# Hair Loss & Black Skin... (with Pics)



## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Hi,

My Rhodesian Ridgeback Indi has got some noticable hair loss on her sides (also a little on her tummy and back legs.) He skin has also gone really dark. Her mood seems the same and her weight is the same. She started to gain weight ever since getting her done, and over the last six months she's been on a diet which has helped a little.

The hair loss has got alot worse all of a sudden at first we only noticed a faint indication of dark patches but not its very noticable.

We thought it might be seasonal flank alopecia at first.. but over some months it has only gotten worse so not convinced it is that now..

If anyone would be able to provide any info they have about this that would be very appreciated. Thanks.


























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## henry (Mar 16, 2009)

Hi - you say your dog has been on a diet. Did you change the food for this? What was she on before and what is she on now? Is it the same protein source, same cereal (if any)? I'm thinking it could be a food reaction or allergy. Claire


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Well She's pretty much always been on the same food with a few different types of biscuits. We give her winalot can food and chicken flavour either winalot or bakers complete biscuits as she gets bad smelly wind from anything beefy hehe. We've just lessened her portion size and keep it to equal measurement each day, also stopped everyone feeding her scraps xD


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## henry (Mar 16, 2009)

RP88 said:


> Well She's pretty much always been on the same food with a few different types of biscuits. We give her winalot can food and chicken flavour either winalot or bakers complete biscuits as she gets bad smelly wind from anything beefy hehe.


Oh, well tbh I would personally avoid Bakers. If you do a food search on here you will see that it is full of colours, preservatives, additives and very little meat. I suspect this is not helping her skin at all. Would you consider changing her to a hypoallergenic high quality food like Arden Grange, Burns, Fish4Dogs, etc, or a wet food like Naturediet or Natures Menu? These contain no additives of any kind and are much better for the dog, especially skin and digestion. A Fish & Potato based food would be excellent for skin trouble. Wainwrights from Pets at Home do a good Salmon & Potato food and it's no more expensive than Bakers. If you go into PAH and ask for a Nutrition Consultation they will give you a free 2kg bag to try your dog on. Claire


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Hya, I will have a look into them foods and possibly try her on one of them for a test. 

As I say though, she's always been on winalot cans but her biscuits have changed a few time. She has had winalot and bakers before but currently she is on Dr. John Silver Medal (Chicken). We found this in the farm shop near us and this was the lower protein one.

Thankyou for you replies and keep me updated with opinnions. I have to go to work now but I will be back to answer any questions and read through replies later.


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## henry (Mar 16, 2009)

RP88 said:


> Hya, I will have a look into them foods and possibly try her on one of them for a test.
> 
> As I say though, she's always been on winalot cans but her biscuits have changed a few time. She has had winalot and bakers before but currently she is on Dr. John Silver Medal (Chicken). We found this in the farm shop near us and this was the lower protein one.
> 
> Thankyou for you replies and keep me updated with opinnions. I have to go to work now but I will be back to answer any questions and read through replies later.


You're welcome. I know you say she's been on those foods but the biscuits you mention contain lots of wheat and cereals, which can cause skin problems. Even if the condition is not actually caused by the food, it won't be helping matters and a change to a "purer" food will be a step in the right direction and may even clear it up. It's well worth a try and will be a big improvement to her diet. If you want to keep with wet food, Naturediet, Natures Menu, Natures Harvest or Wainwrights (PAH) wet trays are pure, high quality foods.

Good luck - keep us posted! Claire


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## Snoringbear (Sep 26, 2008)

It looks like seasonal hair loss to me. The darkening is normal for that too and it will last for months. Mine seem to get it around March each year and it won't totally clear up until summer. However, it's not as bad this year one has slightly thin patches and another one small bare patch on one side. I did start giving them Evening Primorse Oil, Vitamin E and Keepers Mix at the first sign and this may have prevented it from becoming a worse episode...or it might be a complete coincidence and of no value at all. I don't think, these have really helped once the hair loss is bad. hair loos can be symptomatic of Thyroid problems and other diseases like Cushings. If this is the first instance then you could test for those to put your mind at rest.


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## Ridgielover (Apr 16, 2008)

My guess is that it is either thyroid and/or weight related. 

Apologies in advance because I am about to offend you - but I would suggest that you put her on a fairly strict diet as, from the photos, I would say that she is carrrying quite a lot of excess weight.


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Ridgielover said:


> My guess is that it is either thyroid and/or weight related.
> 
> Apologies in advance because I am about to offend you - but I would suggest that you put her on a fairly strict diet as, from the photos, I would say that she is carrrying quite a lot of excess weight.


Heya thanks for everyones replies.

Don't worry, i'm not offended, my family know she is carrying more weight than she should, ever since she was spayed she packed on the pounds. There was no noticeable black skin/hair loss just after that or before, but she did suffer all the time from pink shiney 'sore looking' patches on the inside of her back legs, almost like stretch mark looking. That might have been because of the weight gain.

She's nearly 3 years old. The darkening of the skin I noticed around Jan 2010, but it was very faint. It stayed like that for a long while and then over about 2-3 months its gotten worse to how it looks on the pics.

We also brought a new 5 year old doberman into the home a few months ago.. Not sure if that would affect her, but she seems ok with him.. he has calmed down compared to when we first got him.. wanting to "mount" her all the time. He has also been done tho.

I'm going to have a look at some of the food mentioned and give her a try on that, and will be able to see if she can drop some more weight too.

I think the last time we tried to weigh her, My brother weighed himself, then picked her up (just about) and subtracted his weight to get hers and roughly she was about 6 stone i think it was.. which is definately overweight. Thats when we stared reducing her food portion ect...

I'll chuck up 2 pics tommorrow of her in 2009 and her now. It's quite a difference.

Oh and just a quick question also, when I was checking on the net about her symptoms I came across things saying about Hypothyroidism. I was wondering if anyone could tell me roughly how much the blood tests and treatment costs for that?

Thanks

Edit: I had a look at some of the dog foods you mentioned. My mum pays for the dog food and with a family of 7 + 2 dogs I know she wouldnt pay more than about £20ish for a 15kg bag of dry food, I couldnt really find any cheaper ones of the brands you mentioned, although, would this be ok? it seems good and at a reasonable price too:
http://www.feedem.co.uk/dog-c1/dog-...ppc&utm_term=16519&utm_campaign=froogle#16519
or this:
http://www.feedem.co.uk/dog-c1/dog-food-c2/adult-c4/vitalin-maintenance-allergenic-gluten-p13117
Even if it didnt solve her hair loss issue, I would love to get her weight down some more.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

If £20 is your budget (with a big family like that, I'd not want to spend more either), IMO, you'll not find better food for the price than these

Skinners Field and Trial Duck and Rice Dog Food 15Kg - £20.17

Skinners Field and Trial Salmon Rice Dog Food 15Kg - £23.68

The vitalin isn't bed at all. But to be blunt, anything will be a step up from bakers. Plus you'll feed less so will save more in the long run.


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## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Lyceum said:


> If £20 is your budget (with a big family like that, I'd not want to spend more either), IMO, you'll not find better food for the price than these
> 
> Skinners Field and Trial Duck and Rice Dog Food 15Kg - £20.17
> 
> ...


Agree totally but just to add - Skinners RDA is something like 100g per 8K body weight (the weight she should be not what she is now)

Even if it costs a bit more than you are feeding now, I am sure if you work out how much you will have to give her, it will be a lot less than she has at the mo so save you money that way.
Plus you will be giving her a much better food


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Mum2Heidi said:


> Agree totally but just to add - Skinners RDA is something like 100g per 8K body weight (the weight she should be not what she is now)
> 
> Even if it costs a bit more than you are feeding now, I am sure if you work out how much you will have to give her, it will be a lot less than she has at the mo so save you money that way.
> Plus you will be giving her a much better food


Ok I'll give it a go, thanks for that advise.
you say she should be at 8k, what do you mean? You talking Kg's or?


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

I think mum2heidi meant skinners recommended feeding guide is 100g for every 8kg of your dogs body weight. So to get the weight of your dog, feed her the amount of food you would if she were at her ideal weight, not the amount for her current weight.

Also, is that her in your avatar? She is gorgeous.


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Ahh I see ^^ Thanks. Yea I did read on a ridgeback website what her ideal weight for her height (which is short hehe) is, but I'll have to check back.

Yes thats her in my avatar  Thanks, we think she is a pretty girl too hehe.

Here is a Before and Now comparison:

2009 - 1 Year Old:


















April 2011 - 2 Years 10 months.










Looking at the april picture you can see in not even a month how dark her skin has got when looking at the pictures I put in the original post which I took yesterday.


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## Ridgielover (Apr 16, 2008)

If she isn't a very tall bitch, judging from the pics, I would expect her to be in the region of 33 kg.

My bitches range in weight from 33 kg to 38 kg - and the heaviest bitch is tall.

What a sweet face she has


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

:001_smile: ok, that seems like a good weight goal. I'd say at moment shes around 37-38kg. 

Would anyone be able to give me a estimate of how much the thyroid blood tests would be? and the medicine if she needed it? I'm thinking about getting her tested just to make sure.


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## Ridgielover (Apr 16, 2008)

As costs seem to vary so much between practices, it's probably easiest just to phone your vet in the morning to ask


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## RP88 (May 6, 2011)

Hello all, Back with a quick update. Told my mum about the food, she said she'll try that hyopallergenic food after she's gone through the remaining food she's on if the hair loss gets no better.

However, It actually seems to have cleared up quite abit on it's own. One side is nearly completely back to normal and the other side the hair has gone from being almost bald to growing back over most of the area and just needs some more to cover the dark black patch.

Here are some pics I took today of her, if you compare them to the first pics I posted, what a difference.


















I'm kind of going back to my original thoughts of it being Seasonal alopecia, she's not had any other change in diet or lifestyle.

As a question, if this is truely what she has, what can be done to perhaps lessen the amount or hair loss when she gets it again, if anything?

Thanks


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## JessicasMom (Apr 29, 2014)

My 4 year old RR Jessica has lost hair and developed dark/black skin on both sides, she looks EXACTLY like RP88's photos, I am looking for help in finding the cause. I am working with a vet, testing for thyroid and Cushings, tests are pending.

I am hoping RP88 has answers, please help my Jessica if you have any information that may help.

Thank you!


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## RubyRidgeback (Jun 25, 2014)

Our Ridgeback started loosing hair with black skin appearing, up to a quarter of hair was lost.
After three visits to the vet totaling over £300, the vet said to be that it was probably alopecia and if it was his dog he would not do anything about it! Some Help...
On looking at the various Websites and Blogs the only helpful comment I could find suggested that feeding half a cup of Goats Milk twice a day gave a good result, also it was recommended to change the diet, which we did changing from Chudleys Original to Skinners Salmon and Rice.
The result has been a huge improvement, approx half the hair has grown back and the rest is coming along nicely, this has happened over a period of about 6 weeks.
All through this period the Dog has shown no signs of distress or bad health.
All I can say is a big thank you for this excellent advice (I don't know whether it is the Goats Milk or change of diet, but hey who cares...)


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## mrs phas (Apr 6, 2014)

thunder has this every year, starts march/april goes by aug
seasonal alopecia


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## Waheela (Feb 13, 2014)

My Husky was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, her initial blood test cost £60, and her medicine thereafter about £30 a month or so. You'll have to do a couple of blood tests to begin with to make sure they've got the levels right.

Same symptoms as yours but Sascha got very lethargic also.


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## Ag1972 (Aug 17, 2014)

Hi RP88,

I know your post is a few years old now. Did you get the skin sorted out?

I have a RR who had the same hair loss a couple of years ago... I took him to the vets at that time and he said was probably seasonal alopecia... He said normally when a dog 4 years old and have had a history of allergies they are prone to it.

First I changed his food to salmon and potato(non allergenic) this had no bearing, I tried for 6 months with no improvement. I had changed my collie/labs food to wilsons dog dry food along with a tin of food as she was starting to get quite overweight and really hardly eating any portion of food to justify the weight. This helped her weight greatly and her legs(as she has arthritis)

I tried Spice(RR) on that diet also and his skin is now perfect, his hair grew back and he has had no trouble the last year and a half. His weight also became better he was starting to look a bit chunky.


He does however smell bad as in his body odour, the vet says it's black pigmentation which is inside his thighs but until you get to the source of the problem it will remain (would take a lot of testing, ruling things out basically, which would also be costly) I use malaseb for bathing him but he doesn't smell nice for long!

Just wondered if you had this problem also?


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## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

RR's are a breed that's prone to hypothyroidism, as are Mals. Always worth getting a full blood panel run along with thyroid function if anything seems amiss. One of my Mals was diagnosed at six years old, ten now and doing fine with his meds. Weight gain, skin changes along with pigmentation and odour/dandruff, lethargy, mucky eyes and temperament changes are all things to look out for. They can have many symptoms or just one barely noticable one and i have the Mals tested yearly because the earlier it's caught the better the response to medication.


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