# Puppy has developed bald spot



## Mlz2b (Dec 11, 2012)

Hi! I found a puppy a few months ago and he has been to the vet and has checked out healthy! He is now seven months old, very active, and happy. He is a very picky eater and I finally found a food he likes (blue wilderness salmon recipe).. My vet told me I needed to mix puppy food in with adult food so now he eats half and half... And that is all he eats. A few weeks ago he developed Two little baldish spots on his head and now one has pretty much gone away and the other has gotten a little bigger. I attached a picture. Any ideas what this could be? I thought it might be allergies, so I gave him one Benadryl a day for three days and there was no change. Wondering what this could be and if it serious or maybe a dog or cat scratch? Thanks for the help!!!








Sorry the picture i sideways... the spot is on the top of his head.


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

Have they scraped for demodex?


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## Mlz2b (Dec 11, 2012)

No I haven't taken him to the vet yet because I live far away from my home vet (in college) and am going home next week. The lat time I did take him however, he had a clean bill of health And I did not want to seem silly if it was just something like irritation from a cat scratch or a doggie play session (he goes to the dog park often).


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

A skin scrape is not part of a normal exam. So they wouldn't have spotted or tested for it.

Could be a scratch, but the fact that there is more than one and that they're growing would suggest otherwise. 

Demodectic mange is very common in young dogs, especially those with short coats.


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## mashlee08 (Feb 24, 2012)

What flea treatment is the dog on?


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## lreiden (Dec 6, 2012)

It is probably demodectic mange like someone mentioned. My dog had the same thing around that age. I took her to the vet and $400 later after baths and a dip and a medication, it cleared up. Don't get taken on a ride like I did...in normal cases this clears up on it's own! Needless to say I didn't go back to that vet again. Get at least two opinions before spending a ton of money fixing a problem that in all likelihood, will go away on it's own.


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

lreiden said:


> It is probably demodectic mange like someone mentioned. My dog had the same thing around that age. I took her to the vet and $400 later after baths and a dip and a medication, it cleared up. Don't get taken on a ride like I did...in normal cases this clears up on it's own! Needless to say I didn't go back to that vet again. Get at least two opinions before spending a ton of money fixing a problem that in all likelihood, will go away on it's own.


Erm, in some cases. But not all, and you can't just assume that it will.

Most (all?) dogs have the demodex mites on their skin. The mangey bald spots develop when a dog's immune system is weak. Some dogs are genetically predisposed to infestations. Others, are not.

Regardless, while it may go away on its own, this can takes months. There are various medications, dips, ointments, etc. that your vet can prescribe. Ask the vet.


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## lreiden (Dec 6, 2012)

I understand that which is why I said to get a second opinion. I didn't know that it was common and this idiotic vet gave me a ton of medications and vitamins and dips, etc....I went to another vet before giving her all of that stuff and that person said it would clear up on it's own and a week later it was gone. I wanted to point that out to someone who may not know so they don't end up spending hundreds of dollars on unnecessary treatments.


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

We had a little bout with it when Garp was a puppy. FWIW, after the vet's medicated shampoo was a bust, I ordered a small jar of Goodwinol ointment for like $11. I also worked on strengthening his immune system. It looked noticeably better within a couple weeks. After a couple months, and feeding raw, it was gone and hasn't come back.


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## Salina (Sep 2, 2012)

my puppy had mange...ivermectin did the job. 40$ for the bottle and the skin scrap was...can't remember, but i've not spent more than 100$ for that vet visit, including medication.


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## lreiden (Dec 6, 2012)

It was the only time I've been ripped off like that and I felt stupid for it. He prescribed vitamins, special diet food, prescriptions, plus the cost of the visit and being a new patient...it was outrageous. AND when they kept her to give her the first dip, she came home and wouldn't let me touch her because someone had held her so tight around her rip cage that she was hurting. She's little, there's no need to hold her that tight regardless of how much she may have been wiggling around, she was a puppy. Needless to say that office got a piece of my mind.


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