[Dan_A]

Anyone have any ideas on Ellie loosing hair near one side of her nose? Doesn’t appear to be inflamed or any other signs of a problem.

 

[Pupmum99]

Is she itching/rubbing it? It’s an odd place to lose fur randomly for sure. Could just be lighting but is she also losing a little around her eye?

 

[Dan_A]

Just really that spot by her nose. She’s always been light around the eyes pretty much. She’s not licking or scratching any more than usual and not that spot.

 

[BellaVT]

Since you asked for "any idea", I'll assume you are stumped and offer a very low probability possibility. Fungal nose infections can cause an acidic discharge that discolors the nose in a somewhat similar pattern to that:

Unlikely that this would be the only symptom, and probably wouldn't cause the hair loss out that far, but did look a little reminiscent of the way the light skin extends around the flare of the nose.

 

[texasred]

It’s not inflamed. Any chance she’s rubbing it while crated? I would probably just keep a eye on it at this point. Only get concerned if it gets larger, or shows up in other areas.

 

[Dan_A]

Yea no signs of infection or other symptoms. Possible she’s rubbing it but I’d think it would be raw. Will keep an eye on it.

 

[Gabica]

if it is not raw, nor itchy, i would run some tests by my vet, like endocrine and other hormones. changes in those can cause spotty hair loss.

 

[lw19]

@Dan_A, Please keep us updated on how things progress with sweet Ellie girl!

 

[Dan_A]

Update : We took Ellie to the vet a few days ago. They suspect demodex, but did not find any with a tape pull. They didn't want to scrape the sensitive area.

We are treating for all of the usual causes, Nexguard tablet for demodex, topical antibacterial/antifungal/steroidal cream, and systemic antibiotics (cefpodoxmine) .

Ellie is super healthy so demodex is strange to be a cause, but hey she had pyometra before the age of two so she is already a special cookie.

The hair loss appears to be getting larger but of course we'll have to give it a few weeks to really know if one of the treatments hit the cause. Besides the hair loss and what the vet thinks is some inflammation (darkness on nose to face area) she is very healthy and active not skipping a beat.

I haven't been treating her with any parasitic/insect preventatives as I don't find them necessary in the winter time here. Maybe the demodex mites took advantage of the reprieve and held a little party.

 

[texasred]

I know Cash got stung on the face by a bee, as a puppy. The area that swelled, also had hair loss later.

 

[Dan_A]

Update: So far the consensus is vitiligo . She’s super healthy and active . Seems her skin and hair in that area turned bright white. Nothing we can do as it’s one of those conditions that we don’t know much about other than it being an autoimmune reaction that causes the body to attack melanin in certain areas of the body . It won’t hurt her , just we now have an easily identifiable V with a bright white patch on her nose. Good thing we weren’t in the dog show ring with her!

 

[texasred]

I had the hair come back white, after a injury on the dogs. Shine, and it looks like Heifer might be the same will get a white hair at a injection site. No idea why, and haven’t been concerned about it.

 

[Gabica]

I had the hair come back white, after a injury on the dogs. Shine, and it looks like Heifer might be the same will get a white hair at a injection site. No idea why, and haven’t been concerned about it.

that white or grey post injury hair regrowth seems to be common across several short haired single colored breeds, like Doberman, Weimeraner, Vizsla etc. In fact in order to avoid any eyebrow raised in the show ring about the AKC vizsla standard: White due to aging or scarring must not be faulted

the AKC Weimeraner standard calls it out like this:
White spots resulting from injury should not be penalized

 

[Dan_A]

This is pretty much straight up vitiligo , it seems to be expanding.

 

[Bob Engelhardt]

It's a mustache! Adorable.

 

[Pupmum99]

Oh gosh it’s so endearing

 

[texasred]

I mustache you a question.

sorry I couldn’t help it

 

[Dan_A]

I told my wife we need to return her as defective. Got one of those looks back at me!