# Hair Loss around Ears?



## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

Hey guys... I am new to the forum just to let you know... 

My baby Lily is a tri color and is almost 9 months old... 

A month or so ago she lost hair on the tips of her ears and these scaly patches grew on the tips of her ears... We thought she had ringworm, but she did not. The vet instead gave us some medicated shampoo and some ointment... Andl it sort of worked. 

After treatment, the scaly patches were gone, but the hair did not grow back. A week or so ago the scales came back and one is all red, while the other is like a whitish... She also has this red bump above one of her eyes. 

Last week I did find one flea on her... And have checked her every day since, and did not find anymore... 

Well yesterday I noticed she had these blotchy red spots in her ears... And today I was holding her and I was looking in her ear and I noticed she is losing hair at the base of her ear. She doesn't scratch or dig at her ears and they dont' smell weird or anything... She's been eating fine and also drinking a normal amount...

So basically I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Obviously I am going to take her back to the vet, but wanted to get feedback incase it is something bad... I can prepare myself and not flip out in the vets office. 

I mean we're not dirty people or anything she doesn't hang out with other dogs and she is only outside when we go out on our daily walks or to Petsmart or Target. And when I do take her places, I always carry her... So I am not real sure what is going on with her... 

Any info would be fabulous. Thx!


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## Ms_P (Apr 25, 2004)

Sorry you're having such a time!

I would suggest making sure your vet does a scraping and checks for mites. Did the vet do one the last time you took her in?
Mites don't come from being dirty, Demodex is an imune system problem that is inherited from their mother and Sarcoptic Mage is caught from other animals that are infected.


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## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

Yeah he scraped her ears when I thought she had ringworm... 

After looking into Demodex, I am almost certain that is what her deal is. I looked at some pictures of dogs with it, and then comparing them to her... they look identical. This place around her eye where I thought she just didnt' have a lot of hair, I guess it is also part of the mange... I feel bad I didn't recognize this sooner. 


Thanks so much for your response Ms. P!!!!


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## Ms_P (Apr 25, 2004)

Your quite welcome and good luck! I hope your baby recovers quickly!


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## reedgrl1 (Oct 3, 2005)

Hi~
Shortly after we adopted Max I noticed he had the same thing you're describing. Our vet has done very test possible and we now have him on an antibiotic ointment for his ears ... nothing else. Some days it's better than others. Occasionally I clean them with an antibacterial wash before I put the ointment on. 
It's still a mystery to us ... let me know if you find any new info! :wave:


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## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

Yeah, some days Lily's ears look better than others... but she never acts like she is bothered by them... Who knows. I will take her to the vet soon just to be on the safe side. 

I am thinking it might be something she picked up before we got her. I got her in the parking lot of a Target out of a laundry basket. The breeder was selling them on a Saturday afternoon... I stopped to look, and refused to leave without her... 

Anyway, I am glad to know that I am not the only one this has happened to... and I will definitely keep you posted!


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## reedgrl1 (Oct 3, 2005)

Interesting you should post today ...
I was in pet food express earlier and a clerk who says she has chihuahua's asked why Max is missing hair on his ears. I told her we'd been to the vet and no explaination could be given ... then, when talking about the food issue (Max will eat anything but his own food ... well, eats it too but prefers cat food and nutro big dog stuff) she wondered if he's allergic to cat food or something in one of the other foods? The vet did say it could just be an allergy, so I don't know .... I'm going to try to aggressively keep him from the cat food and when we're done w/the RC, give him only our labs food ... the nutro which he seems to like. The neosporin works somewhat but it's still an issue.
Keep us posted, I'll do the same :wave:


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## Little G (Oct 16, 2005)

My family cat..I know its a dog forum and shes a dif species..well anyway she had SERIOUS allergies and had the EXACT same reaction you are describing.
Dogs of some kind have wheat allergies, some have egg allergies and some ppl are not quite sure, one thing that my cat couldn't handle was plastic.....any food that had a plastic lining that held it she was seriously allergic to. We had to switch to a canned food with no plastic lining at all...then the allergies cleared up for the most part.
What food are you feeding her?
what kind of packaging does it come in? 
What are her food bowls made out of?
All of these questions are necessary to help determine if this could be the cause.
I hope to hear a reply soon so we can get to the bottom of this....poor little bebe, hopefully its nothing like an allergy though and just mites or something completely treatable. but if it is allergies, they are totally manageable and nothing you can't handle.


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## reedgrl1 (Oct 3, 2005)

In Max's case it's not mites or anything else the vet tested or scraped skin for. I'm inclined to believe allergies are to blame for this reason.


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## rlchu (Dec 28, 2004)

My Pippy has been suffering the same thing. Turns out that bugs/flies/mosquitoes/gnats or something bites her ears when she goes out to potty or to lay in the sun in our yard. It was a mystery to us too, but we have talked to several other dog owners (non-chihuahua) whose dog's ears have been chewed up by bugs. Of course, you don't see them. They just bite and jump back off. We bought FLYS OFF ointment from Petco, and well, it stinks like heck, but we are putting it on her ears. I think it's helping....just a suggestion...


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## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

We had been feeding her Mighty Dog the mushy stuff from the time we got her (at like 8wks) until about two months ago. We tried to give her moist and meaty... And we alway put out a bowl of cereal, like Purina One-Puppy for her to eat if she gets hungry during the day. She only grazes at the cereal, doesn't care for it really. I am wondering if an ingredient in Moist & Meaty is making her have an allergy? It comes in a plastic package and her food bowls are made out of stainless steel I believe. We've had them the whole time she's been with us... 

.Usually she wolfs the food down right as it is set out, but sometimes she won't have eaten at all by the time I go to work... She'll get gurgle belly and I can her her stomach making silly noises and sometimes she'll gag and I will hold her over the toilet and she'll vomit foam. 

Her vet appt. is on Tuesday. She is getting spayed and also having her hairloss problem looked at. I will let you guys know what he says!


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## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

oooook... Well Lily was fixed and checked out on Tuesday... 

The vet seems to think that the hair loss is in our imagination... and it could be, but he said to keep a close eye on it... and its not like big patches of fur are falling out, so we will let that be... 

As for the scabby ear tips, he said it looked like fly bites to him. Which is weird because I have seen no flies in my house... but that's not to say there couldn't be some that avoid my eyesight... But , he said it did not look like a fungus or anything like that... and since she had already been tested for that stuff, he didn't re-test... 

So that is that I suppose... she is recovering nicely from the fixing... Although her stitches are in the weirdest pattern ever... I've had lots of stitches, but hers look like the vet was sewing a shirt instead of some skin... haha...


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## Roxys Mom (Apr 13, 2005)

I too had a similar problem with Roxy. Her problem sounds alot like Lily's. The tips of her ears were flaky and her hair (on her ears) was starting to fall out. We spent several months diagnosing and treating her for everything from mites to allergies only to find out that the problem was caused by her rabies vaccine. Was she vaccinated recently?


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## berenicevlz (Nov 19, 2005)

Just thought I would add this: 
To keep Kaui away from our cat's food we just put a paper plate on top of Kitty's food...The cat will move the plate when she wants to eat but Kaui doesn't know how to move it! :lol:


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## reedgrl1 (Oct 3, 2005)

We started keeping the cat food out of Max's reach at our house and low and behold his ears cleared up. Of course that was after many trips to the vet, creams, scrapings, tests ... you name it. Sheesh! It was just the cat food (we think)! Who knew an allergy could cause such trouble :roll: ... Max's ears were as you described, but worse!
So, I agree ... try putting the cat food away :wave:


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## Kiwiwassabi (Nov 13, 2005)

Her ear tips are looking a lot better since I first posted... I have also stopped feeding her the Vanilla Yogurt Blast Cheerios incase it was a reaction to the grains or whatever in that cereal. She now only eats doggie cereal. So I don't know if that is a connection or not. They don't look all that scaly anymore, just sort of bare. It really looked like exema (or however you spell it)... Hopefully this won't come back and she can grow hair again.


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