Hello just a quick question,my 4 month staff has lost a bit of fur on her head and near her left ear is this normal?Her fur on her head has always been a bit see-through but as it has not yet got thicker i was a bit concerned.She has been treated for everything and i check her regulary i just wondered if anyone had any ideas before i decide to take her to the vets.She is black dont know if thats of any relivence.xxx

Hi, my pup is black too and he's a 'bull' breed. The fur behind his ears is see through and at times looks almost bald. At first we thought he was scratching so got ear drops from the vet. That was weeks ago and he still looks bald- its not like theres no hair at all, its just very fine and shows lots of skin!! It is like this on his forehead too and shows more depending what angle you look at him. He has a white chest which shows a lot of pink skin. He is also quite bald on his lower belly and back legs!!

All in all, I think he's totally healthy and its just the way his fur grows :)

Thats the same with Raven sometimes it looks bald but when she pricks her ears up her wrinkles make it look normal.I just didnt wanna take her to  the vets for them to tell me shes fine,i'm probably just being a worrying mum thanks for replying though.xxxxx

it would be worth using the search facility on this site as I recall over the years others have mentioned this problem  and although I can't remember the actual reason, it may be teething related.

Just wanted to say we have the same first name (Colleen) how strange is that,well i think it is seeing as its not a very common name.xxxxxxx

Wow!!! That is strange :)

I've only actually met one other Colleen but have known of three others....it is an unusual name (unless in Ireland or Australia I suppose )

Hi Colleen :) :)

LOL just looked at your profile...we both have black pups...I have 3 girls too...getting stranger...:) xx

Demodectic mange could be the issue as well. It causes hair loss, local demodex is on certain areas of the dog. Generalised Demodex is all over the dogs body. Local can turn into generalised and if left untreated can be fatal in serious cases.. Keep an eye on it, if the hair doesnt grow back, or if more hair loss occurs time for the Vet. They will do skin scrapings to see if the mite is causing the problem. If so its a long process of horrible baths, there are homeopathic remidies too.....let us know how you get on...

Hi
Louis had skin scrape 1 wk after we had him as we thought he had ringworm- small areas of fur in roughly circular patches were missing. Vet thought it was litter marks from playing with siblings etc. She checked him for mange- nothing-results of scrape- inconclusive as someone had exposed the sample to light :(  Luckily we had asked for shampoo to use while waiting for the results so he has been bathed twice weekly ( which he absolutely adores!! avatar is him in bath :) )since then with another 2 wks to go.

After the initial spread of the patches lasting about 1 week, they have never spread. Vet also said they didn't glow' under that light thingy, so haven't really got a clue what it was/is :)

His ears from the back remind me of a black cat if you know what i mean....

it could be a allergy to wheat or gluten, keep your eye on it tess had bald patches which led to her needing sedation and skin scrapes which was diagnosed as demodex, apparently this is very commom in staffs, she was treated with drops into the back of her neck and soon cleared up, the vets said sometimes its due to a low immune then the mite will come to the surface and attack the hair folicle, she has been spayed we never wanted to breed her anyway but if we did want to it would more than likley be transmitted to her pups, the mite is more likely to have been passed on to her by her mom or dad if only they knew that befor deciding to breed,, but then we wouldnt have our tess then would we and how boring our life would be !!!!!!!!!!