Expert: Angela Donald - 11/4/2010

Question
Hi,

My 12 month female boxer has thining hair on side of face . She occassionally scratches it but not often . Its more on the right than the left & I can feel small bumps underneath & ofcourse a few scratches . She does go to the dog park to play & lots of dogs especially pups love to get her on the face & under her chin. I guess she seems to have reacted to their saliva. Its spring & possibly allergies?? Its only the sides of her face & back of ears sliding down to the face . She has some red small bumps on her chest . Wonder what it could be? Iam taking her to the vet but wanted to know if there is any particular tests I should request them to run on her.I washed her with Malaseb shampoo.I also remeber giving her Heartworm "Heartguard a couple of days ago...not sure if she is reacting to it as its only the second time she had it. She uses Advocate on a monthly basis but I rotated using Frontline & heartguard last & this month. Iam wondering if that is causing her greif.



Thanks,
Shilpa.

Answer
Hi Shilpa,

It definitely sounds like an allergic reaction to something. You will need to tell the vet the same things you told me here. You will need to continue rotating the medicines on a monthly basis to see if one of them is the trigger to this allergy. It could also be mites and the vet would need to do a skin scraping to try and confirm it, as they don't always show up on this test even though they are present. Do have a yearly thyroid test done as this can cause hair thinning as well. Good luck and let me know what the vet says.

Angela Donald
Canine Behavior Consultant
Hi-Tower Boxers
http://www.hitowerboxers.com