My dog's thinning hair problem

[popsicle]

My 2 yr old labrador has large areas of thinning hair down each side of his body, It's not itchy or scaly or even bald, just thinner that the rest of the coat, so you can almost see his skin through it.  He seems well in himself, although he is a biggish boy (around 6 stone) and has never been exactly an athelete.  Has anyone had this problem? 

 

[CAYLA]

I would pop him to the vet, they may want to run some bloods, rule out thyroid/cushings amongst other things.

 

[woolly]

Does it look anything like this?

Our boy had seasonal recurrent cyclical flank allopecia...(a mouthful!) as Cala says first thing to do is rule out thyroid problems with a simple blood test, then maybe skin scrapes and allergy testing. We had all this done and it ruled out everything so we saw the top dermatologist in England and the result was flank allopecia. It is no way uncomfortable to the dog and is just cosmetic. The hair grows back (mostly) in a season then tends to start thinning again. Our dog had colour change (can't remember the scientific word) but his hair turned black when it grew back
you can see the patch here:

However, I am jumping the gun. See a vet first and if it does turn out to be the same as our boy, feel free to drop me a pm if I can help at all!

 

[popsicle]

Thanks very much for the info. I'ts not as pronounced as your dog's woolly, just a bit thin and see through and more in the middle of his sides than flanks, but I will get him checked out anyway. Thanks again both of you

 

[woolly]

Its progressive and will get worst as ours started out like your dog.... Don't worry though...Its harmless if its the same!

 

[Ruth_Cymru]

My Staff has seasonal aloppecia and is just as you descirbe, thinning hair down both his sides from his middle to his flanks. It doesn't bother him in the least and seems to come on in the spring/summer months. As the others have said a quick trip to the vet is the best plan.

 

[PucciNPoni]

I agree with Cala, I'd get thyroid checked. Usually looks like matching balding/thinning patches on both sides of the dog.