Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

In the Spring, my dog (a boxer named Jeter) lost a lot of hair from his flanks. It was in random patterns and I think it was mostly because he kept licking them.

Now he's doing it again. We went to the vet on several occasions to see what was wrong - they did a scrape for fungus, put him on a super expensive dog food in case it was a dog allergy and various other tests to see what was wrong. He was taking an oil pill with his dog food for a while to see if that would help and it didn't. Finally a neighbor said to put a tsp of olive oil in his food. I did that and I thought it worked until now.

I'm pretty sure it's seasonal flank alopecia and I know it will grow back but I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through this and if so, what helped. Thanks, if you can help!

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

It might be a combination of things because we battle dry skin and dandruff in winter too. He scratches himself or bites his skin so much that he pulls his hair out.

We were doing Kirkland fish oil (2 per day for a 65 pound dog) and 1 vitamin E pill. Now we're on a new pill that the vet gave us that I don't know the name of but I'll be honest, it's been a few weeks and he's still biting and scratching. It's much better than it is without any pills though.

We're considering getting a humidifier for the room he's in most but our living room has an extremely high ceiling so I don't know how effective it will be. The way I look at it - if it's environmental and because the air around us is so dry - if you make the air around you more humid, it should ease the symptoms, no?

Message edited 1/6/2010 1:02:10 PM.

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

That makes sense! I'll definitely get a humidifier...couldn't hurt right? Thanks so much!

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

Let me know what you get, I might be in the market too!

Avoid my mistake the last time I got one though - make sure you can get the exact replacement filters before you buy. I had a b*tch of a time getting mine last time.

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

Do the spots look raw, red or scabby at all where the hair is missing? My mother's dog gets "hot spots" which we were told by the vet derm at LIVS are actually seasonally-caused staph infections (he gets weird reactions to allergens).

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

My Cavalier has lost hair on 2 occassions...first time it started on his back legs...he is currently in the 2nd occurrence which started around his eyes & snout..and it is due to Demodex...a skin disease caused by mites. They aren't sure why he is getting this as an 8 year old dog so he has to have a bunch of tests...he looks horrible and is on meds. Not sure if this helps...

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

I think I read that the majority of dogs have demodex mange mites on them and are able to live normally but when their immunity is down for whatever reason, that's when you start to see outward signs of hair loss and such.

There are so many reasons for things like this, it's tough to figure out what it is and treat it. I hope all your pups get better soon!

By the way, I looked into humidifiers on Consumer Reports.com and they don't have ratings. But I did learn that I need a "console" humidifier in order to effectively change the humidity in my huge room, and that they're loud and costly. If you can swing a regular tabletop model, it can't hurt; you will benefit from it too.

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

Re: Dog Hair Loss - Seasonal Flank Alopecia

My dog has it. Our vet told us to use melatonin pills. It took a while (months)but it grew back. Ask your vet if they think it will work.
I read online that the melatonin onlly works once so you have to keep using it.