Maltese dog Hair Falling Out?

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Please bear in mind when reading topics pertaining to health issues, that most of these questions were answered by helpful Maltese owners with no formal education in veterinary medicine. When in doubt seek a professionals advise.

Archived Message

Hair Falling Out?
by MIKE
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Hair Falling Out? My Maltese (Busch) has suddenly has a problem with chunks of hair falling out. Can someone tell me why? Do you have a remedy? Thank You

DISCUSSION:

There are a lot of reasons why the hair would fall out and it is difficult to say why or how to fix it without some testing or more information. I'll name a few just to give you an idea, but really you need to see a vet and get the problem properly diagnosed (you didn't mention the age of the dog, so I'll just list some general causes in no particular order off the top of my head):

Thyroid deficiency (hair gets brittle and falls out easy.. skin gets thickened too sometimes). Hormonal imbalance (rare.. usually cortisone excess (Cushings Disease) or estrogen excess.. does not usually affect the head.. usually its a symmetrical pattern of hair loss rather than patches.

Seborrhea (is the skin greasy and flaky or scaly?) Ringworm (are there round patches of scaly red skin with no hair?)

Demodex (demodectic mange) (usually this occurs in puppies rather than adults)

There are other reasons as well I'm sure. The only way to find out is to see a vet and have some tests done. Depending on what the vet suspects, he/she may want to do a skin scraping, blood tests, and/or cultures. Hope this helps.. good luck.. let us know how it turns out.
Aimee

Mike - Chunks of hair falling out it not a common problem with Maltese. Has Busch recently had a shot? How old is he? I would strongly suggest you take him in to your vet and have him checked out. It may possibly be allergies. One time I had one have a reaction to a vaccination but only a small area around where the shot was given was affected. Let us know.
Vivian

I'm really sorry I can't remember who sent this in but her mother's Maltese was losing hair in one spot and the spot kept growing for a few days. After loads of trips to different vets one told her it was a blow dryer burn. They apparently don't show up till a couple of days later, develop for 3 or 4 days then slowly heal. Had your dog been groomed recently? It's probably a medical problem but if your vet can't find anything keep this in mind.
Starr