# Balding/hair thinning?



## Chilly dog (Aug 16, 2005)

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd share this little worry of mine and see if anyone has ever experienced the same thing and maybe it will ease my conscience a little bit! Well, first of all Chilly is happy and healthy 10 week old pup who weighs in at 4lbs. I was fortunate enough to meet both Chilly's parents, who were slightly larger than your average maltese. ANYWAY, let me get to the point...

Chilly's fur dad's hair was thinning badly and he was only 4 years old. It was to the point that you could see A LOT more skin than you'd want to. I was just wondering if anyone had or heard of this experience before? If Chilly's hair does thin out in the years to come, is there anything I can do to treat, or better yet prevent, it?

Any thought on this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Mal & Chill


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

The first thing that comes to mind is thyroid disease, which causes thinning hair. I believe Maltese are prone to low thyroid conditions. Another, but not so common cause for thinning hair would be Cushings Disease.

Thyroid disease is treatable with pills and pretty inexpensively. Thyroid function can be checked pretty easily with bloodwork. My Lady was checked when she started having seizures as that is a symptom.

Did you ask the breeder why Chilly's sire had thinning hair? Did your breeder have any genetic testing done on Chilly's parents? I wonder why she would breed a dog with an obvious problem?

Here is a link to a table with other causes for hair loss:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...3&articleid=421


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## Chilly dog (Aug 16, 2005)

Thanks so much for the link and the advice.

I did ask the breeder about it and she simply replied that both the father and mother were in perfect health. Even though it probably would have been the better thing to do, I didn't want to press the subject further for fear of insulting her babies!

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge on the subject. I guess the best thing I can do at this point is just hope that Chilly doesn't inherit anything of the sort! *fingers crossed*

Mal & Chilly


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## danah (Jan 8, 2005)

I believe I would have the bloodwork done LadysMom mentioned just to rule out any possible problems. I hope all is well.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Thyroid would be my first guess as well. Mites and allergic skin disease can also cause hair loss. 

I insist on seeing health testing results on parents of any puppies I look at. It isn't rude. If I am spending a significant amount of money on the puppy, I want to know that the parents are healthy and the breeder is trying to produce healthy, sound pups.


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