Missing hair

by Elle
(AR)

We had a stray dog, deliver a set of 4 boys in our old well house.

I have befriended her and she now lets me check on them. Yesterday, I noticed that on 2 of the boys that the hair on the tips of their tails was missing. In its place, skin that looked extremely rough.

What could this be? The mother is a lab and 2 of the boys look like rotts.


Hi Elle
There are lots of different reasons that puppies and dogs can experience hair loss, and it's impossible for me to say what is at the root of these puppys' problem I'm afraid.

However, if the hair loss is limited to the tips of their tails and isn't spreading, and they seem perfectly happy and healthy otherwise, then you may not need to worry about it.

Patchy hair loss can be caused by dog allergies, parasitic infestation such as with mange, bacterial infections, congenital defects and more. In this case it could even be something as simple as one puppy habitually chewing on another puppys' tail!

Only a vet can make a correct diagnosis and determine whether treatment is needed. I would recommend that you have these puppies seen by a vet (they will need deworming and puppy shots at 7 weeks of age anyway, and if they're close to that now you could combine the visits.

I hope this helps some, and I wish you the best of luck with these little guys.