Puppy losing hair on nose bridge

[Mobylicious]

Hi to everybody, I am newbie all the way. New in dog ownership, new in Eskie matters and new in the Website. I recently got a male Mini Eskie, Moby. He is now 10 weeks old. When he arrived home he looked perfect, all fluffy and white. Around 4 days ago or so I started noticing that he has been losing patches of hair around the mouth, the bridge of the nose and it looks like is spreading to the eye zone. Now the poor thing has a brown speckled and hairless muzzle. I brought him to the vet who scraped his skin and tested for Demodectic Mange which came out negative. The vet gave me some cortisone base lotion to apply on it. I am still concerned because I really don't know what it is. Some other people suggest that maybe the puppy can be stressed because of the new home. I was just wondering if any of you had to go through the same problem or know anybody that has. Any help or suggestion is welcomed.

I am not sure if I should post here or in health so sorry if I posted in the wrong place.

Thanks a lot!!

[eskieagilitygal]

Hello and welcome to the Eskie Board.  I sure someone will reply who has some experience in this area,

If it's not mange, did the vet say it could be alergy related?  Did you switch foods on the pup?   Have you called the Breeder and let him/her know what happened, they may know, if it has happened with others in their line.

It could also be stress related.  How is he/she acting otherwise?

Did the vet give you any other options of what it could be? 

I know...I'm no much help on this, but do keep us posted on if the cream is working and how the pup is doing.

[Pinebrook]

Are you feeding him from a plastic dish?  Sometimes this can cause problems

Welcome to the board and congratulations on your new baby!!

We will need pictures, of course!

[EskieMa]

Did the vet even mention cheyletiella?   Its other name is walking dandruff. Puppies under 3,4 months of age can have a good bit of it.  It may give the pup a sort of moth eaten look of hair loss and then you see the skin. Usually its across the nose and around the eyes forming almost a mask, but it can hit the mouth and even parts of the body.  

Today it is thought to be highly contagious to other dogs [pups] but i've known cases that were not treated and went away on their own in about 2 weeks. Possibly due to the life cycle of the investing mite? It does occur during periods of growth and stress.

The other thing that comes to my mind as it began with the muzzle, it can be an allergic reaction to plastic if you use plastic bowls or if you are using a plastic crate and he is pressing his nose through the holes.

[eskilady]

Or does he rub it on anything alot?  a rug?  the side of his crate?  He could just be rubbing it off on something.

[Mobylicious]

Wow thanks for such prompt replies, I am so glad I joined!! Ok so trying to answer every reply: The vet mention Ringworm but asked if anyone in the family got a rash or something which we haven't. I started feeding him outside the crate in a steel dish but he gets distracted with anything so I thought maybe I feed him in the crate, that was around 4 days ago: guess what, the dish for the crate is plastic. He does eat great now but maybe is the plastic then? As far as the Walking Dandruff he did not mention anything but I will pay attention to that too since what you are describing is how he actually looks like. When I take him out in the backyard he likes to eat grass and chase leaves but I thought that was normal as I have seen other dogs doing it. Food related, he has been pooping a lot lately so I guess either he is eating too much or I have to change food. I think I am going to start by removing the plastic dish and see what happens because this definitely started around 4-5 days ago and that's when I started feeding him with the dish.
I am trying to figure out how to get the pics on the website.....

Thanks a lot to all for all your help!

[Mobylicious]

Here is just a pic of little Moby (before he started losing the hair) I will upload more later on.

Thanks,

[Evania]

What a sweet little guy =)

Evania pushes her nose through her crate and it sometimes rubs the fur off of her snout.  Right now she has a missing spot on the top.

[DesertEskie]

Welcome, welcome!  What an adorable little fluffball you have there!!

[moose]

Welcome to the board!  Sorry I don't have anything to add to the fur loss.  Hope it gets better soon.

[Geno]

Welcome to the board. Moby is just too cute, gotta love puppies! Hope the little guy gets better soon.

Geno

[Mobylicious]

Hi Everyone

Thank you all again for your suggestions. Moby is getting better and you can tell that the hair is growing back already. Whether it is the cream or not I don't know but I am more inclined to believe it was the plastic dish. Anyway so we are both very happy now!!

Thanks!!

[Geno]

Every time I see Moby's picture in your tag I get a good laugh. He looks like he's ready to find trouble to get into. Glad to hear he's doing better.

Geno

[Mobylicious]

Well he is pretty well behaved (sometimes he just goes a little nuts...)He went for a swim in the pool today and he was trying to drink while swimming...Funny part when he came out... funny for us he looked like a weird dog mix with all that fur in the head and all skinny looking the rest of the body. 

Thanks for your comments!!