Doberman Pinschers

hi folks! we adopted our boy lucky from our local shelter about 2 months ago. he's about 2 1/2 yrs old and a blk and tan. he's healthy as an ox, but we just noticed that his fur falls out by the bucket full! he also has almost naked areas near his leggs and under his hips. there is still fur there, but very little. i have been giving him fish oil since we brought him home because he had some dandruff. he has much less dandruff, just a few flakes occasionally, but the falling hair has us freaked out a little!!
anyone have any suggestions????
thanks!
dana and jeff

sebastopol, calif

Since he's a rescue, I would definitely take him into the vet for a skin scrape and a complete blood panel. He has signs of sarcoptic mange, and/or thyroid problems.What are you feeding him? Good luck with him.

Hair loss is common, even though it can be scarry. Check his food for Corn, wheat or soy, also anything...by-product meal. For an external solution, try Epi-Pet... it is a shampoo and skin spray treatment that I use as a pro groomer. I have CURED everything from flaky skin to serious hair loss and yeast infections of the skin. Good luck and good job adopting!

***Edited By: ADMIN on 11/12/2008 8:31:18 AM***
Reason: no website

I agree with the possibility that the problem is caused by the dog's food. An almost unbelievable number of dogs these days have allergies to various food ingredients and show symptoms of hair loss, gunky ears, rashes, lack of energy, generally poor appearance/rough coat, etc. If you have done all you can to determine it is not caused by medical problems like a hormone imbalance or environmental causes like your laundry detergent or plant allergies you have to start narrowing down what the dog eats to foods with a small number of ingredients such as a single meat source and try to avoid ingredients like corn and wheat which are some of the more common causes of allergic reactions. Some of my dogs cannot handle the processed beef in dog food but are fine with fresh beef either raw or cooked at home. Mine thrive with a chicken-based dry food but many dogs show allergy symptoms with processed chicken. I hope you can figure out what is causing the problem. Finding the cause and solving the problem is always better than having the dog take allergy meds for the rest of its life.

We purchased a Chessy puppy last year from a breeder. We noticed that he had a little spot on his tail when we got him but thought that maybe it was from puppy play. He is now a year and a half and he is almost completely bald on his flanks and moving up to the top of his back. We had all the blood tests done and the punch biospy as well. Our vet told us that he had a genetic disorder that affects the folicules. We have tried different food, the vet suggested that we try Meletonin. We tried it for a while to no avail. We are at a loss so we are going to try the Meletonin again at a higher dose and for a longer period of time. They tell us that it may never grow back. We are really concerned about the cold winter and are looking into purchasing a vest for him to wear to protect him from the cold. I hope that you have better luck than we have had. If you do find something please let us know.