From a B to a Bald Dalmation

[hdterry]

My Jojo is having some health problems and I was really wondering if any of you have had this before with your babies and what could be going on…Jojo's hair is just falling out. I know about the B blow out but this not it. She is starting to get patches of almost bald areas and the hair on top of her head between her ears is extremely short. Her coat does not look good at all. You can bursh and brush but it comes out like she was on chemo therapy or something. She also has dark blotches on her skin. You can really notice it under the white. She also has an area on her neck that her vet shaved this past April that has not grown back (took her collar off for fear it was rubbing it or something) and you can really see the dark blotches there. The vet rechecked her thyroid and it is perfect. Vet stated she couldn't be happier with it. Also in April visit to the vet Jojo had a complete bloodwork done and it was fine. Jojo does have hypothyroidism and is on soloxine. Her vet said she would need to "hit the books" and do some research to see what is going on with Jojo. Jojo is 11 yrs young. She sleeps quite a bit but what 11 yr dog doesn't but she will run at times and still likes to go for walks. Help!!!!

[tanza]

@hdterry:

My Jojo is having some health problems and I was really wondering if any of you have had this before with your babies and what could be going on…Jojo's hair is just falling out. I know about the B blow out but this not it. She is starting to get patches of almost bald areas and the hair on top of her head between her ears is extremely short. Her coat does not look good at all. You can bursh and brush but it comes out like she was on chemo therapy or something. She also has dark blotches on her skin. You can really notice it under the white. She also has an area on her neck that her vet shaved this past April that has not grown back (took her collar off for fear it was rubbing it or something) and you can really see the dark blotches there. The vet rechecked her thyroid and it is perfect. Vet stated she couldn't be happier with it. Also in April visit to the vet Jojo had a complete bloodwork done and it was fine. Jojo does have hypothyroidism and is on soloxine. Her vet said she would need to "hit the books" and do some research to see what is going on with Jojo. Jojo is 11 yrs young. She sleeps quite a bit but what 11 yr dog doesn't but she will run at times and still likes to go for walks. Help!!!!

Is this the time that she normally would blow coat?… before this started to happen was she in heavy coat like she would be before blowing coat? Is she on "soloxine" or on a generic? Did you ever notice dark patches before?... Is the white hair falling out more then the red? I have seen more then once this type of blowing coat, provide all other things are the OK (like Thyroid, bloodwork, etc)... they look horrible...ggg.... and they will shed in bald patches. Seems that I have found that spayed/neutered will have these bouts with horrible shedding/blowing of coat every 3 to 4 yrs... including being bald.... maybe a picture if you can post one would help us see what you are seeing....

[Quercus]

Hey Pat…what about that thing the LJs dog had....uevitis? Does this sound like it could be similar?

[tanza]

@Quercus:

Hey Pat…what about that thing the LJs dog had....uevitis? Does this sound like it could be similar?

I never even thought of that, Andrea… your right... does sound similar....
Did you keep the posts about it? I don't think that I did.... or the link?

[hdterry]

I have only had Jojo for 5 months. She was adopted from BRAT so I have never seen them blow a coat except the stress thing. Her coat was a little heavy before but the red seems to be coming out a lot more than the white. I will see if I can get a picture of her up. I will have to figure out how to adjust the picture size on my camera as I have tried posting other picutres before and had problems even with the help links. What is uevitis? Your help is definitely appreciated.

[Quercus]

@hdterry:

I have only had Jojo for 5 months. She was adopted from BRAT so I have never seen them blow a coat except the stress thing. Her coat was a little heavy before but the red seems to be coming out a lot more than the white. I will see if I can get a picture of her up. I will have to figure out how to adjust the picture size on my camera as I have tried posting other picutres before and had problems even with the help links. What is uevitis? Your help is definitely appreciated.

Well, I am not totally sure I understand exactly what it is. I believe it is related to an immune system malfunction. I believe it is often discovered by an opthamologist, because it effects eyes....let me see if I can find some info to link to...
<>
And here is a link to info about the human VKH:
http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic459.htm
I will try to find more info. There at least two basenjis in the community recently that have been diagnosed with this. I believe some of the symptoms were weight loss, hair loss, pathology discovered during eye exam.
Here is another link about uveitis in Akitas:
http://www.jawt.co.uk/vkh.html
I don't know if any of this will help at all. Could be JoJo is just having a rough shed. I would imagine your vet has checked for demodedtic mange? or ringworm? Those things will cause hair to fall out.
Anywho...if you think you need more info, I can put you in contact with a person who knows a lot more about this diagnosis in basenjis.

[tanza]

I would have to guess (and I am no Vet…) that she is maybe just having a hard shed.... like I said, Crystal had a really hard shed this year and at times she looks "moth" eaten.... Her owner call me about it when it started worried too about bald spots... but when I saw her... easy to see that it was a blowing coat deal...

And she could be having a hard shed and some stress thrown in since she was just recently adopted (5 months is not a very long time)....

but again, I am not a Vet...

[hdterry]

Well I would agree about the hard shed but I am not sure if it would explain the dark blotches on her skin. I will forward this info on uveodermatologic syndrome to Jojo's vet and also check out the website links. Thanks so much.

[hdterry]

When we first adopted Jojo from BRAT she had a blow out but it resolved itself. She has been happy and loved and I know she feels secure. She plays, wags her little curly tail and woowoos and bahroos. She is not left alone as she has SEVERE separation anxiety. She goes with us in the car unless only one is going out and it is too hot for her then she stays home with her other human parent. She gets a lot of love and attention. We would love to give her more but you know that B aloofness.

[tanza]

@hdterry:

Well I would agree about the hard shed but I am not sure if it would explain the dark blotches on her skin. I will forward this info on uveodermatologic syndrome to Jojo's vet and also check out the website links. Thanks so much.

Well, unless you really had looked under her skin before, chances are they have always been there. My Kristii, who is just about hairless her coat is so short, have many many dark spots/blotches on her skin….

[hdterry]

Well, when Jojo was first shaved on her neck in April by her vet the skin underneath was a pretty pink. Sometimes the dark blotches seem more than other times.

[youngandtired]

Like the saying goes, "Pictures are like a 1,000 words, my Sahara has dark spots, but that is her markings, her belly is covered. Has anyone had trouble with fleas, they are soooooo bad here in the humid south? I use to put Frontline on Sahara, but that stopped working, now it's Advantage and that doesn't work good either. I just put it on her 3 days ago and today she came in from outside, running all over the place, I checked her she had about 50 fleas all over her. I took her outside and sprayed her with flea spray, she didn't like that at all. But I had to, didn't want those nasty pest in my house, and they were bitting her. What do you guys use for fleas, my hubby just sprayed the yard this past weekend, HELP!!!!!!

[Basenji_Boy]

In this picture Max's coat is long and fuzzy. You can't really see any spots.

You can see spots clearly and he has a short coat…..a couple of summers ago.

Max is blowing a coat right now, we brush him everyday.:D

[Quercus]

Really good visual demo, BBoy! Thanks for posting that

[JazzysMom]

@youngandtired:

Like the saying goes, Has anyone had trouble with fleas, they are soooooo bad here in the humid south? I use to put Frontline on Sahara, but that stopped working, now it's Advantage and that doesn't work good either. I just put it on her 3 days ago and today she came in from outside, running all over the place, I checked her she had about 50 fleas all over her. I took her outside and sprayed her with flea spray, she didn't like that at all. But I had to, didn't want those nasty pest in my house, and they were bitting her. What do you guys use for fleas, my hubby just sprayed the yard this past weekend, HELP!!!!!!

Try Adams flea products. You can get them at feed stores sometimes, and at PetCo and PetSmart. They have powders, shampoos, even carpet treatment. We don't have big flea problems, which is odd because we live in a flea prone area, but twice when we've introduced kittens into the house, they came w/fleas which quickly took over the house. The first time I paid for flea treatment of the house, the second time my sister {who worked in a vet clinic in NC at the time} recommended Adams products. She swore by them. And now, so do I.
They are awesome. I only had to treat the carpets once {and we had them BAD – you could see them jumping on the floor in the kids' room where the cats sleep}, and bathe the animals once.

The shampoo doesn't have that pesticidey smell that so many do, it leaves their hair feeling very soft, and w/in minutes of bathing, the fleas literally fall off!
I bathed the dogs and cats {came out bleeding from one of those!}, and then treated the carpet w/the spray. I sprayed the rooms, and closed them up for about an hour, then went in and aired them out. The spray DOES stink.

When I said something to my vet about it, he cautioned me about using products other than those sold by vets because of the chemicals, etc. I pointed out that the Advantage and Revolution that I'd gotten from them hadn't worked, and had given my younger cat a terrible skin condition.
Then I noticed Adams Flea products on the shelves in the vets offices on Animal Precinct New York. LOL

http://www.adamsfleacontrol.com/index.htm

[Capt_Jack_our_Basenji]

Jack is blowing coat right now too, he hardly has ANY hair on his belly,just pink skin (its weird) but the rest of him is normal short fur. his freckles are REALLY showing on his belly and stuff, ill have to post a picture of his belly tho, its just pink!!

[hdterry]

Here are some photos of Jojo but I still need to get some of her neck where you can really see the dark blotches. Can the blotches be caused by the sun? I mean sometimes they seem less noticeable than other times. I am VERY worried about my little girl but her bloodwork is fine and that helps as does all the info from you. Thanks a bunch!

[hdterry]

I looked at the photos of Jojo and they really don't help any. I will get some of the dark blotches. The one that shows the shedding the best is too big so I will need to see if I can get it any smaller.

[tanza]

@hdterry:

I looked at the photos of Jojo and they really don't help any. I will get some of the dark blotches. The one that shows the shedding the best is too big so I will need to see if I can get it any smaller.

IMO and again I am no Vet… but I can tell in an instant she is blowing coat... and the bald spot are from that, note the part of her coat that is "yellow" like straw... that is all dead hair....

Yes, the sun can make the dark pigments on the skin, under the coat look darker...

[tanza]

Here is a link to Crystal and Kristii… Note the hair coat on Crystal in the March picture and then the one in June where she was just about done blowing coat... note the color difference... blonde/straw long hair in March and her normal chestnet red short coat in June.

Also there is a picture of Kristii's belly, now remember this is about a long as her hair ever gets...ggg... but you can clearly see the dark (and light) skin color under the hair..

www.tanzabasenjis.net/pictures.html