Suspiciously thinning fur

[LongLittleBrittle]

Hello, this is my first post here, but I've got a question about my new rescue. (We are headed to the vet this Thursday, so no worries, you guys are not replacing the trained eye and care of a licensed vet!)

His ears are stiff and leathery, and losing fur along the edges in tiny clumps. It looks to me like ear margin seborrhea, which I know is common in doxies. Especially older guys. My boy Brittle is 10/12 years old and we just rescued him on Friday.

His fur is also noticeably thinning in a two inch wide band down his spine from his shoulderblades to his hips, and then on his tail. Nowhere else.

He's been on "Beneful" (yuck) most of his life, but as soon as he came in, I switched him immediately to Taste of the Wild, the formula with the highest protein and lowest fat content, as well as the canned food.

He gets a little less than a quarter cup in the morning, with a tablespoon of wet food, and a splash of warm water. All mixed up to be soft, as his teeth are pretty much all shot. He gets the same in the evening, and almost no treats except teeny tiny nibbles during training since he's kind of pudgy, and the poor guy keeps stepping on his *ahem* "self" when he stands up.

Any suggestions on what this hair loss thing is? It doesn't look or smell like mange to me. I included a picture of one of his ears. Hard to get a picture of the thinning on his back, it's subtle.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oa3yn6ke4l0eyvx/britear.jpg?dl=0

Anything I can be putting on his ears? It looks uncomfortable... Bag balm, maybe?

[Rae]

My Duchess had similar ear issues when she got older, and my vet ( the fabulous Dr Brian!) recommended a medicated shampoo - seems it was some kind of bacteria causing the stuff and leathery ears with the clumpy fur loss.

The thin hair band has me stumped!

[LexieLuvr]

No ideas here, either, but welcome and :bigrayz::bigrayz::bigrayz::bigrayz:

[lotsadox]

No ideas here for the ears. I've had 2 dogs that had that. Sweetums ears were almost completely bald but she was 13 or 14 when I got her. Bogart had the raggedy edges from the time he was about 12 or so. Miller has thinniing hair on his head along his spine and his chest. It's been that way since I got him at 18 months. It hasn't gotten any worse over the years, but it's still there. I believe its called canine alopecia.

[Ivan]

It's not exactly the same thing, but...

Jebbie had itchy hot-spots where his skin that turned black, like that. On his ears, and also on his flank. He also licked his paws. We fed TOTW & tried other foods too. The vet prescribed Benadryl (25 mg) and frequent baths with anti-fungal shampoo. This kept it under control, but never fully resolved the problem. It would come & go. We never discovered what he was allergic to.

With Holly, her entire belly had black skin, and we thought it was just her normal color. But since we switched over to a raw meat diet, the blackness went away and her belly is now nicely pink and no longer itchy. The fur is nicer too. But most humans (incl. vets) think raw is scary, but dogs love it. Oh well.

Hope your vet finds a solution for Brittle.

[LongLittleBrittle]

After seeing the vet yesterday and bringing it up, the vet says it's "a doxie thing"... As they get older, they lose circulation in their ear tips, and this becomes a common issue. He said the best thing I can do is to keep his ears moisturized.

So I'm not working on a home-made repair oil/cream for his ears. Probably a coconut oil base with vitamin E and tea tree oil. Looking into other things that might be good, as well, but that's what I'm starting with.

So far he doesn't seem to mind it. Honestly, I think he just likes his pampering after the life he's had recently. ^_^

[SaxLady]

If it doesn't improve have a thyroid test done. A TSH or preferably a thyroid panel.