Hair loss?

[Kathy & Finnegan]

My 9 month old Australian Labradoodle has developed two patches of hair loss on his back. The hair has not come out from the root but seems to be broken off; in other words, there is no skin showing, just some very short hair.

The first vet took scrapings and ruled out mites, scabies, and ringworm.

The second vet (the one I prefer to see) suggested "stress' in the form of possible rubbing against something. Not psychological stress, but physical abrasion the the hair. He does go under plants and shrubs to retrieve toys in the yard. I have not seen any evidence of his rubbing or even hair loss in the house. I don't know when or where the loss occurs.

They are not hot spots, as he cannot reach either of them with his paws or mouth.

I contacted the breeder, but she had not experienced this with any of the dogs she has kept. Nor has she heard of this from other owners.

Finnegan does not seem to be bothered by these spots. I don't think he even knows they are there.

Has anyone else seen this?

Suggestions?

Since the hair seems to keep growing and filling in the spots, I am hesitant to begin a lot of allergy testing. I have not changed any of his food, so any allergy would probably be environmental.

Help, please.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Believe me, if it were allergies, you'd see a lot more than a couple of places where the hair has been rubbed off. You'd be seeing vigorous, frequent scratching, licking, biting, frantic rubbing, and there would be skin exposed and raw looking, if not flat-out skin infections. Plus, the back is not a common part of the body for itching from a histamine response. It's usually the feet, the face, the base of the tail, the groin, and/or the axilla. And Finn would be greatly bothered by them, to the point of being obsessed.

Food allergies are very rare, and they occur not from anything new, but rather from something the dog has been eating for a period of time, long enough to have developed an allergic response. Contrary to popular hokum belief, they generally do not show up immediately after a food change. But at any rate, the symptoms are pretty much the same as the symptoms of inhalant allergies (also called Atopy, environmental, and seasonal allergies)

So while I can't tell you what it is, I feel pretty certain that what it isn't is allergies, which I hope is a great relief to you. :)

You might try giving him a 500 mg evening primrose oil capsule once a day. May not help but can't hurt, unless he has seizure disorders.

Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. If it isn't bothering him and doesn't affect his quality of life or health in any way, I'd just wait and see if it goes away on it's own.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

In addition to what Karen said, I think you can rule out Thyroid dysfunction as the hair loss is different from a couple of spots,

[Jennifer and Jack]

This happen to Jack.. boy did it lead to a ton of testing.. He had the same thing really short hair... Some wise person on here I can't remember who said that it can be called a "hair injury"  I think that is what it was called. 

I was astounded when I googled it, I think Jack either at daycare or with Molly got some hair pulled out or broken somehow.

He is totally fine, it grew back much, much darker then his regular color, it is a deep red.... I love it...

Anyway that was our experience with bald spots... Nothing but a little scuffle of some sort.

[Kathy & Finnegan]

That certainly is the way my mind is going. I think it happened at day care.

He is not getting any worse. Hair seems to be continuing to grow. I'll watch color (he is already very black).

Thanks for the encouragement!