Seasonal Flank Alopecia?

NJBullyMommy

New member
Apr 20, 2011
323
59
New Jersey
Bulldog(s) Names
Brutus (Bruty, Bru Bru, Brutus Maximus)
Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a bit, but I have a few questions. Does anyone's bully out there have seasonal flank alopecia? Brutus began losing the hair on his sides (only there and symmetrical) around Novmber. I've been to 2 vets and they both want to run these tests where I have to keep Brutus there for 2 days and take blood from him like every 2 hours. I refuse to put him through this and finally went to a bulldog specialist. As soon as I walked in, he laughed at me and what the other vets said and said it was only seasonal flank alopecia and it is very common in bulldogs. Brutus is almost 2 and has never had this happen before. Apparently there is no treatment and I just wanted to know if anyone else has this issue? He's white with brown spots and I feel soo bad cause you can see his pink piggy spotted sides lol. It doesn't seem to hurt him, he has no other issues, it's not his food, I haven't given him anything out of the ordinary and he's still happy go lucky and doesn't seem to even notice lol. The hair seems to finally be growing back, but super slowly. I've been giving him salmon oil too to help with his coat. Any other idea or suggestions? I'm open to anything at this point.

Thanks so much!!!

-Kim and Brutus
 

karenben

New member
Apr 18, 2011
1,056
88
uk
Bulldog(s) Names
Hilda
ive only had a female with this ,after about 6 months it grew back but she was a kennel dog and i think home life suited her as she also didnt have a season till she came to live with us,the supplement im using at the moment with my present bulldog is emu oil and i have to say her coat is fantastic ,she was balding on her back but its all grown back now ,might be worth considering as emu is an allrounder oil ,excellent for immune system ,perhaps research the use of this oil for hormones,karen
 

Vicaroo1000

"Slug Assassin" and PBS Gardening Dweeb
Jun 23, 2011
5,775
389
Mukilteo, Washington State
Bulldog(s) Names
Beefeater's Buxom Beatrice and Lord Harrington's Bodacious Beauregaard
Bea has seasonal flank alopecia too. My friend who runs the rescue out here also laughed at me like your Doctor #2 did. Apparently, it's QUITE common in bulldogs.

Bea's started when the weather started to warm last spring. She was over a year old. I can see a few spots now where I think it must be coming back again. I tried to find an image that showed it at it's worst....but I don't seem to have one. Here's one from early in the summer. It got more pronounced (darker) but didn't get much bigger.

P5170046.jpg

Besides looking kinda weird, it didn't seem to bother her at all. At that time, I was giving weekly baths in oatmeal shampoo so maybe that helped any scaling or itching there may have been - I don't know. (I've scaled down the bathing at the suggestion of this forum. You can be TOO CLEAN, I guess.) People often thought it was black fur or just unusual markings. Bea has a gorgeous coat and so it broke my heart to see it look so whack - but when the weather turned cooler, that fur just grew right back in, good as new.

I hope that helps!
 

rainyruth

New member
Feb 8, 2012
450
13
Nebraska
Bulldog(s) Names
Nigel and Talulah
Nigel came down with it this winter,I thought it was dry skin so I globbed on neosporin & started him on fish oil . His hair is all grown back & nice & shiny from the fish oil. Thanks for bringing it up, I may never have known it was alopecia!
 
OP
NJBullyMommy

NJBullyMommy

New member
Apr 20, 2011
323
59
New Jersey
Bulldog(s) Names
Brutus (Bruty, Bru Bru, Brutus Maximus)
  • Thread Starter
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  • #5
Thank you so much @karenben, @Vicaroo1000 and @rainyruth! It's odd too because he's a very fair colored bully and instead of it being black like Bea's, he's bright red. Which I was told was fine because he's a weird color lol. I've been doing an oatmeal bath every other week and it does seem to help the sides too since it just looks like bad dry skin since there's just nothing there. I'm going to look into the oils you guys are suggesting. He's been on salmon oil for about a month and it seems like it is helping or it could just be it's clearing up. Looks like I have a few more months to just wait and see what happens :p
 

Vicaroo1000

"Slug Assassin" and PBS Gardening Dweeb
Jun 23, 2011
5,775
389
Mukilteo, Washington State
Bulldog(s) Names
Beefeater's Buxom Beatrice and Lord Harrington's Bodacious Beauregaard
[MENTION=2251]NJBullyMommy[/MENTION] - just one of the many joys of loving English Bulldogs!
 

RescueMe

New member
Community Veteran
Mar 2, 2011
1,387
56
Chaffee, MO
Bulldog(s) Names
Lola Blue, Mojo Titus and Gracie,Caleb, Bogart and Ziggy forever in my heart Roxy and Rollo
You can also give melatonin and it will help get rid of it. We have done this with a few rescues.
 

tom5965

New member
Jul 29, 2012
4
0
Bulldog(s) Names
Gouda & Lily
Both our bulldogs just recently started losing some fur on their sides. Neither of them seem bothered at all by the thinning spots. They don't scratch or fuss with the areas at all and the areas never appear inflamed. We panicked and went straight to the vet, who checked it out and said it was likely seasonal flank alopecia and told us to calm down. She also said we could try melatonin. We are going to get some melatonin in the next day or so. I'll let everyone know how it works! (Oh, and both of our bullies are about 3 yrs old and this is the first time we've seen this on them.)
 

Darasue

New member
Feb 7, 2012
14
0
Memphis, TN
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Puckingham
Puck starting getting this too. Doesn't bother him at all, but it seems to tickle him a little when I touch the areas. When I googled it, people said that it happens mostly during the winter months because of the lack of sunlight, which is why the melatonin is suggested. He is getting it during the hottest/ sunniest time of the year thou, but maybe it is because I am keeping him inside because it is so hot!
 

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