# Poodle is ok but need help with my Pitbull...



## tbone1004 (Nov 11, 2012)

Feeding Canidae all life stages to both my pitbull/lab mix and my poodle. The mutt is new to me as of a month ago and came to me with a lot of hair loss. He's 14 months old and the previous owner said that when she adopted him he had the hair loss and it never went away in the 6 months she had it. Apparently he's been scraped for mange 3 times and they all came back negative. He has extreme hair loss in his groin, and major on his belly, face and chest. He has patches on his back and tail. He's not scratching at it constantly, has very very few red bumps, and has tons of energy.

With the high energy, I'm doubting hypothyroid issues *he makes my 8 month poodle look like a couch potato....*.
I'm thinking it may be demodex since the webbing between his toes does look irritated and he doesn't like his paws being touched, but with the scrapings coming back negative from the previous owner I'm at a loss.

I'm thinking it may be a food allergy. He was on Nutro Max from about 6 months until we got him a month ago, and then went on Canidae. He's eating less and less as time went on as he got used to Canidae and is now on about 2 cups/day that we leave out for him and he has more energy than ever. We have a great butcher right up the road and we get both beef and deer marrow bones cut into 3 inch lengths for them so they can get the marrow without chewing too hard on them. They have access to them all the time and stool is good consistency. Poodle is doing quite good on this diet and is building good muscle mass and has a beautiful coat. I'm thinking about changing the food to ToTW Hi Prairie but didn't know if anyone had anything else that may be better for them.

Unfortunately feeding raw isn't an option right now. I'm easing them both into it, but they like their kibble. I think they're more picky with the consistency than anything else, but we're working on it.

Thanks for the help guys!


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## MaryLynn (Sep 8, 2012)

Sounds like demodex to me. I fostered a Boston terrier that had it, we did get her treatment for it (she was taking an oral drop-can't remember the name). This however would be very easy to determine through the skin scraping (they are a triangular shaped thing if I remember correctly-I got to look) so if the scraping came up negative then it has to be something else. 

If it is demodex then it should clear up on it's own as the immune system changes at maturity.

Are the red bumps hot spots? I think food allergies are usually a big cause of skin problems, but you would likely see behavioral difference such as head shaking, face rubbing, excessive licking/paws, etc. 

Maybe go on a fish based diet, eliminate other forms of protein and see what happens?


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## Pluto (Jul 8, 2012)

Did the previouse owner actually provide you with the test results from their vet? If so I would call the vet on the results and have a quick chat to see what they are thinking it might be. If not, I might do ahead and have your own vet assess the situation, including doing their own test.


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Pluto said:


> Did the previouse owner actually provide you with the test results from their vet? If so I would call the vet on the results and have a quick chat to see what they are thinking it might be. If not, I might do ahead and have your own vet assess the situation, including doing their own test.


+1 -- see if you can contact the vet who did the testing to inquire about their diagnosis.


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