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Might This Be A Fungus Anyway?

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Pat Shields

Pat Shields

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►Salvatore has had periods of hair loss where his skin becomes greasy and flaky and all of his hair from the shoulders down comes out in large clumps all at once. Through trial and error I have learned how to avoid this. I give him a bath when I see it beginning to develop, and before he dries I apply a solution I make with water, hypoallergenic lotion, and clotrimazole cream, making sure the skin is saturated. I apply this solution for 3 or 4 days and his hair grows back thick and lush and/or stops falling out, and the lotion in it soothes his skin dryness and keeps his skin supple. The clotrimazole cream is a skin fungus medication.
►I have taken him to the local vet for examination, skin scraping and fungal culture. The tests and microscopy were negative for mites of any sort and negative for fungus. The vet prescribed ivermectin anyway, but that did not help. Neither did the medicated shampoo that was prescribed.
►Since I have improved his nutrition greatly since I got him all sick and starving, he stopped having the scurvy-type symptoms with dandruffy skin he had early on, so that isn't it.
►He does not itch when this happens, does not bite himself or have fits or any of that. He is never in any distress. His skin just builds up greasy, flaky scales and his hair comes out. It looks like seborrheic dermatitis in humans except for the hair loss. Also, it is only the hair on his back.
►This situation does not improve unless I use the clotrimazole solution, which leads me to think that even though examination was negative for fungus, there might be one there anyway. Has anyone ever encountered similar?
 
Pat Shields said:
►Salvatore has had periods of hair loss where his skin becomes greasy and flaky and all of his hair from the shoulders down comes out in large clumps all at once. Through trial and error I have learned how to avoid this. I give him a bath when I see it beginning to develop, and before he dries I apply a solution I make with water, hypoallergenic lotion, and clotrimazole cream, making sure the skin is saturated. I apply this solution for 3 or 4 days and his hair grows back thick and lush and/or stops falling out, and the lotion in it soothes his skin dryness and keeps his skin supple. The clotrimazole cream is a skin fungus medication.
►I have taken him to the local vet for examination, skin scraping and fungal culture. The tests and microscopy were negative for mites of any sort and negative for fungus. The vet prescribed ivermectin anyway, but that did not help. Neither did the medicated shampoo that was prescribed.
►Since I have improved his nutrition greatly since I got him all sick and starving, he stopped having the scurvy-type symptoms with dandruffy skin he had early on, so that isn't it.
►He does not itch when this happens, does not bite himself or have fits or any of that. He is never in any distress. His skin just builds up greasy, flaky scales and his hair comes out. It looks like seborrheic dermatitis in humans except for the hair loss. Also, it is only the hair on his back.
►This situation does not improve unless I use the clotrimazole solution, which leads me to think that even though examination was negative for fungus, there might be one there anyway. Has anyone ever encountered similar?
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It can well be fungus, as most labs test only for ringworm, but there is a host of others. Ideally, I would recommend to ask your vet for a full course of either medicated baths or even better, a full course of oral fungal solution like itrafungol, which is now more and more widely used by vets for guinea pigs. Not sure whether the latter is available in the US or has an US equivalent. A whole bottle is also pretty expensive, but I have found it very effective with fungal piggies of mine, especially where the immune system was compromised by other issues.
 
Thank you again, dear Wiebke! I will ask today or tomorrow; I need to stop in to get some flea preventive for the cats and dogs (I am spending my son's inheritance on all creatures great and small!)
 
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