# Born with Bald Spots?



## spitzeroni (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello there, newbie here XD

Ok, so a friend of our's dog had a litter of puppies. She's a Shih Tzu mix, and the father is a Husky.
And apparently these puppies were born with bald spots. I think every single one of them had at least one, and they were all on random parts of the body. One had a bald foot, another a bald neck, and ours has a bald patch on her leg and a few small 'dots' on her paw. She was actually the one with the most hair though, and we decided to get her. 

Her home situation wasn't ideal. The girl didn't know how to take care of pups and was letting them run around in a small kennel and didn't clean up after them often.

Well when we finally went and picked her up today we noticed the bald spot on her leg was all rough and scabby instead of just pink skin. We were really concerned. We kinda came to the conclusion that it may be irritated from all the feces and urine they were being exposed to, because she was pretty dirty. We gave her a bath as soon as we got home and washed the spot down with warm water...Most of the darker scabbing came off but it's still pretty rough and raised up from the skin...almost like a callous. But it does look better...and it was never red or infalmed looking.

I've tried looking up answers on the internet but so far I've come up empty. These puppies were 'born' with bald spots, so I don't see how they could have been caused by puppy mange or mites? And they arent red or inflamed so not allergies... They haven't been wormed or vaccinated yet, and they are about 7 weeks old. I didn't really check to see if any of the other pups bald spots were as icky looking as hers, so I don't know...

I think we'll just continue cleaning it and see if it clears up and if not we'll head to the vet's, but I'd like to know if anyone has a guess as to what could be causing them or why her's was the way it was. 

Thank you!


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

You need to take the new pup to the vets anyway - in those conditions, it's particularly important that you have him looked at. Since he's had no vet care at all, he needs vaccines, and a worming anyway. 

Just bite the bullet, schedule the appointment and ask the vet.


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## spitzeroni (Dec 10, 2008)

Well yes, of course ^^' But we wont be able to take her until a week from now, so I just thought if I knew what it was before then there might be something we could do to help it till then. The owner of the pups was actually going to get them their shots and such but she was taking a very long time and we really wanted to get her out of that environmet fast.


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

I think I'd call the vet if I were you and see what they recommend. It sounds like they were in a really bad place. I can think of some things you might try putting on the sores, but this is a little puppy, and they are more sensitive than older dogs, so it'd definitely be better to ask a vet. 

7 weeks is a little early for a pup to be leaving it's mom, 8 weeks is considered the minimum. Just the same -- given the circumstances you describe, I'd probably be wanting to get the pup out of that place too. 

Did you get the pup free? How on earth did a Husky dad and a Shitzu mom end up mating! Goodness! I'm surprised because of the size difference. I would have been very scared for the little mom. What if the pups had been too large to be born. Eeek!

(It may be 'of course' to you, but some people try to use this forum as a substitute for getting their pups into a vet. I'm glad you aren't one of those people.)


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

That is one lucky bitch. She could have easily died while whelping or even while pregnant.

I can't help you very much, sorry. I wouldn't try putting any medication on it at all until you see the vet. You might want to try dabbing on a little bit of coconut oil -- it tends to help with scabs or dry skin. Other than that, I would wait to see what the vet says. 

Bearjing is also right -- the puppies should actually be with their litter and mother until they are at least 8 weeks old. Some recommend 10 or even 12 weeks.

I really, really hope you got this pup for free.


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## Pai (Apr 23, 2008)

Hormone problems can cause hair loss as well... though with an entire litter, that's odd. Either something genetic is wierd here, or the poor conditions made them lose hair...


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## spitzeroni (Dec 10, 2008)

It was an ‘accidental’ breeding…though I’m not sure there’s any such thing XD She owns both the mom and dad, I guess they just thought they weren’t compatible to breed, but I own a Dalmatian X Japanese Chin mix and know that anything is possible! 

These people shouldn’t have had dogs though…they keep the parents in crates all day, and only rarely let them go outside to go to the bathroom. The place is dirty and smells like feces, and the puppies weren’t ever let outside. We agreed to take her as a mercy thing because they were considering keeping her. It was just a bad environment and me and my mom kinda decided that it was best to do it early…they weren’t getting any structure and she would have been more difficult to train if she was left t keep doing that. I suppose we could have been wrong here, this is actually my first time having any say in picking out a pup, so I’m sorry if we did her a disservice…

But back to the skin thing. I was looking up more about Puppy Mange and I’m wondering if that COULD be it after all…maybe she was mistaken about them being born with it? It said it can occur within a week after birth. A few remedies were listed for it…such as peroxide gel, which I assume they wouldn’t have listed unless it was safe for puppies? 
Mrph, I guess we’ll just call and see if we can get some free advice before shots time. If not we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes. She seems perfectly healthy otherwise, so I hope it isn’t anything serious…

Thanks anyways for the suggestions guys ^^


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

Getting her out of that situation is probably not a diservice. this is one of those cases where there are pros and cons both way. Usually it's just an inpatient owner unable to wait an extra couple of weeks. 

Good luck with her. I wish I could help with the real issue, but I've just never run into it. It sounds like she's acting normal and happy, and that is a good sign. Usually when a little pup is sick, you really know it just because there little systems don't have a lot of reserve.


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