Hi everyone,

I need help w/ my dog Fish...late last year the tips of his ears started getting a little crusty-looking, and the vet gave me some ointment to keep them from drying out...after a few months ( and a winter trip to Denver) later, it has gotten worse. I took Fish to the vet agan, and he took a hair/skin sample to run some tests....it came out negative ( so no ringworm )...the vet said not to worry about it ( but i cant help it, ) now i dunno what else to do...it hasnt grown back any new hair, and its gone down to about 1/2 inch fr the eartips..aagh!

 Help pls, thanks

 Mary ( Fish's mom )

there are a few members here who have dealt with a similar problem.  there was a post about it not too long ago, let me find it.....

okay, here it is:

www.rat-terrier.com/Home/tabid/37/forumid/4/postid/256643/view/topic/Default.aspx

I hope it helps.

I've been watching Daisy's ears too...it seems ever so slight & I don't want to be paranoid momma, but I hate to ignore it...

Swedishfish5 I absolutely LOVE your avatar!!!  It makes me smile everytime I see it!

Julie

What an odd phenomenon this is. I just checked ears, all ok so far (except Peanut who brushed against the wet paint this weekend and now has one painted ear tip

Welcome to the site. Seems like these little dogs have skin issues of some sort fairly commonly. My Jack has a condition I believe is autoimmune, but allergies seem to be fairly high on the list also. Vasculitis is rare, but does happen also. Could be a number of things. For starters, what kind of food are you feeding. Some of the low quality foods can cause skin problems and I would start by making sure you are feeding a high quality food. You might also want to add Fish Oil to his food as this is the mainstay treatment for a lot of different problems. Vit E also if you add the Fish oil. How old is Fish? He is adorable!! Keep an eye on it, if it gets worse I would call the vet again.

Katie Scarlett , Jan the contest girl's dog, has ear vasculitis.  It sounds similiar to what you are describing.  She had to go through all kinds of testing to get to the bottom of it.  Maybe you should tell the vet that is what you think it is, so they don't waste time (and money) doing lots of other test.  Good Luck!