uses 3 acres there, the rest is for peaceful wilderness with "No Hunting" signs all around the border, plus it was not hunter season) mad.gif and shot Hunter in the mouth with a .22, as you can imagine, half his mouth was dangling from his jaw, so we took him to the vet to get him stitched up, and i payed $500 for it 02.gif


any clue or info about what may be wrong with her would be great and i'll be saving money from unneccesary vet visit.

thanks luv~foxxy

 

one of my dogs has this same issue. he's a doberman around a year old and he had been getting very flakey skin and was shedding more than usual. i took him to our vet and they did a skin scrape (scraped some skin from one of his "bald" spots). they told me that he has demodex mites. the pictures he showed me of the end result were very discomforting. you can google it and come up with some similar pictures of it i'm sure. the vet gave us some oral medicine, a shampoo for once a week baths, and a cream for his face. i would get this checked out soon if i were you. i thought the same thing before i went to the vet (that he's just got dry skin because of the climate or something).

 

demodex mites? hmm i will definitely look into that, THANKS!!

 

yeah. the stuff that my doberman has isn't contagious, but other kinds of mites could be. also, my dog is a short haired dog so it was a lot more obvious when he was losing hair and getting bald spots. along with having spots on his back and what not, my dog also got some spots on his face and top of his head.

 

well Shondra sure is a real fluffy dog! but right now, she's got some completely bare spot here and there on her body, she's had those for about a month or so, we worried a bit, but we figured it was from playing with the Hunter, but those spots are not growing back, and we're seriously worried about it now.
and could you tell me what was the things you used to treat your dog? i'm thinking i should maybe go to petmart soon and check some things out.

 

aww she's so cute!!

your problem is demodectic mange mites. they eat hair. my dog got it twice from the neighbor's dog. went to two novice vets before we decided to take them to florida vets. they knew right then and there. (the girl was soooooo hot and helpful, wish i asked her out)

the dog has to get 1 pill perscribed by the vet per day, and there's a cream you have to rub thoroughly on the spots once per day until it goes away. you can only get the cream perscribed by doctors. it's annoying putting it on but once you do it enough you'll get used to it. i had to do it for near two months.

 

cream? dam, now my problem here would be whether or not someone would keep that up. my dogs have to stay at my mom's cuz my landlord won't allow us to have dogs in our apt. ma was gonna sell my dogs cuz she couldn't afford to pay for them, but i refuse to let her and enforced the fact that i'm paying for their food, water, treats, and care, i mean they are MY dogs! she just couldn't get it THROUGH her head that i'm paying for them and everytime i see her, she's complaining about her money problems and says "and now i gotta buy dog food..." grrr..

hmm, my bro and his fiancee are living with my mom, so i guess i'll have to pay his fiancee (since she's home most of the time) to put cream on my dog for me.

 

HKC is right. the stuff we got for our dog came from the vet. it's been about 4 weeks since his diagnosis and the vet said it would be 6-8 weeks for it to improve and that it would get worse before it gets better. the cream that they gave us is only for his face. they gave us shampoo for his body, but since it's harmful if ingested they gave the cream. they also gave us ivermectin (oral medicine) that is in a liquid form.

 

smile.gif thanks! Hunter is a lot fluffier than her, plus we bred them once before we got Hunter neutered, really adorable litter!!! i've got 3 pics of them, all with me in there fing02.gif lol

 

see i have the same problem except it has to do with damages more than anything. no pets were ever my idea, but i have a sister. she threw me a goldfish. ok no big deal but still have to get them fed when i travel. next she bought a boxer, but her x boyfriend took it. so she bought another one, and then her new boyfriend bought one more. so now we're stuck with them and if you know boxers they get hyper and jump, need attention and are a handfull especially with guests.

so because of them i have not been to Poland for 6 SIX whole years until a short time this summer, meaning i lost contact with most of my friends there and even missed out on love. they ruin the floors, food costs a lot, you have to walk them and for a 6'4 guy one of them pulls like hell, and you cannot leave the house, the house gets muddy and we have to clean, clothes are dirty and get dog hair so I can't have anything new, shoes get worn and dirty. it's such a pain in the ass and my parents are on MY case ALL the time about sh*t and everyone should be pointing fingers at my sister...

the only way you're going to get rid of those mites is through the pills and cream. they move, repopulate, and spread over a period of weeks so you have to get all of the spots even if it looks similar you don't want to take risks. --i suppose if shampoo worked for you it could be a quick fix but it's not worth the risk and would run you a water bill just as big as the vet bill lmao.gif . (i don't wish any dog a bathtub everyday)

the cream and pills did cost a lot. some $300+ total, if not more for the Vet visit. having a dog does drain you of time, energy, and mostly money because it's like having a kid. my sister 100% left us these, didn't think, and didn't look back. but what can ya do? they are funny little monsters to have around, and do cheer you up, do protect the house... there are as many disadvantages as advantages. i really hate to see my dogs wasting their life watching me on the computer when i could be running around with them. dogs belong on farms, not so much in urban cities.

i'm sorry if i complain, but it's all too common.

good luck!