Please can anyone help me? I am becoming increasing concerned about my nearly 10 year old Jack Russell. He is a very small black and white dog and he is losing considerable ammounts of hair of his back and a patch above his tail. Also, on the bottom of all 4 feet, he has been licking them alot and they are very red and I think they irritate him alot. I stop him when I see him doing it, but I am not always at home so I cannot stop him when he does do it when i'm out of the house. Has anyone got an explanation for this hair loss and licking of the bottom of his paws??? How can I stop it? Please post a reply or e-mail me at: willie@aspers.fsnet.co.uk

Hello Willstar
Our male Bordeaux had the same problem with his feet. Also the inside of his ear flap was red indicating a skin problem.
The vet prescribed anti-biotic and steroid tablets - 7 day course and gave us some steroid cream called Surolan to use on his feet and ears. It soon cleared up but a couple of days ago we noticed him licking his one back foot again and when we checked it was red so we put some surolan on and it has settled down again. Surolan cannot be used long term as it is a steroid cream but it can be used in times of flare ups.
It is possibly this same skin condition causing the hair loss on his back.
I think you should go to your vet to get the condition checked out but ask him about Surolan and see whether appropriate in your case as it really worked well for our male.
Let us know how you get on.

Hi - its harvest mite season so you might want to check your dogs skin for them - check the feet and around the ears. The fact that his feet are irritated sounds right and some dogs have especially bad reactions to them and they will be spread from the feet to other parts of the body by scratching. The mites are only just visable to the naked eye and are orange coloured - Frontline spray should get rid of them, otherwise your vet will be able to treat for them.

Otherwise, our family dog was allergic to certain food types which also caused her to itch and bite her feet - have your changed your dogs food lately or fed anything new?

Sounds like your Jack Russell may be having an allergic reaction to something. Could be to fleas, mites, pollens or a change you made to household cleaning products or something new in the house that irritates your dog. Changes in weather change the way plants bloom, so a very mild reaction in most years could be worse this year. If you have noticed he was slightly itchy during this time of year before, it could be the case that whatever does not agree with him is doing exceptionally well this Summer.

Best to take him to the vet for a check up. Steriods are often used to calm the irritation and antihistamines prescribed for the allergy itself.

Stacey