Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 9/15/2010

Question
My dog steel is a 2yr old blue IG and has significant hair loss.  Test came negative on skin scrapings.  Not sure it is alopecia for his back hair is where he is not balding.  Primarily balding started on legs and is progressing up his sides and seems to be very even on both sides, including his face.  Any ideas?  Possible Thyroid? Blood tests are my next step

Answer
Even though the skin scrapings did not find mites, that does not mean that there are no mites.  It just means that there were no mites on those areas that were scraped.  I would treat with a few amitraz dippings anyway because hair loss on the legs is so common in demodex mange. If the dog is not very itchy, I would also add omega 3 fatty acids (marine fish oil) to the diet for a couple of months to see if the hair will re-grow.  At 2 years of age, hypothyroidism would be very unusual.