I have another question.

[Winstin07]

Ok here goes, Winstin has been biting at his back legs. I have checked for fleas and he is clean. I did notice today that the skin is dry there and the hair feels dry also. Could this be shampoo, does he need an allergy type one, could it be something in his food? I also thought they did not shed. He is getting hair on me. I know there hair is different than my retrievers but do they loose their puppy hair? Do I need to get ahold of the vet or is this all normal?

[MyFairLacy]

Yorkies do have really minimal shedding. They don't shed their hair anymore than us humans lose the hair on our heads. But some hair will naturally fall out. You shouldn't be seeing excessive hair loss though. I'm not positive if puppies will loose a little more hair as their adult coat grows in or not...maybe someone else can answer that question. I do know it shouldn't be excessive though

The itching could be an allergy to something. Allergies such so bad...my older cat has all kinds of allergies and Lacy has flea allergies. Sometimes they can be so hard to diagnose and know what causes them. With allergies it is either a food allergy, an environmental allergy, or flea allergies...and all are pretty common in dogs. Lacy is allergic to fleas and even one or two biting her is enough to make her itchy for a week. So you may not be seeing fleas on him now, but its possible that one bit him recently and he's itchy from it. He could also be allergic to something in the environment such as grass. Or he could be allergic to something he's eating like corn or chicken. The only sure way to diagnose allergies is to have your vet do an allergy test and send it off to the lab..you'll receive a report with exactly what your dog is allergic too. Sometimes you can narrow it down though overtime. Allergies are just a pain in the butt! They frustrate me... I know when Lacy gets itchy from a flea bite, she scratches all over and starts losing some hair, especially on her underside and behind her ears.

The itching could also be dry skin. You could try a more moisturinzing shampoo or a shampoo with oatmeal in it which is supposed to be soothing to the skin. Or you might be bathing too often for your dog - some dogs can tolerate more frequent bathing than others.

Or your puppy could have some type of skin problem. A lot of puppies will have demodectic mange. Here's a website that explains it http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...tic_mange.html

I hope you figure out what's causing the itching and that he feels better

[Amy81]

im having the same trouble.. Cody's skin is dry.. he itches.. and he loses a little hair on me.. but the bad problem is he has a white patch on his body where no hair is there and its spreading. our vet seems to think he is losing his undercoat(puppy hair) .
im going with a food allergy. he will be on new food by the weekend!

good luck with your baby. hope he gets better soon

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Amy81

im having the same trouble.. Cody's skin is dry.. he itches.. and he loses a little hair on me.. but the bad problem is he has a white patch on his body where no hair is there and its spreading. our vet seems to think he is losing his undercoat(puppy hair) .
im going with a food allergy. he will be on new food by the weekend!

good luck with your baby. hope he gets better soon

Hmm...yorkies don't have an undercoat - just a single coat. You'd think a vet would know that... I am wondering now if some yorkie pups do lose hair as their coat starts to change to the adult coat. Hopefully someone can answer this.

[Winstin07]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

Yorkies do have really minimal shedding. They don't shed their hair anymore than us humans lose the hair on our heads. But some hair will naturally fall out. You shouldn't be seeing excessive hair loss though. I'm not positive if puppies will loose a little more hair as their adult coat grows in or not...maybe someone else can answer that question. I do know it shouldn't be excessive though

The itching could be an allergy to something. Allergies such so bad...my older cat has all kinds of allergies and Lacy has flea allergies. Sometimes they can be so hard to diagnose and know what causes them. With allergies it is either a food allergy, an environmental allergy, or flea allergies...and all are pretty common in dogs. Lacy is allergic to fleas and even one or two biting her is enough to make her itchy for a week. So you may not be seeing fleas on him now, but its possible that one bit him recently and he's itchy from it. He could also be allergic to something in the environment such as grass. Or he could be allergic to something he's eating like corn or chicken. The only sure way to diagnose allergies is to have your vet do an allergy test and send it off to the lab..you'll receive a report with exactly what your dog is allergic too. Sometimes you can narrow it down though overtime. Allergies are just a pain in the butt! They frustrate me... I know when Lacy gets itchy from a flea bite, she scratches all over and starts losing some hair, especially on her underside and behind her ears.

The itching could also be dry skin. You could try a more moisturinzing shampoo or a shampoo with oatmeal in it which is supposed to be soothing to the skin. Or you might be bathing too often for your dog - some dogs can tolerate more frequent bathing than others.

Or your puppy could have some type of skin problem. A lot of puppies will have demodectic mange. Here's a website that explains it http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...tic_mange.html

I hope you figure out what's causing the itching and that he feels better

Thank You for all the info. The thing that puzzles me is, he does not scratch all the time. He has a vet appointment in a week or two but I may check with her sooner. I just want him safe. I guess it could be a flea thing and they would die as soon as the bite because as soon as he hit three pounds he was given flea stuff. We have had crazy weather here, from a drought to a record flood and back to no rain again. So, the fleas are nuts as well as mosquitos. Could he be having issues from the mosquitos?

[Winstin07]

Originally Posted by Amy81

im having the same trouble.. Cody's skin is dry.. he itches.. and he loses a little hair on me.. but the bad problem is he has a white patch on his body where no hair is there and its spreading. our vet seems to think he is losing his undercoat(puppy hair) .
im going with a food allergy. he will be on new food by the weekend!

good luck with your baby. hope he gets better soon

I do not think its an undercoat problem. I agree with MyFairLacy, the vet should know that. I bet its an allergy. Winstin just gets little pieces of hair on my shirt. Well all over the shirt. But when I pet him its not falling out bad and its nothing compared to the big dogs. Some days its worse than others. Like the itching on Thursday was not as bad as wednesday. There is no white patches or anything. Just a little dry skin.

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Winstin07

Thank You for all the info. The thing that puzzles me is, he does not scratch all the time. He has a vet appointment in a week or two but I may check with her sooner. I just want him safe. I guess it could be a flea thing and they would die as soon as the bite because as soon as he hit three pounds he was given flea stuff. We have had crazy weather here, from a drought to a record flood and back to no rain again. So, the fleas are nuts as well as mosquitos. Could he be having issues from the mosquitos?

Yeah, the way the flea preventative works is it kills fleas within a few hours after they get on the dog. But the fleas still get a chance to bite before they die, which doesn't help those with flea-allergies. It's just important to keep the environment as flea-free as possible and keep that preventative on so that any fleas that do get on your dog will die and not have a chance to lay eggs and produce more fleas.

I've never heard of mosquitos making a dog itch. The problem with mosquitos and dogs is that mosquitos transmit heartworms to dogs.

[Amy81]

yeah i dont agree with my vet. i know its an allergy. i think its food.. but it could be the grass too? i may ask the vet how much a allergy test would be
cause its soo frustrating and i hate to see my babys coat looking that way

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Amy81

yeah i dont agree with my vet. i know its an allergy. i think its food.. but it could be the grass too? i may ask the vet how much a allergy test would be
cause its soo frustrating and i hate to see my babys coat looking that way

Im sure it depends on the vet and the lab, but my vet quoted me about $200 for an allergy test for my older cat. I haven't had it done though because we're trying a new food and I think it's helping. I think what they do is take a skin sample and possibly a blood sample and send it off to the lab to be tested against about 100 common antigens and then you'll get a report back that says what your dog is allergic to.

[Amy81]

yeah she did a skin scraping and sent it off it came back negative.. she said he didnt have mites or mange.. she just said he is losing puppy coat.

i took him off SD and gave him boiling chicken yesterday.. I hope to have him on a new food this weekend or start of the week.

[Winstin07]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

Yeah, the way the flea preventative works is it kills fleas within a few hours after they get on the dog. But the fleas still get a chance to bite before they die, which doesn't help those with flea-allergies. It's just important to keep the environment as flea-free as possible and keep that preventative on so that any fleas that do get on your dog will die and not have a chance to lay eggs and produce more fleas.

I've never heard of mosquitos making a dog itch. The problem with mosquitos and dogs is that mosquitos transmit heartworms to dogs.

I know about heartworm and we have him protected with that to. The mosquito thing was just a thought. When I get bit I swell up real bad and scratch in my sleep real bad. I will leave out all the details
I guess it really could be fleas but they die before we notice because of his meds. It was just put on him two weeks ago.
Are Yorkies more likely to have food allergies. I am using same food I have used with my girls for 8 years. Of course its the small breed puppy not the big girl food. He has gotten ahold of a few pieces of their food could that be doing it also? His is a more natural food than theirs.
I am thinking there are to many scenarios and I think I will call the vet.

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Winstin07

I know about heartworm and we have him protected with that to. The mosquito thing was just a thought. When I get bit I swell up real bad and scratch in my sleep real bad. I will leave out all the details
I guess it really could be fleas but they die before we notice because of his meds. It was just put on him two weeks ago.
Are Yorkies more likely to have food allergies. I am using same food I have used with my girls for 8 years. Of course its the small breed puppy not the big girl food. He has gotten ahold of a few pieces of their food could that be doing it also? His is a more natural food than theirs.
I am thinking there are to many scenarios and I think I will call the vet.

I think food allergies are common in every breed of dog. A lot of dogs are allergic to corn. I don't know if you're feeding food with corn in it or not. Wheat is also a common allergin, along with other grains like rice. Chicken is supposedly the most common protein-source that a dog is allergic to. The "wilder" the meat, the less likely a dog is to be allergic to it. So most dogs are allergic to chicken or beef if allergic to a protein source. There are whitefish foods out there as well as rabbit, venison, lamb and duck that offer different protein sources that are less commonly allergenic. A dog could also be allergic to a starch in the food such as potatos, carrots or peas. It's hard to narrow it down without doing the allergy test so most vets try a limited ingredients diet first to try to find one that does work for your dog. There are foods that have one protein source and one starch...such as White Fish & Sweet Potato or Duck & Green Pea. I don't usually give Lacy any grains and she eats venison and rabbit.

[Winstin07]

I think it is kind of common to. I saw some of that with mom. She has several (ok 6) dogs and she has to use three different foods. I will do whatever it takes as long as it gets figured out. I do appreciate all the replies MyFairLacy.
Amy81, I hope you can get your baby better. Keep us posted.

[Amy81]

thanks !! hope your baby gets better too !

[Yorkiekids]

Sebastian's itching too, and I don't know if it's the change in climate or the food, but I give him a little benadryl and he's ok.