Wee baldy Alfie
 

So, my wee Alfie is generally doing well, he is happy and healthy and loves us, a few weeks ago (at 15 weeks) almost overnight he got matts, he gets groomed every day, we clipped his matts round both hips. So now our baby is baldy, both back legs and top of his front legs not from the little line we clipped but from him scratching and biting his coat.
I have been surfing and surfing to find a solution. Alfie has been at the vet twice in the last two weeks, is on anti biotics and steroids, he seems to be scratching and biting his beautiful hair a little less, my question is, I through my surfing have seen a lot of yorkie talk posts about exactly this problem, but no posts at all about the outcome. Can any of you give me some info? He has a good mixed diet, ceasor soft puppy food and James Wellbeloved chicken and rice, having read everything here am sending off for a grain free dry food and will work through food types ( he also gets some home cooked pure meat, chicken and beef and lamb chops) btw I am in UK not US so please advise on ingredients for diet and not brands as they will not be available here. I have also got some specialist shampoos and would love to try the yorkie shine products but postage to here is double the price of the product and there doesn't seem to be oatmeal products here. Please help, wee Alfie is my world and I don't care if he is the prettiest dog I just want him to be healthy and happy. Sorry this is an essay and cos I use an iPad can't upload pics but have created an album for baldy Alfie so you can see a little of how he looks now.

I'm so sorry Alfie is going thru this. Poor little guy. :(

What is the vet giving antibiotics for? I mean, what was the diagnosis? Is there some bacterial infection that Alfie has on his skin? (that's all antibiotics are good for is why I'm asking)

If it's an allergy, you need to figure out what the allergy is (food, environmental, etc). If food, I'd take him to a nutritionist. It could also be environmental (soaps that you wash his bedding/clothes in, shampoo, etc).

Praying you find the answer you need soon.

It's really hard to say. Uni has always been an itchy baby. When she has a flare up she is given a steroid shot and then steroid pills. If she has scratched herself raw (she does this often) she is given antibiotics. She have a prescription shampoo for her also, but she is still itchy. Also we give her over the counter allergy meds (Zyrtec over here) as suggested by our vet (1/4 of a tablet 2x per day). Still doesn't seem to help TOO much. She's not scratching herself raw anymore, but still breaking hair and causing bald spots. Some dogs are just itchy. You can do costly tests to find out what is making him itchy, but sometimes no result is found and you are out hundreds if not thousands of dollars and no answer. Sometimes it's just best to manage it rather than try to find the source. Sometimes it's something easy, like food allergy, grain allergy or fragrance/detergent allergy. Sometimes it's something like dust.

Awww, poor Uni!

Oh, I remember My Oscar recommending a shampoo (link below) that she says helps Oscar a lot.

Zymox Enzymatic Shampoo and Conditioning Rinse|Dog Skin Care

Thanks,
 

Thanks for your help, I think the vet gave antibiotics as a precaution. Alfie seems much less scratchy and more comfortable today. Having nap time now on the sofa with Alfie and my sons new pup Evra.:sleep::sleep::sleep:

They vet doesn't know that the cause?

Curri has always been an itchy baby too. Not to the point of breaking her hair or skin tho ~ Sometimes there is no quick find on a cause. We treat the symptoms here and will continue to do so unless and until a cause becomes apparent.

We are grain free and chicken free, thinking those may be triggers. She is still itchy. Could be environmental but from the time I picked her up in Tennessee to this day, she still scratches mostly in the early morning hours.

I am currently adding omegas and organic coconut oil to her food on a weekly alternating basis.

We do the same. And the vet doesn't know our cause either. Well except the times when Uni had fleas and then we knew it was flea allergy, but after the fleas were gone, she still itches. Not as bad, but she still does it.

I would eliminate the Caesar food, it's full of by-products and grains:eek: Strip the diet down to a novel protein (rabbit, venison, duck, etc.) and no grains and see if that helps. It's an easy way to either discover or eliminate a food allergy. You could also try using the "free" type laundry detergents and fabric softeners, no dyes or perfumes.

Good luck, I hope the itching gets better:)

Waiting on the grain free
 

I have had to order online as none of my local small pet shops supermarkets or big pet stores seem to have dry grain free. Nor do the have any range of wet. Cutting out the dairy for now (he gets yoghurt for his ears and cheese as a special treat, but only a little bit) he seems much more comfortable and hardly scratchy at all but I don't suppose I can really find out what is bothering him so much until he finishes his steroids.

ORIJEN Puppy

ORIJEN Pet Foods*|* ORIJEN Puppy
Ingredients
Deboned chicken (23%), Dehydrated chicken (17%), deboned salmon (9%), dehydrated turkey (6%), dehydrated herring (6%), russet potato, chicken fat (5%), sweet potato, peas, dehydrated turkey (3%), whole eggs (3%), chicken liver (2%), deboned lake whitefish (2%), deboned walleye (2%), alfalfa, pea fibre, deboned herring (2%), organic kelp, pumpkin, chicory root, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, blueberries, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary.

For more information on the ORIJEN product range download the complete ORIJEN Brochure (PDF - 5.1Mb)

Anybody like this food?
 

Does anyone feed orIjen puppy?

Makes me want to cry
 

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/alb...ctureid=123871
Most recent pic of baldness

OMG I had no idea it was that bad! :( Poor baby! Is his skin healed up at all? Is it just balding hair or he's ripping his skin as well? This is definitely a more severe case. Have you been to another vet to get a second opinion?

BTW Orijen is a very good food.

Does anyone across the pond make any Limited Ingredient Diets that you could try? May be a better choice when trying to eliminate allergens. Also, has he been treated with any topical flea products? Have you tried using Revolution (if you can get it there) or any one that also kills mites? Has your vet done any skin scrapings (although not always successful at finding the culprit)? Or best a visit to a Vet Dermatologist would be helpful... or a Vet School/University.

some answers
 

This has all happened very quick, one day he had a few matts and he looked a bit scruffy and bald, when we cut them out, the patch seemed to get bigger in a few days and we thought it was because he is growing so much, he is getting his flea and worm treatments at the vet every 4 weeks, she also treated him for mites just in case when she gave him the steroids and anti biotics but really didn't think that was the cause. His skin is not broken at all just a little pink with a very few, very tiny red microdots. He is eating ok, he is not a big eater anyway and is gaining weight every week looks set to be about 6-6.5lb according to the charts. I have bought him a new bed that has not been washed at all to check if washing powder could be the cause. I will change over his food when it arrives and only give him grain free dry with a liitle home cooked meet and veg in the evening. I have stopped giving him puppy milk, yoghurt and cheese as well as shop bought treats. I have bought himshampoo with teatree, going to use that tonight. There is hair growing in the baldy areas which are on both his rear sides and tops of all four legs.my husband and I both work but my son and daughter both call in at different times every day. He is walked every morning and evening and we play from we come home from work until bedtime with some kiss and cuddle.time.
We are not sure if he has scratched the hair out, bitten it off or if it has fallen out but have nit seen any hair in the house. He always seemed content playful and happy and even with the scratching it wasn't manic.
I will keep you all up go date.

Were the mats really tight, like pulling on the skin?

If the mats were real tight, the hair or skin could have been damaged which would cause more hair to fall out... or with the skin being pulled in towards the center of the mats (which happens), when the mats are cut out, the skins elasticity returns gradually, so after a few days, the matted area may actually appear larger than originally seen. Or a combination of both could have occurred.

matts
 

The matts had room between the matt and skin to be clipped with round nosed scissors. It looks like his adult coat is really silky and the fluffy puppy coat was strangling it wrapping around. His face and head are almost all silver white now and his saddle has all silver coming through, the tiny hairs growing back on his baldy bits are pure silver white too. We comb him every day and bath every week to ten days.

Sometimes after damage has occurred, the hair will come in one color, then change slightly over time (2-4 months). Can happen at injection sites too. As long as you see the hair growing back in, no permanent damage was done. Maybe he was just itchy due to the matting? IDK... puppies' skin can be so sensitive.

I alternate foods so my dogs don't get sick of one kind. I have fed Orijen Puppy and they seemed to like it. It is rich but none of mine have had any problems with it.

Louise and Zachary

That is what happened to Uni. When she first scratched out her hair on her shoulders, it grew back darker. Not that it's even really that dark, but the rest of her body is almost pure silver and not blue.

Sorry your baby is going through this:( I don't have any advice but I read somewhere that tea tree oil can be toxic to dogs, you might want to google about it:)

oh your poor baby. i hope you can find a solution soon..
orijen is a good food but if you do feed that make sure change him over very slowly ..
if you are are interested in a limited ingredient diet , Acana makes a single protein kibble..

Alfie is still a little doll!!!!:)

I would never have thought to google the ingredients of a dog specific shampoo so thank you for highlighting this. Have quickly googled now and it would seem mostly dangerous if ingested, also checked the possible symptoms and thankfully he did not lick any shampoo and not showing symptoms. Also lining up the previous shampoos to check what is in them
I ordered the Orijen to try him on grain free so will give that a go first and then work through AcNa if he doesn't take.

It will be so long and hard to get to the bottom of this without worrying that he is not getting enough food and trying to still let him have some nice treats.

He started on a half steroid tablet on Tuesday cut down from the full ones he started on Friday and is a little bit scratchy but think round about the normal amount.

Thank you, I totally agree, a naughty, naughty, naughty little doll faced darling.

I really hope you get to the bottom of this, for his sake and yours! Uni's not nearly as bad and it's driving me insane. I can't imagine how you and your baby must be feeling. Breaks my heart to see them like that.

Update on my wee baldy baby
 

We have had a quiet Christmas, Alfie has finished his antibiotics and steroids and getting on fine, then bang, a complete itch pot. His hair is growing back in his baldy bits but you can only tell when you are up close as the new hair is White.
Before he had just lost hair and wasn't such an itchy boy but over this last week he has been manic.
We have him in a lampshade to stop his biting and have had to get him little baby socks (wrapped in a little tape to keep them on such wee tiny legs)
I am so miserable for him, he seems depressed, and hates us for making his life so difficult.
Today was the worst, he has now for the first time been able to scratch himself raw and just wanted to be carried around everywhere and didn't even hardly want to play at all.
We have religiously massaged him with soothing creams and this has been helping but we are only strictly feeding kibble and will have to keep this up for a few weeks.
I have washed his beds and mine and my husbands chill out clothes in a new non bio.
Then just now he grabbed his favourite blanky and had a little lovin' time. I hope this is a sign he is feeling better.