Our 3 year old neutered Papillon has 3 problems. Halitosis (we’re working on that one), allergy (also working hard on that one), and hair loss. He has been losing hair for a couple of years but the past month has been a record-setter. He even loses hair directly after his weekly bath…it’s evidenced by watching him ‘shake’ occasionally and I can actually see the fur fly off him.
He’s been raw-fed for over a year with frozen beef/chicken mixtures and additives like Omega 3, Olive Oil, Diatomaceous Earth, apples, carrots, and some grain-free EVO Ancestral Diet all chopped up and mixed together for his once-a-day evening meal. Every other day he also gets a raw chicken wing at mid morning. Other than a few grain-free snacks during the day, that’s his total intake…except for water. He also gets a 1/4 pill of Temaril-p morning and evening for his allergy…which is only moderately effective.
His weekly bath is with some hypo-allergenic shampoo with Vitamin E, Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil. Poor guy, he just throws fur everywhere…but he doesn’t look like he’s losing it…Papillon’s have lotsa fur!
I don’t know what else we can do for him to stop this excessive hair loss and I sure hope someone will have some new ideas for us to try.
Thanks!
Temaril P contains steroids–he may be overdosed with steroids and exhibiting hair loss due to hyperadrenocorticism; also my personal preference is for a formulated diet such as Hill’s Z/D (exclusively) for 10 wks to ruleout dietary allergy which is VERY common. He needs to be weaned off the temaril p slowly, like over 3 weeks with gradual reduction in dose such as every other day then every 3 rd day then stop; too rapid removal of the drug could cause a life threatening crisis
Nola Gedeon, DVM
Marcum Road Animal Hospital
Lakeland, FL
Why on earth are you bathing him weekly? We bathe our dogs once or twice a year and they are perfectly happy and clean, with just regular brushing. See if cutting back on his bathing might help him keep his hair.
–Sue Ann
Sue Ann Sidell, D.C., C.A.C., & Charles M. Sidell, D.C.
Riverside Wellness Center
Gorham, NH
You really need to find someone who knows muscle testing. It is possible something your dog is eating, even though the diet seems very good, is causing the health problems. Or, it could be something he has exposure to. Find a holistic animal practitioner that knows this. Also, many private health food store owners do muscle testing. I teach this to all my students and clients because it is amazing and can really help them know what food and products are right for their animals, including the amounts.
Kim Shotola
Pet Health Advisor
My Vet thinks 1/4 pill of the Temaril P twice a day is a very mild dose for this 10# dog. And I agree with you about getting him off it…which we tried by weaning but after 2 days of 1 of the 1/4 dose, his scratching worsened so we returned.
We bath him weekly on the advice of a Papillon breeder…which I too think is excessive but it does seem to diminish his scratching.
We’ve changed his diet many times over the past 2 years…totally…and have noted no difference. Have also changed everything with which he comes in contact, with no change. I’ve never heard of ‘muscle testing.’ Can you enlighten me on it??
Thanks to each of you for the help.
I agree that weekly bathing is unneccessary. He may actually be food allergic, as one commenter posted. Raw food diets, as much as they are loved by those who feed them to their dogs, have been implicated in serious infections in dogs. Your dog may also actually be undernourished on the raw diet, and he may need additional Omega 3/6/9 Fatty acids because of his allergies. This addition may significantly reduce the itching. A true hypoallergenic diet trial with z/d, d/d, or something similar, with NO other treats, for 10-12 weeks minimum would be helpful.
hmmm. We’ve had success with our dogs by changing their diet to one that is mostly raw. You might try that and see. It takes a little while to see the results, maybe 4 weeks, but we’re so happy we made the move.
i have 2 havanese with very bad allergies. i have taken them off of all grain … they eat orijens 6 fish plus no chicken or beef …. only fish products. i have even gone so far as to bake salmon and veggies. can of salmon, frozen veggies, 2 eggs and grain free bread crumbs. i just started a herb called Herbsmith. they seem 100% better. and with all of these changes am slowly getting them off of temeral p. hope this helps. i feel so sorry for our 4 legged children who are suffering so. good luck
My little papillon boy had hair loss too. We originally thought it was allergies but found out he had problems with his thyroid. The pill helped but continued to have hair loss. We changed his food to grain free and that helped but the kicker was giving him fish oil pills. 1000mg. All his hair grew back. Sadly he passed away from a pulmonary embolism. I miss him so much.