JRT losing beard & feathers

by Jan Phillips
(Siloam Spgs, AR, US)

over the past several months, we have noticed that our JR has lost most of his beard, much hair around his nose/mouth & most of the 'feathers' on his ears. we had him checked for mites, etc. & test was neg. - he does not have kidney failure or thyroid problems - he does cratch at his nose a bit but that wouldn't affect his beard or ear feather loss - has anyone else had this issue?

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Jun 11, 2013
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by: Anonymous

Thank you - i guess this isn't as odd as we thought - the feathers aren't as plentiful as they had been but better. thanks for your thoughtfulness in asking your vet - ours didn't know what would cause that except mites & the test was negative for critters.
Jan
Jun 11, 2013
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by: Anonymous

My JRT suddenly lost his ear feathers this year. He turned 8 yrs old in May, 2013. However, my vet had me put him on a lower caloric intake and he had lost 10 lbs. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. He is definitely more energetic and his appetite is fine. He still has plenty of hair (sheds a lot)!!! I will question my vet about the hair loss. Thanks
May 30, 2013
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by: Jan

Thanks, Beth - he has eaten a high-end, meat first food since we got him 3 yrs ago (Blue buffalo chicken & rice) but it isn't totally grain-free - oddly, most of his hair & feathers have returned - but he throws up often - has been through lots of testing, meds, etc. for that so allergies might be causing that too - the next step is to take him to a special clinic to have a scope rather than exploratory surgery - hopefully it will be an easy fix.
thanks for writing,
Jan
May 29, 2013
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by: Beth

Our Jack was losing hair in general - not just around the mouth. We did every test under the sun and our vet attributed the hair loss to allergies. We did an allergy elimination diet and determined our Jack was allergic to grains. We upgraded his dog food to an organic brand and also feed him omega 3/fish oil capsules over his food. That has helped a bit! I know you did a bunch of tests but I didn't see anything listed about allergies. Might be worth a shot?

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