[leah_kohl]

Hello there, I have a 1yr old chihuahua who is very petite weighing in at 2.5lbs...She has never had that much hair on her underside and the hair on her face was always thin. Recently i switched her food to a food that was supposedly better but now she has lost most of the hair she did have on her chest and her belly and she is losing hair on her arms and knees, the hair on her face has also gotten noticably thinner. I researched online to see if it was in fact the food causing this hair loss and it said that if it was a food allergy she would have hotspots and she would be itchy. She hasnt been itching any more than normal and her skin looks a little dry but it doesnt look bad...Just wondering if anyone has gone through something similar and had any insight on this problem. Thanks

[Lara's mom]

I've never encountered the problem you're having but, I understand from your post that it began when you changed the food. Could it be that the new food is causing it?

I hope our resident vet student sees this post. Mr. Vega has been able to help a lot of us who have had issues with our dogs.

The only advice I can give you is to make an appointment with your vet. I am by no means an expert but, I've been home cooking for my dogs for years and they are both in excellent health. I have a senior Border Collie who has never even had to have her teeth scaled. She is in perfect health apart from a problem with above normal liver enzymes which we are controlling with vitamins and medication. She is almost 13 years old. It is something you may want to think about. I have loads of recipes that I will share with you if you decide to go that route.

[DoggieVogue]

I have a Boston terrier who has an unknown allergy. I think that it is food related, but I can't be for sure. He used to be on a food that had chicken and his treats contained grains. He would get itchy spots in his ears but his most prominent symptom was thinning hair on his ears and face. I have since changed him to a red meat food with no grains, and his itchy spots cleared up but the thinning never filled back in. It isn't getting any worse, but not better either. So, I would assume that you can have thinning hair and no hot spots. I would assume that since you changed foods, that it is an allergy. Though the new food is "better" as you said, it may just happen to contain an ingredient that your pup is allergic too. Try comparing the ingredients and see what the differences are. From my understanding, grains and chicken are the most common food related allergies in dogs. How recently have you changed foods?

[Pet food store owner]

Allergies do not have to manifest itself in hotspots, they can happen in many ways. I would do a elimation diet that basically means 1 carb of specific origin that is not common to your dog. This also applies to finding carbs that are not common in dog food. Something like a Herring and Sweet Potato for example. I would also add omega 3, 6, and 9 in a liquid form to their diet as dog do not get allergies from fats and it might help with your dogs fur issues. Vitamin c is used as way of boosting your dogs immune system and i have found that it works well as a immune booster.