blue heeler that is losing hair

[blueheeler]

I have a blue heeler that is 6 yrs. She is itching all of her hair off. She itches so bad that she has wore down her front teeth. I was wondering if anyone knows what to do for her.

[RoughCollies]

Here are some things that it could be:
fleas
mange (sarcoptic and demodectic)
dry skin
allergies

For fleas: Give her a bath in a good flea and tick shampoo. Then, use an oatmeal rinse to provide moisture to her skin. You can give her garlic pills and use an OTC flea med. like frontline to kill the remaining fleas.
For mange: See a vet.
For dry skin: What are you feeding her? The food must have a good balance of Omega 3 and 6. You can give her salmon oil or Lineatone. Bathe her in an oatmeal shampoo and then use an oatmeal rinse.
For allergies: Again, what are you feeding her? Corn, Soy, casien and gluten are big No's in dog food. Basically, anything with sugars, wheat, corn, barley, dairy, by-products, etc. Try Solid Gold Holistique Blendz. Again, bathe and rinse with oatmeal shampoo.

[blueheeler]

She is getting feed a moist food in the morning (1/2 can), and about 2 cups of her dry food. Its kibbles and bits. She does have a small amount of fleas, but I used a sponge on kennel dip, its really hard to dip a 45 pound heeler. But even after the fleas are gone, she still itches. She rolls on her back and just itches. My daughter has named her woller dog. She looks like a pig, from the middle of the back to her tail. Almost no hair. I sure wish I could figure out whats wrong, cause my other dog which is a aussie /heeler gets fed the same thing, except she weighs 70 pounds, doesn't have the problems the heeler has.

[RoughCollies]

The spot on flea meds might not work. They are not that reliable. Try frontline. It is more expensive, but it will do the job. I think the fleas might be the problem, however, it might also be the food. Or a mixture.

The food, Kibbles and Bits is what I consider a very low quality food. They advertise it so that people think it is great, but they basically lie to you. You can try using a skin and coat formula. I believe that Natures Recipe had one. Otherwise, I would switch to Nutro Natural Choice. You might say, "I can't afford to buy expensive dog food." Well in that case, let me give you a little statistic that I learned from a dog food seminar. By feeding the better food, you feed less of it because it has less fillers in it. That means, it takes you longer to go through a bag of dog food. Plus less fillers = less waste to pick up. You can give her an oatmeal shampoo bath and condition her with oatmeal conditioner.

Try using the frontline, even if it's only until the fleas die. Then, when she is flea free, you could switch her back, though I have a feeling that you won't want to. Then, slowly switch her to Nutro or Natures Recipe. Both are good, yet somewhat inexpensive foods. You can also give her Lineatone or Salmon Oil.

[RoughCollies]

Plus, two cups of food, plus a half a can is WAY too much food. My dog, which is 10 lbs more than yours, gets 1/2 can plus 1/2 cup of food twice daily. She gets solid gold, which is very good food and very expensive. If you had her on a better food, you would need a lot less dry. Remember, the kibble expands when wet. Try putting a peice of kibble in a water dish and think of that in your dogs stomach.

[AroHawk Collies]

Like Rough said the better quality food you have the longer it takes to go through. I have 3 55 + collies at my house. 40lbs of Flint River lasts me about a month and a half to two months.

[Dobified]

Sounds like a food allergy. Get a higher quality food, from a pet supply store not a grocery store or dept. store.

Switch it gradually over the course of a week. You should see an improvement in about two weeks with the itching.

You could also call your vet for advice.

[blueheeler]

Thanks for everyones info. I get her food from work. I work at Tractor Supply. We carry alot of different brands. I will try changing food but cowgirl and sissy are the pickest eaters around.. We had a bag of weight control food and cowgirl(the aussie cross) would not even touch it. SIssy started itching years ago when I had her put on sentinal but then my vet changed her to intercepter. Which she is on now. But I will change her food. SHe gets feed once daily. thats why she gets what she does. I just wish she would stop itching.

[xoamyox23]

My heelers got that just last summer, they lost alot of thier hair on thier back and near thier mouth. But it kinda just died off in the winter i guess from the cold. But what hepled is we used this stuff called Happy Jack.

[Lunasmama]

What is Lineatone and where would you get it?