Why isn't my dog's hair growing back in one spot after a haircut?

One of the things that Cushing's disease affects is the normal metabolism of hair follicles. Normally hair follicles "turn over" or produce hair quickly enough that we don't see areas of hair loss even though dogs (and us) lose hair daily. When a dog has Cushing's disease, the hair follicles are not regrowing hair as quickly as possible. (And often they do not shed the hairs normally.) Cushing's disease also affects their immune system, so it is more likely that dogs will get overgrowth of normal yeast and bacteria that can invade the hair follicles and cause the hair to fall out. So, what I would suspect occurred is that Buttercup had an area of hair where the hair follicles had a yeast or bacterial overgowth that invaded the hair follicles. Instead of shedding normally, those hairs stayed in place and allowed the bacterial/yeast overgrowth to spread until the hairs were mechanically removed with a brush. And since her hair follicles were not regrowing hair normally, the area is now bald. If there is any crusting, itching or redness that develops, I would certainly have your vet examine Buttercup. Otherwise, i would recommend regular bathing and brushing to remove dead undercoat and prevent future skin problems. It will take time, but fur should regrow in that area as long as the skin there is healthy. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It can take many months for hair to regrow. Sometimes bald patches can occur with mites, itching from fleas/allergies/mites/infection, hypothyroidism or other endocrine disorder, alopecia, among a few other things. Since Duke is still a puppy, I would recommend that you have him examined by a vet to see what could be the case. The vet can look for treatable causes of the bald spots. Also, feeding a high quality puppy food and supplementing with Vitamin E and fish oils can support the body and skin to help hair grow.

Poor Marley! Slow regrowth of hair on certain parts of the body can often be caused by hormonal problems such as hypothyroidism or Cushing's disease. Your vet can run some simple blood tests to check for these problems, so I would suggest having this done when you are able to - these are very treatable issues once a diagnosis is made :) In the meantime, if he isn't having any other symptoms at all, you could also try an omega-3 fatty acid supplement such as Welactin to help promote healthy skin and hair - sometimes this can help if he's otherwise doing fine.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If the hair thinning seems to be on the tail and the rest of his body and he is not itching, licking, or scratching the hair loss, then it may be due to an underlying endocrine disease such as Cushing's disease, diabetes, or hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone). I would recommend Hugo see his veterinarian soon for this. Your veterinarian will do a physical exam and may recommend blood work to check for any underlying health conditions such as the ones mentioned above among others to help determine a cause so he can get treated most appropriately. I hope this helps and thanks again for posting!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes I would be concerned. She may have microscopic mites (demodex) that need to be addressed. A vet will need to see her and scrape her skin to look at the mites under the microscope. If found, they can start Buzy on treatments and eventually the hair should grow back. If it isn’t mites the vet may need to do more tests to determine why she isn’t growing hair. Once a diagnosis is made the correct treatment should fix her problem. Good luck and kisses to Buzy!

Patchy hair coat can be due to a number of factors, including endocrine disease (such as hypothyroidism), allergies, bacterial or fungal or parasitic infection of the skin. I would recommend an exam at your vet so they can see the hair coat and skin. They may recommend testing such as bloodwork to screen for thyroid disease, or skin cytology to check for infection.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. The hair is expected to grow back when the allergies and infections resolve. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!