I have a Bordeux bitch and she has been loosing hair on both sides, just the ribby part, have had her to vets, they gave me shampoos, never done any good, next I was told to try codliver oil caps, no good either. there is no irritation or redness, just bare skin, which is getting worse. She is 4 years old. Any help or advice PLEASE

Loss of hair can be triggered by thyroid problems.....

I would put my money on low thyoid as well

Jo and the CAsblaidd Flatcoats

As digger has mentioned already, I would ask for a full thyroid blood panel run including the Free T4 and Free T3 and antibodies.  I have had a real problem getting my vet to listen this past 10 months, when I suspected one of my girls was showing all the classic signs of Hypo T.  I have also got several friends in your breed that have had the same symptoms as you mentioned and they two have had positive blood tests for Hypo T, once on the medication and having the blood re-tested during this time, they have made a full recovery and their hair loss has now stopped along with the sore and badly cracked pads that caused one of the dogs so much pain he couldn't walk, he to has made a full recovery once he was prescribed the Soloxine tabs.
Hope this helps

thanks to all, I will give the vet a call tomorrow and get another appointment

As the others have said get her thyroid checked first.If thats ok then try Quistel spray and shampoo....have a look at their websire.It worked wonders on my dogs.
Archer

Thanks again, I have just ordered the spray, do hope it helps, if not I will have to get a reddish car spray to hide the patches ( kidding) does anyone think having her spayed might help, we are not putting her in for pups anyway.

Spaying may often cause similsr coat problems in short coted breeds as your having already, so I would wait with that until you see if thyroid is the problem and if medication resolves it.

It's only been a few days, with the Quistel spray and wash But I think that there might be a slight improvement, might be wishfull thinking

Keep us updated!!

how much do these bloode tests cost i,m not insured?

Do some research on the net too because some vets are not very good at diagnosing thyroid, and have been known to say the dog is fine esp. if the results come up as borderline. If necessary the results can be sent direct to Dr Jean Dodds in the US who is an expert in reading results.
My friend's Dobe was suspected hypothyroid and it took 2 years and a new vet to finally test her properly and it turned out she WAS hypothyroid.

Lindsay
x

Totally agree with this - a friend of mine took years to persaude her vet that her Irish Setter was hypothyroid too.....

I had the very same here, my vet was 100% positive my girl didn't have Hypo T, did 3 tests and all showed signs of needing treatment, but my vet still disagreed. I finally sent blood serum out to Dr Jean Dodds and as I thought my girl was definatley Hypo T. My vet finally agreed to admin the Soloxine after all these positive tests.  So please do your research on this condition, and don't be afraid to seek a 2nd opinion if necessary.
The approximate cost to send the serum to Jean for the whole thyroid panel along with the full bio chemistry and shipping etc, cost around £100.. The limited thyroid test in the UK labs cost around £50 each time.
Hope this helps