Sow still losing hair post spay?

[Dilly's Piggies]

Hi, my 4 year old sow Dolly was diagnosed with ovarian cysts via ultrasound last year and was successfully spayed February 1st 2021. She had a large amount of hair loss all along her side and under her chin which was diagnosed as hormonal related to the cysts.

It has been 7 months and the hair has not grown back, she's completely bald in these areas and now has a new large circular bald patch on one side.

The skin again, just like the other bald patches is normal, no redness, scabs or skin flakes, it doesn't look fungal or parasitic. Its healthy skin, there's just no hair there.

She doesn't have any health issues besides a cataract in one eye that showed up at a very young age, she wasn't even 1 year old, she was tested for diabetes and it was negative so it was diagnosed as congenital cataracts. Not sure if this could be related to the hair loss, I thought it might be worth a mention.

She has always been a huge girl, my biggest currently, weighing a stable 1350g throughout her life, no issues there at all.

I've had 5 piggies spayed and all of them stopped with the hormonal behaviour after spaying, however Dolly is still doing it, she never lost that symptom, I'm not sure why.

I'm pretty stumped at the moment, she is a lunkarya piggie so has long, thick, curly hair. I let her hair grow to about 2-3 inches long and then cut it, she absolutely hates having long hair. Her hair was about 3 inches today so I cut it, this is when I first noticed this new bald spot.

Dolly and her cagemate Lottie do barber each other occasionally, from what I've seen Dolly only allows it for a few seconds. I've never seen her self barber, but I'm not watching 24/7 so I guess it's possible.

My questions are, are hormonal problems still possible after a spay? Are there any other medical conditions that can cause this? Is her still hormonal behaviour concerning or perhaps its just her personality? Is it normal that her hair has not grown back? Any suggestions or advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

Please see your vet during regular opening hours at your convenience.

It rather looks like something else may be going on. I have never had a lunky so I don't have any experience whether some hair loss may be down to a breed specific issue like it can affect some teddies.
I've also never had an issue with persisting bald hormone patches in the couple of sows that presented with hair loss before their spay and I can't remember ever having seen a question like this on here.

I would have that new patch checked as it may be self-barbering (mange mites or an area of discomfort underneath the skin) and is more likely unrelated to the persisting hair loss/

Try and feel the area. Hair falls out in hormonal hair loss, so the skin is smooth whetheras in barbering hair is bitten down and there is always a little stubble that you should be able to just feel? In mange mites, a piggy will generally squirm or twitch but that is not quite exclusive and indicative as nobody likes to have a painful area touched.

Unfortunately, I can only guess due to lack of information. It would be REALLY helpful if you please posted preferably clear pictures of the location on the body (with enough of the body visible to allow us to see where exactly it is in relation to other more easily distinguishable body parts) and a close up of the patch.
There are no crystal balls that allow us to reach through the screen and have a close look. Neither is diagnosing anything like a mathematic formula of symptom = problem that can be produced with just a wave of the magic want. A vet is much more in the way of a detective having to sort through all kinds of misleading clues to come to balanced conclusion. And unlike a vet, we don't even have the luxury of being able to handle and see a piggy on here.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

Hi!

Please see your vet during regular opening hours at your convenience.

It rather looks like something else may be going on. I have never had a lunky so I don't have any experience whether some hair loss may be down to a breed specific issue like it can affect some teddies.
I've also never had an issue with persisting bald hormone patches in the couple of sows that presented with hair loss before their spay and I can't remember ever having seen a question like this on here.

I would have that new patch checked as it may be self-barbering (mange mites or an area of discomfort underneath the skin) and is more likely unrelated to the persisting hair loss/

Try and feel the area. Hair falls out in hormonal hair loss, so the skin is smooth whetheras in barbering hair is bitten down and there is always a little stubble that you should be able to just feel? In mange mites, a piggy will generally squirm or twitch but that is not quite exclusive and indicative as nobody likes to have a painful area touched.

Unfortunately, I can only guess due to lack of information. It would be REALLY helpful if you please posted preferably clear pictures of the location on the body (with enough of the body visible to allow us to see where exactly it is in relation to other more easily distinguishable body parts) and a close up of the patch.
There are no crystal balls that allow us to reach through the screen and have a close look. Neither is diagnosing anything like a mathematic formula of symptom = problem that can be produced with just a wave of the magic want. A vet is much more in the way of a detective having to sort through all kinds of misleading clues to come to balanced conclusion. And unlike a vet, we don't even have the luxury of being able to handle and see a piggy on here.

Hi Wiebke, sorry I didn't see you had replied! I have made her an appointment for next Monday.

This is what the new patch looks like, there are still sparse hairs but its mainly bald and the skin looks fine? (Maybe I'm just blind and missing something, if you can see something let me know.) She has a couple more smaller ones along her side that are harder to see, you can kind of see it on the left near her butt (its sometimes hard to tell if they are actual bald patches, or just partings in the hair as she has such a crazy coat) but only her right side has this big obvious new one.

This is on her right side, her head is facing to the right, hard to see as she is a white fluffy cloud ball lol. I hope these pics are good enough?

 

[Wiebke]

All the best with the check. It doesn't look like acute fungal to me. Your vet may decide to treat for mange or hay mites, just to be on the safe side.

After that, you are pretty much on your own in terms of bald skin conditions which rexoid breeds seem to be more prone to. You may have to learn to live with them. But it is important to always exclude the fungal, parasitical and hormonal angles first.