Yorkie Biting hair off, scratching and licking.

[johnnymac]

Hey guys,
Our 3 yr. old Yorshire Terrier, J.J., has been biting his hair off, licking and scratching (a few months now). Below is a photo before it all happened and after. We have taken him off of Royal Canin Yorshire Terrier 28, which by the way is what the previous owners fed him for two years and he was beautiful when we got him as you can see, and he is now eating a grain free diet of Natures Variety Raw Frozen Venison, which is a complete diet and we also feed him Orijen dry and Natures Balance (2 mth. now). He eats well! We have been spraying him with ACV 50/50 twice a day (almost two weeks now), a half tsp. daily of DE for internal parasites (just started this last week when we saw a few small flat white worms in his poop) and a Holistic Aller'g Free capsule daily (455mg.). He does not bite into the skin, just his hair. We bathe him with an aloe Tea Tree Oil shampoo when we see red spots, which are 90% gone, and an Oatmeal Shampoo on a weekly bases. We have a few thoughts that need input; Could it be summer allergies, grass, our cats, the small worms we found in his poop, the minor flea problem or any of the stuff we switched him to??? We are seriously considering going back to the Royal Canin Yorkie 28???!!! Any input would be helpful.
Thank you,
Johnny

[lindsayanng]

OMG i wish i could help.. I am having the SAME issue with my Cappy..If you look in my post history, you can read about it.. theres two posts about his bald spot on his stomach/chest. Its REALLY bad.. He ALSO had those red spots, one was a blotch, and the others looked like pimples. The pimples were a Staph infection that was cleared with antibiotics and a steroid to stop the reddness. The steroid also got rid of the redness that was the blotchy blad spot.. But i still can NOT get Cappy's hair to gro back.

I HOPE you find an anwer, because i also havent.

When your vet did blood work, did they test his Thyroid? that is a very common cause of hair loss. It might be worth checking.

Cappys was tested, and he came back fine.. so i'm still struggling.

The good thing is he is not itching at ALL, but the hair is still falling out.

We have him in Innova Adult Dog Small Bites which is REALLY great for animals hair. My cats are the softest cats in the WORLD and cappy has always had soft hair. I also have been adding Salmon Oil to his food every night for the past month or so.

Thats all i can tell ya though..

[DachshundDuo]

Hi there - I don't have any help for you either, but I wanted to say how lovely your dog is! I hope that you find the problem and get it solved.

[MandyPug]

Whatever you do DON'T go back the the royal canin... it's full of corn and fillers and if it isn't causing this problem it will likely create another later on.
See if you can get some Neem oil. It works on a variety of skin issues from yeast infections, to dry skin, to oily skin, and hot spots.
Here's a link to more info...
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-for-dogs.html

[johnnymac]

Thank you for your replies. Mandy Pug, thanks for the input. We have decided to keep him on this natural diet. And we will check on the Neem Oil.
Thanks again guys.
Johnny

[CocosMoM]

:(I viewed the pics of your poor lil baby and it truly broke my heart to see the severe hair loss. I'm not sure if this will help but it is a really cheap fix and can't hurt anything. I not only have a yorkie baby I am also a licesened cosmetologist and I have always used and recomended baking soda for scalp issues from dandruff to dermatitis, over use can cause more drying and itching but used correctly it can work wonders. My own baby had a lil spell of dry itchy spots and biting and scratching a few months ago and I started mixing (2) teaspoon fulls of baking soda into his oatmeal shampoo once weekly
and following with an oatmeal conditioner the baking soda sluffs the skin and removes all the itchy flaky skin as well as any irritants that may be on the skin. Just a suggestion maybe you can find something that will work for you.
I would also keep up the natural diet that can never hurt.

[johnnymac]

Hey Cocos Mommy,
I think we have come to the conclusion that it is fleas. We have found a few on our cats and on him. So, we are taking the fleas to war! If this doesn't work it's off to the vet!

[CocosMoM]

I am happy to hear that you have hopefuly found the problem I do think you could be rite about the fleas I have a good friend who's cat's are allergic to fleas and they loose there hair and have red blotches alot like what you describe so if it happens to cats it could very possibly happen to a dog.
GOOD LUCK with fighting the fleas that is the one problem all us pet owners have to stay on top of because in most cases they are unaviodable.

[lindsayanng]

i definitely suggest advantage. I believe that with frontline, they can still occasionally have a live flea on them, but with advantage, it repels them so they can not stay on the dog.

[Jack06]

Hi Johnnymac,
We are having the same problem with our Yorshire Terrier, Jack. He has been biting his hair off, licking and scratching. What was J.J.'s problem?