Hair Loss on Dogs, Puppies body. (alopecia)

 Hair Loss on Dogs, Puppies body.

     

  My Dog Odie is 3 and a half yrs old and he is now in perfect health condition, He is a latte brown local breed, however in the last couple of months I have noticed his hair on my black GnR T-shirt and the couch we generally play, later the hair trial was all over the places. I was noticing it everywhere, and of late he is not that active as he used to be. He was also eating less. As my shift had rolled over to night shifts, I was not able to take care of Odie as usual. Luckily last week I was able to schedule a routine checkup and now he is doing better than before. 

Top suggestions do not apply an ointment or cream on the dry patches/skin, without any advice from the VET.

 What you see: Hair is missing from your dog’s coat, in a single location, in broad patches, or in a symmetrical pattern. On closer inspection, individual hairs may or may not be broken off, and the skin in the hairless area may or may not appear irritated.

      What this might mean: A cosmetic problem, at the least. It also can indicate a serious underlying problem.

     

THINGS TO NOTICE  

Is your dog suddenly scratching or chewing at his skin to the point of injuring it? Is the loss on a front or rear leg, associated with chronic chewing? Is the hair loss in an area where his skin has been damaged previously, such as over a healed flesh wound?

     It’s likely to be a permanent scar-related hair loss called cicatricial alopecia. Call your veterinarian for advice.

Is the hairless area flaky or scaly?

Does your dog have a thin, dull, dry coat?

Is his hair coming out in tufts, with a crust or scab at the base of each tuft? Is it coming out in circular spots of various sizes? Do the hairs appear to be broken?

Is your dog losing hair equally on both sides of his body?

Call your veterinarian TODAY

      It could be a hormonal problem such as Cushing’s disease, a condition caused by the overproduction of the hormone cortisol. Medication and sometimes surgery are available to treat Cushing’s disease, also known as Cushing's syndrome.  Sertoli cell tumor, or an ovarian imbalance.

      Is he a young dog with patchy hair loss on his face and or front legs?

It could be demodectic mange.  It's caused by mites called 'Demodex Canis', which live in the hair follicles. Infestation of the mites causes skin inflammation and hair loss.  It may give your dog a dilute color mutation, such as the blue fawn typically found in Dobermans and Great Danes? it could be a genetic mutation that will require a lifetime of management.

Call your veterinarian TODAY

YOUR VET MAY NEED TO:

• Submit skin scrapings or a biopsy to a laboratory for definitive diagnosis.

• Get a fungal or bacterial diagnosis.

• Perform blood-work to check for hormonal conditions.

Tips to keep DOG Healthy:

#Keep your dog hydrated all the time

#Offer your dog small amounts of fruits and vegetables like carrot rounds, a slice of apple, banana, as snacks. Dogs are omnivores, as they evolved to eat both vegetables/fruits and meat, so may enjoy such a nutritious and low-fat snack. Grains, such as cooked rice, can also be added to his ration in small amounts, as a special treat.

#Take your Dog outdoors for play and exercise.

Biodegradable or Compostable?

          Biodegradable or compostable?

       Compostable plastics are a subgroup of biodegradable plastics and are biologically

decomposed under composting conditions and within the relatively short period of a

composting cycle.

    Compostable always means biodegradable. Biodegradable does not necessarily mean compostable. The rule is that compostable plastics are biodegradable, while biodegradable plastics are not necessarily compostable (because biodegradation may take longer than required in composting). Therefore, compostable plastics are a subgroup of biodegradable plastic materials. The susceptibility of a polymer or a plastic material to biodegradation depends exclusively on the chemical structure of the polymer. For this reason, whether the polymer is made of renewable resources (biomass) or nonrenewable (fossil) resources is irrelevant to biodegradability. What matters is the final structure. Biodegradable polymers can be there-fore be made of renewable or non-renewable resources.

     A common misunderstanding is that all biodegradable polymers are made from renewable resources.

The manufacturing of biodegradable polymers can include different procedures without affecting material biodegradability. They can be synthetic (chemical) or biotechnological (affected by microorganisms or enzymes). The most common procedures are:

(a) Chemical synthesis of a polymer from a monomer produced by biotechnological conversion of a renewable resource (e.g. use of lactic acid produced from the fermentation of sugars for the production of polylactic acid – PLA). In this case, the polymer is produced chemically based on a renewable resource.

(b) Production of a polymer by a biotechnological procedure based on a renewable resource(e.g. fermentation of sugars where natural microorganisms synthesize thermoplastic aliphatic polyesters, such as polyhydroxybutyrate - PHB).

Today, commercial biodegradable plastics are offered on the market by an increasing number of manufacturers. Those most common materials can be classified into the following groups:

1. Starch-based plastics:

2. Polylactide-based plastics (PLA)

3. Polyhydroxyalkanoate-based plastics (PHB, PHBV, etc.)

4. Aliphatic-aromatic-polyester-based plastics

5. Cellulose-based plastics (cellophane, etc.)

6. Lignin-based plastics

Apart from the polymers, plastics contain other materials or additives and this combination determines their processing options and the product's final properties. These other materials include stabilization additives, lubricants, pigments, different fillers, and others. For biodegradable plastics, it is very important that all additional components are biodegradable as well. The standards for compostable plastics require the testing of all additives (and other substances used in the production of the final product, e.g. inks and colors) to ensure they do not have a negative effect on the compost.

The overall effect of biodegradable plastics:

 There are two primary angles dependent on which the shopper chooses whether or not they will utilize a plastic material: the financial/business angel and the ecological angle. Even though they cannot be entirely separated – using environmentally less harmful materials can have commercial and marketing benefits and can help achieve higher prices – they can be treated separately. The fundamental benefit of biodegradable plastics applies to ecological properties, principally with regards to the treatment of waste plastics and the impacts of their disintegration on the climate.

A blend of biodegradability and the utilization of inexhaustible/ nonrenewable assets to create biodegradable plastics gives an exceptional chance of adjusting the whole life pattern of plastics with the characteristic cycles: plastics are produced from and return to the natural renewable resource.