Hair loss

Amber

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I have 2 frenchies they are 6 years old for the past year I have been to the vets an awful lot
They both keep losing patches of hair all over the vets have no answers still a year on
Has anyone been through the same thing?
They are on strict anallegic food and I have been through medication shampoo skin scraps fugi tests and now a skin biopsy but awaiting results any ideas would be much appreciated
 

Rusty’s Owner

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Welcome!

What food are they on?? Brand and protein????

Any photos of what it looks like?


Do they have red itchy skin? Any red bumps/hives, or any itchy paws or any other allergy symptoms???

I also have a 3 year old Frenchie with bad allergies(they did a skin biopsy when he was 7 months , and he sees a dermatologist for environmental allergies treatment).
My Frenchie lost most his fur on the one side of his face which there was bumps, hives that were small and not noticeable that caused the fur loss.


I know how frustrating it can be to figure things out.

One other question, did your Frenchie recently get any vaccines? My Frenchie actually lost all his fur behind neck from a rabies vaccine that required the skin biopsy and the skin went black(he is light fawn colour).

If you know for sure it’s not allergies, I would check for hypothyroidism which can cause fur loss.

If you think it is allergies,
Does it seem to get worse in spring/summer? Or all year round?

Even if it is environmental and he does have some food allergies, a diet change is a must to figure out the cause.
A low carb, grain free foods such as a gently cooked, or raw diet.

Starch and carbs feed the yeast and create itchy and otter inflammatory issues like allergies and skin issues.

Premade Gently cooked options;
-Raised right human grade pet food
-open farm gently cooked

Raw diets is recommended as well and there are kangaroo, rabbit, goat and other novel protein options to choose from depending on the brand.

Brands in Canada:

-Iron will Raw
-Carnivora
-big country raw
-Artisan raw

Brands in US;
-Darwin’s raw
-Vital essentials
-Stella and chewy’s

Both the gently cooked foods I listed above (raised right and open farm) are available in both US and canada.

If they have allergies, you can give bone broth(I use open farm for Rusty), bovine colostrum(I buy the four leaf Rover brand), and he gets berry blend and greens supplement(Red Rover and Green Rover from Four leaf Rover as well as the immunity mushrooms for immune boost).
Also herring oil is good thing to add if they have a lot of inflammation(I give Rusty the Thrive brand).

Probiotics are also highly recommended for the immune system.

For allergies Rusty’s allergies I have to give him a bath every other day with medicated shampoo and other topical treatments and it works great.
The medicated shampoo bath then the mousse after.
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Keep us updated.
Im happy to help!
Probiotics is the love bugs product.

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Amber

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They are both on royal canin brand anallergenic for allergy
IMG-20220408-WA0010.jpgWelcome!

What food are they on?? Brand and protein????

Any photos of what it looks like?


Do they have red itchy skin? Any red bumps/hives, or any itchy paws or any other allergy symptoms???

I also have a 3 year old Frenchie with bad allergies(they did a skin biopsy when he was 7 months , and he sees a dermatologist for environmental allergies treatment).
My Frenchie lost most his fur on the one side of his face which there was bumps, hives that were small and not noticeable that caused the fur loss.


I know how frustrating it can be to figure things out.

One other question, did your Frenchie recently get any vaccines? My Frenchie actually lost all his fur behind neck from a rabies vaccine that required the skin biopsy and the skin went black(he is light fawn colour).

If you know for sure it’s not allergies, I would check for hypothyroidism which can cause fur loss.

If you think it is allergies,
Does it seem to get worse in spring/summer? Or all year round?

Even if it is environmental and he does have some food allergies, a diet change is a must to figure out the cause.
A low carb, grain free foods such as a gently cooked, or raw diet.

Starch and carbs feed the yeast and create itchy and otter inflammatory issues like allergies and skin issues.

Premade Gently cooked options;
-Raised right human grade pet food
-open farm gently cooked

Raw diets is recommended as well and there are kangaroo, rabbit, goat and other novel protein options to choose from depending on the brand.

Brands in Canada:

-Iron will Raw
-Carnivora
-big country raw
-Artisan raw

Brands in US;
-Darwin’s raw
-Vital essentials
-Stella and chewy’s

Both the gently cooked foods I listed above (raised right and open farm) are available in both US and canada.

If they have allergies, you can give bone broth(I use open farm for Rusty), bovine colostrum(I buy the four leaf Rover brand), and he gets berry blend and greens supplement(Red Rover and Green Rover from Four leaf Rover as well as the immunity mushrooms for immune boost).
Also herring oil is good thing to add if they have a lot of inflammation(I give Rusty the Thrive brand).

Probiotics are also highly recommended for the immune system.

For allergies Rusty’s allergies I have to give him a bath every other day with medicated shampoo and other topical treatments and it works great.
The medicated shampoo bath then the mousse after.
View attachment 15803

Keep us updated.
Im happy to help!
Probiotics is the love bugs product.

View attachment 15807
They are on royal canin brand the anallergic for any food allergy since November 2021 buster has got better we had two months off full hair come back now starting to go again
My other dog koby he has never got better no matter what I do is

Buster is itchy but no redness
Koby has no itch at all but has grazes where the hair loss is no red bumps just fur goes bumpy just before they lose the fur

I bathe them in antifungal/medicated shampoo twice a week as directed by vets

They haven't had recent vaccinations
My vets keep running tests after tests and nothing seems to be showing they have checked thyroid levels

I am awaiting skin biopsy results

I fear changing things in case I make it worse

Please see attached photos of koby
 

Rusty’s Owner

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They are both on royal canin brand anallergenic for allergy

They are on royal canin brand the anallergic for any food allergy since November 2021 buster has got better we had two months off full hair come back now starting to go again
My other dog koby he has never got better no matter what I do is

Buster is itchy but no redness
Koby has no itch at all but has grazes where the hair loss is no red bumps just fur goes bumpy just before they lose the fur

I bathe them in antifungal/medicated shampoo twice a week as directed by vets

They haven't had recent vaccinations
My vets keep running tests after tests and nothing seems to be showing they have checked thyroid levels

I am awaiting skin biopsy results

I fear changing things in case I make it worse

Please see attached photos of koby


Since they are itchy, even if no red bumps(or not red bumps) are there, but he is still itchy that definitely says it’s allergy related.

When Rusty was 5 months old with this issue too, vet had him on the same food to see if he gets better, but no difference in skin and it actually caused other health issues.

I would definitely try to get him off Royal canin food as soon as possible, even the hypoallergenic foods have “chicken by product and soy usually and also wheat” all of which are allergens, chicken of any kind and soy and wheat and corn are all linked to allergies, especially Frenchies.

Stay away from Hills, Purina, Royal canin and Eukanuba as they all have these not good ingredients in them.

That’s really good you are bathing with medicated shampoo from vet to help keep skin infections and everything away hopefully.

That’s good they checked the thyroid, now that at least tells you the fur loss is allergy related especially if they are itchy.

Rusty’s skin biopsy just said “chronic inflammatory” and we had to do more test that literally were just saying it’s allergies.


In the photo, they look like they have lots of bumps(but not red), sometimes the bumps get red and sometimes not.
It looks like where the fur loss there are black patches, that means it’s healing from a skin infection. Hyperpigmentation(darkened skin) happens with allergies and also with fur loss.

What made the most difference for Rusty other than the topical treatments and medicated baths, is the diet. Once he was off the RC hypo food I switched him to low carb, low starch food(the gently cooked food I mentioned) and it improved his health and skin issues so much.
It can take up to 12 weeks to notice a difference with new food because it can take the full 12 weeks for the old food to get out of their system.

Most dogs with allergies have yeast issues too which is why low carb and low starch is highly recommended as it starves the yeast that is making them itchy (or at least get a much better kibble).

Good kibble options:
-Carna4(it comes in Venison, goat, duck, and other protein options) but it’s really better for them if you can’t do gently cooked or raw.
-natures logic kibble
-zignature
-acana

In the photo of your Frenchie, that looks so much like Rusty before we improved the allergies. It won’t fit in this reply so I will attach some photos of Rusty’s which was 100% allergies. Looks SO much like yours in the photo.

Start with Diet change, and continue the baths.

I’m happy to help, I have been thru all this with Rusty.
 

Rusty’s Owner

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This is the photos of Rusty when his allergies were very bad before we got his allergies better with good food.

Those look SO much like yours in the photo.
On your frenchies front leg the black spot without fur it looks like the black spots on Rusty from a skin infection from allergies.
All the bumpy spots in your photo looks like Rusty in some of the photos I just attached. This is 100% allergies.

Diet change is highly recommended cause you need to boost the immune system with food not give any more allergies(corn, wheat, soy, and chicken) those create inflammation and more allergy issues!
 

Amber

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Since they are itchy, even if no red bumps(or not red bumps) are there, but he is still itchy that definitely says it’s allergy related.

When Rusty was 5 months old with this issue too, vet had him on the same food to see if he gets better, but no difference in skin and it actually caused other health issues.

I would definitely try to get him off Royal canin food as soon as possible, even the hypoallergenic foods have “chicken by product and soy usually and also wheat” all of which are allergens, chicken of any kind and soy and wheat and corn are all linked to allergies, especially Frenchies.

Stay away from Hills, Purina, Royal canin and Eukanuba as they all have these not good ingredients in them.

That’s really good you are bathing with medicated shampoo from vet to help keep skin infections and everything away hopefully.

That’s good they checked the thyroid, now that at least tells you the fur loss is allergy related especially if they are itchy.

Rusty’s skin biopsy just said “chronic inflammatory” and we had to do more test that literally were just saying it’s allergies.


In the photo, they look like they have lots of bumps(but not red), sometimes the bumps get red and sometimes not.
It looks like where the fur loss there are black patches, that means it’s healing from a skin infection. Hyperpigmentation(darkened skin) happens with allergies and also with fur loss.

What made the most difference for Rusty other than the topical treatments and medicated baths, is the diet. Once he was off the RC hypo food I switched him to low carb, low starch food(the gently cooked food I mentioned) and it improved his health and skin issues so much.
It can take up to 12 weeks to notice a difference with new food because it can take the full 12 weeks for the old food to get out of their system.

Most dogs with allergies have yeast issues too which is why low carb and low starch is highly recommended as it starves the yeast that is making them itchy (or at least get a much better kibble).

Good kibble options:
-Carna4(it comes in Venison, goat, duck, and other protein options) but it’s really better for them if you can’t do gently cooked or raw.
-natures logic kibble
-zignature
-acana

In the photo of your Frenchie, that looks so much like Rusty before we improved the allergies. It won’t fit in this reply so I will attach some photos of Rusty’s which was 100% allergies. Looks SO much like yours in the photo.

Start with Diet change, and continue the baths.

I’m happy to help, I have been thru all this with Rusty.
I really appreciate your help i have struggled

I'm going to wait results skin biopsy like I have been told but straight after if we get same results as yourself and Rusty I will definitely stay in touch and try everything you have for Rusty

Thank you so much
 

2bullymama

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Poor babies… I hope you get answers. But, my first thought would be food allergies … RC has a lot of fillers and grains that bulldogs have issues with.
 

Rusty’s Owner

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I really appreciate your help i have struggled

I'm going to wait results skin biopsy like I have been told but straight after if we get same results as yourself and Rusty I will definitely stay in touch and try everything you have for Rusty

Thank you so much

Your very welcome! I am happy to help! I know how frustrating all this is.

Yes definitely keep us updated on what the results are. It looks SO much like Rusty when you look at the photos!

While waiting for the results, try increasing the baths with the medicated shampoo so he doesn’t end up with skin infection(Rusty had at least 6 skin infections before he turned 1 year because of those bumps). And the year after that was the same(this was last year. Make sure it sits on him for 10 minutes before rinsing it off(this helps it soak in and soothe the skin more).
Since the treatments no more skin infections so far(been a year so far of using the topicals). I really hope your itchy Frenchie gets some itch relief soon.

Keep us updated with the results😊
 

Rusty’s Owner

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I really appreciate your help i have struggled

I'm going to wait results skin biopsy like I have been told but straight after if we get same results as yourself and Rusty I will definitely stay in touch and try everything you have for Rusty

Thank you so much


Any improvement for the allergies???

What did the results of the skin biopsy say???
 
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