Can anyone give me some free vets advice?! My 9 wk old BC pup has lost patches of hair on her nose. She has 2 bald patches which seem to be getting worse, and they are the shape of her nasal passages, (running down her nose). She has no inflammation, is not scratching, we have checked for fleas, mites, ticks etc, she has been frontlined and wormed. We are baffled. I am reluctant to visit vet at this stage as it is only a week old and not giving her any pain or anything, but we are wondering if anyone else has experienced this and has anyone got any advice?

I do not think there are any vet's on here.  Some mites burrow under the skin and are not visible to to the naked eye.  It is probably best to get your vet's advice - you will be taking her for her innoculation within a few days anyway I imagine although he may not give it to her if she has any health problems.

hmm,not normal for a collie.
shes not catching her nose on the pringle pots (mentioned in a another post)???

No we seal those so she can't actually shove her nose inside. She is going for her 2nd vac on Friday so I will see what the vet has to say anyway, I just didn't want to make an extra trip unnecessarily. Ho hum. We shall see!

hmm,dunno then? she was from a farm wasnt she? maybe mites?

take a few piccys so you can see if it gets worse each day?
all of mine have different amounts of fur on their noses,flynn hasent much on the top of his)

Hmm I'm thinking that there may well be some little nasties somewhere as she had a bald patch on the tip of her tail when we got her. (She wasn't the cleanest of pups when she came home and has had a few baths to get rid of the farm pong!) I shall see how we get along at the vets on Friday. Thanks for your advice though :)

my friend lucy got a collie from a farm sale once,he was riddled with mites,had to get a special shampoo!!!!

I think thats the way we will go too. See if it does any good. I suppose thats one of the down sides of having a working collie pup. Great for rounding up sheep/cats/children/shadows but wormy and crawling with bugs!!

Could be demodex - which may clear up as she grows.

Is There a shampoo I can buy over the counter to help or does it needs vets treatment? Is it a bit like excema?

You can buy a shampoo called Seleen ( get it on line from the Canine Chemst ) - it is excellent for dealing with skin/hair loss problems - I have also used Aloe Vera Propopolis or Gel to stop any irritation and soothe the skin. My two pups had rings of hair missing from around their eyes and down their nose in the same kind of pattern - all tests for mites came back negative - but it cleared up using a combination of these two products.

I also changed their food over to a more natural diet as I felt it may have been an allergic reaction to something

Good luck !

Thanks Trevor thats really useful. I shall try and track down some of those things. I have just put her onto James wellbeloved foods as I was wondering if it could be food related. All the other large breed dogs I have owned have always had tummy troubles cos of food so I guess this could be down the same line. Thanks for your help!! :)