Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Hair loss in your pet is never normal and can take detective work to determine the cause.

With dogs, shedding happens. It’s a fact. Environmental factors like temperature, nutrition, and stress can also affect canine coat loss.

But while some loose hair occurs routinely during a dog’s hair growth cycles, thinning hair with mild to severe scratching and bald patches—also known as alopecia—is not. If you’re concerned your dog’s shedding is a bit excessive or abnormal set up a vet visit.

Alopecia, otherwise known as abnormal hair loss or baldness, is the inability to regrow hair regularly or when hair falls out partially or entirely over the dog’s body. It occurs when the body attacks its own hair follicles, resulting in hair falling out. There’s typically a pattern to the baldness and it will either spread out or appear symmetrical.  

Some alopecia flareups are temporary and improve with treatment, while others are permanent. Although bald patches on the skin aren’t pretty to look at, alopecia isn’t life-threatening, and dogs can live everyday life with or without all of their hair. However, you will want to do something to make sure the itching isn’t uncomfortable for your pet.

In addition to thin areas of the coat and excessive licking, scratching, and shedding, other signs of alopecia include:

• •          hair loss along the dog’s side and thighs
• •          darkened skin or change in skin color
• •          dry, crusty skin
• •          red, inflamed skin that may appear thickened or bleeding
• •          dandruff or flaky skin
• •          red spots on the skin with or without hives or pustules (pimples).

When a dog scratches constantly without stopping, it causes stress and anxiety in the dog.  To make matters worse, tearing at the skin to try to ease the discomfort causes trauma and creates wounds on your dog’s skin. To provide some relief and/or alleviate the condition, we need to determine the underlying cause.

There are many reasons why a dog develops this irritating skin condition, including heredity or hormonal issues. Most are treatable or manageable. Usually, these cause the dog’s coat to thin out but don’t produce excessive itching and scratching.

A dog can acquire alopecia from a parasitic infestation of fleas, lice, mosquitoes or other insect bites, or mange mites such as Demodex or Sarcoptes.   Plus, an inadequate diet, food allergies, or an outdoor, dirty, hot, or moist environment can be responsible for a fungal or bacterial infection.  You will notice that a dog will lick and scratch incessantly to relieve the irritation.

Endocrine diseases such as hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone), Cushing’s disease (high cortisol) can cause alopecia. Additionally, an established yeast infection on the skin weakens the immune system and causes digestive issues, inflammation, and itching.  The resulting scratching leads to hair loss.

Reactions from some injections, cancer, chemical exposure, burns, and normal aging can produce alopecia. While there are multiple reasons why a dog may get alopecia, you can work with your veterinarian to determine the specific cause.

DIAGNOSING ALOPECIA

In some cases, hair loss can signal an underlying condition.   When possible, blood tests or biopsies can confirm or eliminate medical causes.

Diagnostic laboratory tests with smears and a skin culture can reveal any bacterial, fungal, or yeast infections, a skin scraping helps identify parasites.

Some types of alopecia are preventable, while others are not. If genetics or an auto-immune disorder is the reason for the hair loss, there’s no way to prevent it.

Ridding a dog of parasites is easier, as many preventive medicines are available. You should also evaluate your dog’s current diet.

CATS

An accurate history helps guide the search.  One possibility is stress, such as a new pet added to the family, or any change in the cat’s surroundings.   This is called psychogenic alopecia.  This condition is less common than the other causes which includes infection, parasites, pollen and food

Tests can include veterinary exam of the skin, fungal cultures and skin scrapes taken to check for parasites.    When possible, a blood chemistry panel, complete blood count and thyroid levels will be done to help eliminate underlying problems.

Parasites rise to the top of any list of causes for alopecia. Fleas, chiggers, mites, and lice can cause your cat to lick or scratch, which commonly removes hair. Hair loss from parasites may leave bald patches with reasonably healthy skin beneath or may cause inflammation, infection, or ulcerated areas. In these cases, the hair loss may be due to fungal, yeast, or bacterial infections.

There are excellent medications to treat external parasites, ranging from oral to topical products.

Allergies are more difficult to control. Just as with dogs, cats can be allergic to foods, dust mites, and inhaled allergens such as pollens. Seasonal hair loss (not normal shedding, but more severe) is a strong indicator of allergies. A cat with flea allergy usually will respond to a strict parasite control program. And we mean strict: One flea bite can send these cats into serious itching and chewing fits.

Cats with food sensitivities and allergies often show ear inflammation as well, leading to hair loss around the head and neck.

Diagnosing food allergies is an involved process requiring a dedicated owner. Your cat will need to eat either a novel protein diet, which contains a protein source that he has never eaten before such as kangaroo or duck, or a hydrolyzed protein prescription diet. In a hydrolyzed diet, the proteins are broken into small components that are not recognized by the immune system. Importantly, during such a food trial, the cat must eat only these special diets, which means no treats, other cat food, or human food.

Atopy, a reaction to inhaled allergens, can be an equally challenging diagnosis. The gold standard remains skin testing with multiple likely allergens, including various pollens. Immune serology—measuring levels of antibodies to specific allergens in the blood—may be substituted for skin testing in some cases.

Once offending allergens are identified, you will be advised to either manage your cat so she does not come into contact with the allergen, use a desensitization treatment, or, especially if the problem is seasonal, control the symptoms for that period with corticosteroids and/or other medications.

Treatment of feline hair loss is directly related to the cause. Many cats will need short-term anti-inflammatory steroid therapy for comfort while the underlying causes are dealt with. Parasites need to be treated, including those found in the environment and on other pets. Allergens need to be eliminated, if possible, or managed while symptoms (primarily itching) are controlled with anti-inflammatory medications. Any secondary problems such as bacterial skin infections will need appropriate medications such as antibiotics.

(Sources Cornell University CatWatch and AKC)