That Ol Chestnut-Bald thighs!

Amber · Master

That Ol Chestnut-Bald thighs!

Teresa · Enlightened One

i doubt there is a cure for this. when we first got dave he was a baldy-butt. after about 3 to 4 months the hair started to grow and looked good. then, a few months after that, he lost the hair again and was back to having a skinny bum!

i've decided not to worry about it and love him however much hair he doesn't have ! anyway, the bald thighs are nice to blow raspberries on !!! hehehehehe

Chas · Old Hand

Hiya,

There was some discussions about this in the "Health Issues" part of the forum - think it was headed up "Bald Patches".

We have always used aloe vera gel and found this to work quite well. Available from most health food shops for a couple of pounds.

Chas

Suzanne · Guru

I think I may have fuelled the aloe vera gel cures baldy bums debate. Murphy was quite bald last year, slathered him in gel for weeks & the hair all grew back in again! Magic stuff!

However he is even balder than ever now as I think thats where he manifests upset in his routine - by a bald butt! With me moving around regularily with my course this year/staying at my aunts for weeks on end whilst at GUVS etc - his routine gets uprooted every few weeks just as he settles in....now you can play a good rendition of knees up mother brown on his smooth as a babies bum...

bless him. Guess it must be like a teenager listening to his dad tell him how he was bald by the time he was 20 - nowt you do do but mutter about genetics & walk off when people ask you why you have no hair....

LOL

Amber · Master

Thanks - as I thought, no magic cure out there, but might give the aloe vera gel a try Her skin is at times slightly flaky on the bald patches too and the patches of bare skin feel quite hot.

She is rather unusual in that when originally rehomed she was in perfect physical condition coming out of the trainers kennels, but after 9 months or so in her previous home, when i got her she was 3kg under her racing weight and with baldy bits. Think this was due to her horrible food she was allegedly being fed (she is a very fussy eater & just wouldn't eat much if presented with same nasty dog food every day), maybe losing her kennel coat.

Think stress & nutrition are the main causes - though can't see why she'd be stressed just now & she seems to have gone balder on her shoulders past few days (although maybe me going back to my p/t work after the hols has upset her?).

I suppose I do have a slight nagging worry about thyroid, but vets don't seem to be very good at diagnosing this problem. I knew another greyhound that had very, very bald thighs, not a hair in sight in a very straight line (like he'd been shaved) and it turned out that he had thyroid probs all along, but this wasn't discovered for a long time.

FAJ · Enlightened One

I think that baldy thighs are just one of those things that some dogs have and some don't. Harry and Pearly are both fed on the same additive free, complete food. Pearly is very baldy on her thighs and butt but Harry has a good covering. Oddly enough, he does have a funny wee baldy patch that looks like we've taken a shaver to him - it's right in the middle of his thigh, about 2" long and 1.5" thick. Very strange. Pearly definitely gets baldier with stress. She lost loads of hair when we first got her, from her butt and down the sides of her neck.

It can't hurt to try the aloe vera gel. Harry had very flaky skin and a lot of hair loss along his sides when we got him, and he was 6kg underweight (and this was despite being lavished with care for 3 weeks in a wonderful foster home - I'm glad I didn't see him when he first came to GAL as I fear my tears would never stop!). We massaged him with aloe vera gel and it helped his skin and he's nice and hairy now.

As for the vet, if you want a thyroid test then can you insist on one? Let's face it, you'll be paying good money for it, and if it sets your mind at rest then surely the customer comes first.

Amber · Master

Yes I suppose I could insist on a thyroid test, but it seems that the lab testing in the UK is highly variable and not v. reliable. I looked into it when I thought that thyroid may be a reason for Oscar's aggression. The conclusion i arrived at is that most UK vets labs do a 4 panel thyroid test (rather than a 6 panel test) which is not very thorough or reliable...it seems to be a very complex test that requires expert analysis, particularly if the dog is 'borderline' hypothyroid, which many vets would say is 'normal' or within normal range, although it could still affect the dog in subtle ways. There is a thyroid expert in the USA if you can persuade your vet to send the serum to them for analysis that you know is going to be correct, but it does seem a lot of hassle when the only symptom is a bit of baldy bum!

Shellgaz · Old Hand

daves_mum wrote:

i've decided not to worry about it and love him however much hair he doesn't have ! anyway, the bald thighs are nice to blow raspberries on !!! hehehehehe

As much as I love Saffron (and I love her greatly) I would no more blow rasberries on her bum or back legs as fly to the moon!!!