Hi My 7yr old English springer/cocker has started either licking or scratching his fur either side of his stomach. He now has bald patches on both sides. my vet has been pretty useless, firstly blaming fleas and secondly thinking it was hormonal. After 3 visits and just over £200 on various creams with no success I’m going to try a new vet but first I thought I’d see if anybody on here had any ideas. Thanks
Your vet probably wanted to exclude the most common causes of skin irritation before looking further. Symmetrical hair loss often does have a hormonal reason, but you may may need to have to some tests done in order to identify whether this is true in your dog's case. Has your vet suggested having a full blood profile done?
Hi Thanks for your replies. The vet didn’t do any skin scrapes or take any hairs. Yes they have suggested a blood profile, my main problem I have with the vets is is we’ve seen 3 different locum vets. Each one having a seemingly different opinion. The blood test suggested would cost £185, does this seem reasonable?
I do not know what normal prices are - you quote £ so I assume you are in the UK. If that charge is just for a basic blood test then it is way more than I had to pay for the three-monthly blood tests my beloved Pereg [the one in my avatar] had to have, which my Vet did at the clinic while I waited. For the six-monthly tests which had to go to an outside specialist, I paid the equivalent of approximately £235 for both the regular blood tests and the outside specialist, who did the full thyroid panel, extra liver tests, and the amount of Phenobarbitone in her blood. [She was epileptic and had to take very large doses of Pheno so we had to keep a close check on her levels]. My Vet now comes to me every three months to give Tikva, my current little one, a Parkworm shot, for which he has to weigh her - a Bravecto tick and flea tablet - and every six months she has a regular worm pill. Yearly, which also includes her booster, probably costs somewhere in the region of £550 a year, and that includes the call out. And no, I do not have pet insurance because there is not any here. [Incidentally I am quoting these costs at today's current rate of interest.]
My external lab tests were about £130, and the last one would have been about four years ago - but a full profile test is necessary for diagnosis. My boy has been settled on his medication for 5 years now - he is eleven - so we now just have an in-house blood test every six months, - approx. £30. (My lad's case was thyroid deficiency, but I'm not suggesting that your Springer lacks the same hormone).
Thanks again for your replies, Thyroid was mentioned by the vet, I will go ahead and get him the full blood test. Hopefully we can find the problem and get him sorted. Thanks guys
It depends what they are testing for. A referral to a vet dermatologist might be worth a thought and is often money well spent as they are more likely to get to a solution quickly and precisely saving money in the long run.