Bald chow ??

[*milo*]

Can anyone help me or offer any advise as the vets do not seem to be helping at all. I have a 21 month old male rough coated red chow chow called Milo (Beloved Cyril).
Firstly ill apologise if this is a bit of an essay but i wanted to give as much information as possible.

In may last year (08) he stripped most of his coat(by mouth) in a matter of hours except for his head,neck,belly and lower legs. His skin looked healthy (no hot spots etc) at the vets i basically got told he was fine just has a possible air bourne/food allergy and was given a shampoo called Malaseb to bath him in(i got a few opinions) he had clear skin scrapes on three occasions and showed no signs of fleas(he's been treated to prevent them since a pup) etc . His fur started to grow back very quickly(although he seemed very itchy and sometimes by exsessive scratching irritated his skin) also his skin often seems damp to te touch although there is no unpleasent smell coming from him. it took till March this year for his coat to look anywhere near what a chow's should look like. then last month he did exactly the same again .

I feel with the vets i am banging my head against a brick wall as they cant even give me any real explanation as to why he as done it again except to say it looks possible that its a seasonal allergy (so every year im going to end up with a bald chow )

In himself he is still exactly the same personality wise,still is eating/drinking etc as normal he acts totally fine still loves his walks,playing, etc still wags his tail so much his whole body quives every time you call his name.

I just feel so sorry for him as i really dont know what i can do to ease the itchness he seems to have(the vets have told me well if you itch you scratch and that is what he is doing)

Has anyone experienced a similar problem. Can anyone suggest anything i can give him to ease the itch,also a different type of food that may be good for his sensative skin. im open to any suggestions that may help my baby.

thank you


(please bare in mind that live in the UK as i have in the past had remedies given to me that can only be got hold of outside of Europe.

[lola chow]

hi i have a chow called lola and like am also in the uk and she is very itchy as well she bites her fur and makes herself sore ie hotspots i have been advised it could be a food allergy , what do you feed her over here a lot of people add fish oil to there food salmon seems to be popular i have tried this but she still itches , i am sorry i am no help but will wait to see what advice you get and follow it myself maxine x

[*milo*]

Hi thanks for the reply,
at the moment he is eating bakers salmon and rice food, hes quite fussy and will only eat certain foods and he has been on this one for several months and seemed fine, although i am willing to feed him just about anything at any cost if it helps him. Even if it ment buyin fresh food and preparing it myself for him. someone did suggest giving Milo Benadryl but im not sure how often or much as i dont want to poison him.

[lola chow]

hi i have pm`d you i did some research on anti hystamines for dogs there was a site who suggested a one a day wilkos own brand if that helps but some chows are supposed to have allergy to corn ?? where did you get milo ?

[Sirchow]

I am sorry to hear of you Milo's skin problems.

I dont know if it is any help but we had a long haired persian X breed cat that did that at the begining of June through July and a bit of August every year and we used to get him a total of about three injections of Depmedrone over that period. That is a steroid and you may not want to go that sort of rout but we had to as he made his whole body bleeding and sore. It was amazing how it stopped the problem.

The other thing I was going to say that helps Brambles itchy feet is probiotics. They still itch a bit but when we run out then I see just how much they help.

[*milo*]

Hi Sirchow thank you for the reply. i will give anything a try to try and help Milo.

Found out that Milo and Lola (lola chow) share at least the same father and are from the same breeders.

[lola chow]

bramble has the same gt grandparents too so she is your cousin as well xxx

[*milo*]

ahh Milo has family....i just told him and he looked at me like ive lost the plot

[lola chow]

i know it isnt helping with his itching be milo has cousins all over the place because his gt grandfather was used as a stud dog , there are lots of people on here who will give you good advice on what to use or what to try ,if i find anything i also will share with you xxx genetics seems to be the common factor at the minute

[*milo*]

At least its something i can point out to the vets now, it may not help at all but then again it may. Only time will tell. be interesting to find out if Milo and Lola have the same mum too(if i ever find his paperwork)

[lola chow]

coco chow has a very allergic chow she might be able to help xx

[*milo*]

ok thank you.

[chowpups]

Okay , Milo, Sirchow and Lola if this keeps up you will have enough for a chowfest of your own.. LOL
this is one of those "Who's your Daddy" questions..I see..
It looks like you all need to be very careful about breeding.. everyones related..

[chowpups]

Iam in the US, but Nikki has had itching too. We finally got it under control.. Salmon Oil on her bison and ocean fish food..I do limit her to outdoors in the real hot days seems she overheats and starts pulling at her back side fur when shes hot.

[*milo*]

ye Milo likes the colder weather more than the hot days, i also have to watch he dont get sunburnt were he has no fur.

[CHowgal]

Hi! Welcome to the board!
My purebred, Tippsy, has sasonal allergies too. She used to pluck her hips bare in the summer and the vet told us to give her Benadryl (and bathe her with Head & Shoulders shampoo but I didn't do that) and with one tablet a day at her itchiest, she's stopped plucking her fur. It may or may not be the same for Milo but hopefully this can help.

Jess

[*milo*]

ok thank you someone told me to try benadryl but i didnt know how much to give him so ill give that a go. didnt want to go and upset his tummy by givin him too much

[CHowgal]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

[lola chow]

hows milo doing x

[Mika&Suki]

Hi Milo,

I am also in the UK and have 2 female chow chows, Mika and Suki. Suki, bless her heart, has been plagued with an itchy rash on her tummy since she was a puppy (she is now 14 months old). She bites and scratches her tummy constantly and has made it bleed on a number of occasions. Now as she is getting older, the rash has gotten worse and her nipples have swollen to more than double their size from the scratching, and she has gone completely bald under both armpits from scratching.

I took her to the vet when it first started and they gave me an allergy spray called 'Cortovance'. I changed her food to James Wellbeloved Duck & Rice kibble, which is totally hypoallergenic, and I also introduced Salmon Oil into her diet. She gets 2 squirts every day mixed in with her food. All of these things combined seemed to help at first, but now nothing's working.

She went back to the vet before we went on holiday in June and they gave her a weeks supply of Piriton allergy tablets and some Malaseb shampoo. She had to take the Piriton first and see if that helped, along with bathing her every 2-3 days with the Malaseb. The vet had also given me a course of steroid tablets to try if the Piriton didn't work, which it didn't. Unfortunately the steroid tablets didn't work either, and while we were on holiday she got 10 times worse. Since we come back she has been back to the vet and they have given her a course of antibiotics and some gel called Fucidon (I think that's what it's called.....I'm at work so you will have to forgive me if it's incorrect). The antibiotics and the gel (and the regular bathing with the Malaseb) have helped to clear the rash up, but she is still scratching and her fur is still coming out underneath. Once the course of antibiotics finished though, the rash flared up again.

She has now been referred to a dermatologist but unfortunately but the earliest appointment we could get was September 1st. I've been told that the consultation plus skin tests will be approximately £500, so thankfully I'm insured. I don't care though as I'd do whatever it takes to stop my poor baby from being in so much discomfort. I just want her to stop scratching as she gets so exhausted from doing it all day long and she never properly relaxes. She is healthy in every other way though and she really is the happiest dog I've ever met!! She eats well and loves walks and play fights with her big sister, and she wags her tail constantly! Honestly, I've never seen a tail wag so much! It's so lovely!!

Anyway, sorry for the essay but I just wanted you to know that it does seem to be a fairly common thing with chows. I will keep you updated with Suki's progress and will let you know of her results once she's been to the dermatologist.

Best wishes,
Nicki
x

[Sirchow]

I am sorry to read about your trials with itching. It does seem to be such a problem with chows and there doesn't seem to be one answere that helps all of them. They are such a beautiful pair your girls it is sad that their life should be miserable because of itching. I am begining to wonder if this is something more common with our UK chows and would be interested what other folk think. I am lucky that so far it is only Brambles feet that are a problem now and then. (Touch wood)

I just looked back at your previous posts and saw the one about which food to choose and I wonder if you ever tried a grain free diet for Suki and whether that might help?

[Mia]

This may not mean anything, but a friend of mine has a mix dog who was found to be allergic to meat???? I know it sounds strange, but now they just give him fish and rice (salmon and rice) and he has been fine. Don't know if that translates to chows.

But, I would also try to see what kind of household chemicals/soaps touch her belly.

Elodie who is on this board with her dog Coco tried many things to see if they could single out what caused Coco's allergies. Sometimes, you can try eliminating everything that might possibly be a problem and then start introducing everything back slowly.

[Zhuyos mom]

Could Milo have a behavior disorder? There was a member here whose chowling chewed its tail off. Eventually, the parents had to amputate the tail. My boy, Tigger, and his siblings all have "pica". Maybe Milo pulls his fur off when he is anxious. Perhaps your vet should look into an anti-anxiety remedy if nothing medically is wrong with Milo. If you want to experiment holistically, add a few drops of Dr. Bach's Rescue Remedy in Milo's daily water and see if his fur pulling either slows down or ceases.

[dennis2703]

My chow Miso also lost most of her hair about 3 years ago. It had been going on for about 4 yrs. Like the rest of you the vets could not help her. We found this anti-allergen solution shampoo made by ecology works (www.ecology works.com) worked like a charm in 1 day. no more itching or scratching. Along with that we put her on a raw diet. We have not had a problem since.
Hope this helps.

[*milo*]

Hello. thank you to everyone that has made suggestions to me over the past few weeks. Since i last posted Milo has been having Bendryl(excuse my spelling) once a day, a luke warm shower with no shampoo once a week and i have changed his food from bakers to Tesco own brand at the suggestion of a friend.

Although i cant say if there is going to be a permanent improvement there has been an instant one. Hes gone from looking like a bald pig to having a very fine layer of fur all over his body, with some 1inch plus tufts in places. i also now put a cone on him when going out for more than an hour to stop him chewing himself and altogether he is improving and seems a lot less itchy.

Thank you again

Kim and Milo