# Chihuahua demodex



## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

I am the proud mom of a 2 yr old chi. He is a whopping 3lbs. When I reduced him at 12 weeks he had demodex and had been treated with interceptor. He had severe hair loss n it eventually all fell out. He slowly grew a little more hair. But he is still mainly bald. Idk what to do. The vet doesn't seem concerned about his lack of hair. He also has allergies apparently. Poor thing. He also gets fish oil once a day which is what the vet recommended. I haven't seen improvement. 

Anyone have any ideas?


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

What color is he? What are you feeding? Have you tried any supplements other than fish oil? Some people have had good luck re-growing coats using Missing Link Professional Strength or Nupro.


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## Sunnie (Dec 19, 2011)

Cali had Demodex after her 2nd series of shots; lost all hair on her dome (top of head), and 'thigh' area of all 4 legs. They gave us a Borax-based cream, but ultimately we treated it with opened Vit. E capsules applied generously on all bald areas twice a day for about 2-3 weeks. She's on Nature Instinct gluten-free and grain free, and I swear, even at 8 mo., her fur is softer and hasn't yet gotten coarse. It did take a while for the head to fill in, but it's almost there (a good 4 or so mo. later.) Best of luck! I was afraid she'd backslide when she was spayed 4 weeks ago, but her fur stayed fine.


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

jseda614 said:


> I am the proud mom of a 2 yr old chi. He is a whopping 3lbs. When I reduced him at 12 weeks he had demodex and had been treated with interceptor. He had severe hair loss n it eventually all fell out. He slowly grew a little more hair. But he is still mainly bald. Idk what to do. The vet doesn't seem concerned about his lack of hair. He also has allergies apparently. Poor thing. He also gets fish oil once a day which is what the vet recommended. I haven't seen improvement.
> 
> Anyone have any ideas?


He is supposed to be a light fawn color with white but the stripe of hair down his back looks more gray. I feed him fresh pet deli selects which is an organic refrigerated food. He was an extremely picky eater before that and this is the first food I didn't have to fight him to eat. I have not tried any other supplements but I am open to Ny suggestions so I thank you. He has a full wardrobe to keep him warm due to the lack of hair and the tile floor and ac combo. 

As soon as my laptop is back up I will post pics. Thanks for your help!


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

Vitamin e sounds like a possibility as well. I feed organic but it's not grain free. Idk if I should change foods since this food is the first one he will eat willingly with no fuss


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Fresh pet makes a couple of different quality foods. The VITAL variety is really good, the others not so much. If you can get Vital, it's quite a step up from their other products.

Chicken, Beef, Salmon & Egg Dog Food Recipe | Freshpet


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

*Fresh pet vital*

I have tried feeding him vital the beef formula and he wouldn't touch it. I could try the other flavors. And I am planning on picking up some missing link. I looked it up and seems like a good idea. The website says something about giving vitamin e with it in the food. Any idea as to why?


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

Actually it was the lamb one I tried to feed him and he wasn't having any of it..... Lol

Picky picky picky eater


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## LostLakeLua (Sep 6, 2009)

Some of my pups have versions to lamb too. So if you can get the beef Vital that sounds like the best bet. So many allergies and conditions can come from being fed commercial diets, so sad.

Its possible that some hairloss could be color dilution alopecia (baldness) but I don't know if it effects all blues; including blue fawns. I don't know for sure that's what your dog is; but if the sabling on the back is noticeably grey rather than black, he likely does have that dilute color gene. Anyone on here who have blue fawns have baldness?? (Your dogs I mean, not YOU, haha..)

I don't know anything about missing link but if they recommend it be taken with another vitamin, it's probably for absorption purposes.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Billy is a blue fawn. He has no hair from his chin to his tail underneath and just fuzz on his head. It's normal for him. And Smoke is a blue and tan, he has fur underneath, but all his fur is like velvet, very soft and short. Both of them, but especially Billy, wear coats as soon as the weather turns cold. Billy will stand by my feet and shiver as soon as we get up until I put his coat on, then he goes and burrows into blankets.


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## Sunnie (Dec 19, 2011)

Yes, but the blue recessive gene causing lack of fur/baldness is not the same as diagnosed Demodex.


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

I'm not sure if he has the color baldness gene going on. I know that he had demodex n when I got him his hair was rough and patchy. And it fell ut and new bar started to grow but it just seems like he should have hair now it has been quite a while. He has no hair underneath and barely fuzz on his sides. He has hair on his face a little on the top of his head and a hair stripe from his neck to tail and tail has hair. Still laptop issues but I will pst pics from when he was a baby and now. Thanks for all your help.


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

*Pics of Sancho past and present*

Ok now that my wifi is fixed.... i am attempting to post pics
here are pictures of Sancho when he was 8 weeks and with full hair, at 12-13 weeks which is when i adopted him and present day with his semi bald state. i have been looking at pictures of chihuahuas with CDA and it is making me suspicious.....


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

I see now what you mean. I do not have any idea when or if it will grow back. You may have to wait until his winter coat grows in? BTW, he's a cutie.


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Not an expert by any means, but I would guess CDA. His skin looks healthy, just bare. The demodex might have damaged the hair follicles? Could be a combination of that with the CDA. I would be very suspicious of CDA because of his color and he was quite sparsely coated even as a baby. 

I'd give Missing Link Professional Strength a try. It has worked for some with CDA.


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

I dont' think it has anything to do with a seasonal shedding because this didnt happen last year and also we only have two seasons down here....rainy (and hot) and dry (and hot).

This hair loss is not demodex. he had it as a puppy and was treated and doesnt have symptoms no patches just all over hair loss. I know what demodex skin looks like and im not seeing it in him. which is why i am worried about CDA.

I bought missing link but have not given him any yet. and talked to his dr and he said to bring him by...originally was thinking allergies but when i said he had hair loss/thinning he wanted to see him sooooooo.... we will see:foxes15:


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## bayoumah (Nov 30, 2010)

hi thank you for the pics im learning as this dicussion is going on i think your billy is precious i have no answers on the hair loss


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

*Quick Updatea bout my little rapidly balding baby*

Sancho and i had a trip to the vets office on Saturday and The dr was shocked at his hair loss. He did a skin scrape just in case even though we both thought it wasnt demodex and he drew blood to check his thyroid. Skin scrape was negative no surprise..... Still waiting to hear back about thyroid.

He had me start giving Sancho 3mg of melatonin BID in case it is something called Flank alopecia. If it is then hair loss will improve on melatonin. 

I have to recheck in two weeks and if hair loss isnt better then my little one has to have a skin biopsy (punch biopsy) to confirm color dilution alopecia.

We will se what happens......


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi guys!! Soo Snacho's T4 came back as 0.8 which is the lower end of normal. The doc said to ust give him thyroid meds and see if it gets better but he doesnt think that is what is causing hair loss. I decided not to give pills and do more thyroid testing instead. Drew blood for a free t4 and a TSH today and if it comes back normal then we will go to next step. I dont think its a thyroid thing.

In the meantime... my Sanchichi is getting a grain free organic diet which he loves, missing link skin and coat supplement as well as melatonin BID. I havent seen any difference and his skin is really dry any suggestes for that like dog lotion or dog leave in conditioner? Thanks!1


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

How frustrating for you. I hate when they can't quite figure out what's going on. Sorry, I have never heard of a lotion for dogs. How often do you give him baths?


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

Sancho gets a bath maybe every month to month and a half since he has slim to no hair i dont want to dry his skin further withy frequent bathing.
I do wipe him down on occasion with John Paul Pet Wipes or Pet Head pet wipes.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

I'd add fish oil to his diet. That will help with dry skin. Also gave mine soft, shiny coats.

I'll be curious on the thyroid results. A struggling thyroid can cause a lot of issues. 

Great that you are so diligent in working to uncover his health issues. That is the only way to get real resolution.


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

I tried fish oil and it didnt help. probably because he barely has hair....


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## jseda614 (Sep 6, 2011)

HI GUYS!!

sorry for long delay. just want to give an update on Sancho. His free T4 and TSH were normal so no thyroid meds!! I decided not to do the skin biopsy since it is probably a genetic condition and no treatment for it. I would rather not have chunks taken out of my little chi chi. Sooooo i found this spray online called dermatcon and i ordered it. Been spraying him all over with it once a day as well has giving him missing link skin and coat once a day and his hair is growing in!! so exciting!!!! Didnt start growing until i started with the dermacton spray! i plan to keep using it hopefully in few months he will have all his hair


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