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Epiphora: watery tears that run down the cheeks. This seems to be an actual excess of tears. It may come and go. Tear ducts are found to be functioning properly. It is primarily cosmetic, not a health problem.
Skin condition: Occasionally a skin condition appears on Lundehunds. Usually round or irregularly oval patches of scaley, patchy hair loss. I have seen it happen on the head, ear flap edges, trunk and upper legs. Sometimes this corresponds with a heavy shed cycle. Hair often grows back, although the time varies from one month to years. The dander and scales usually disappear once the inflamed skin area calms down. Once quiescent, the affected skin area(s) may look normal other than lack of hair, or it may have a darker (pigmented), thinner look than adjacent skin. If the patches disappear, they may return months or years later. They may come and go, or may happen once and never return. The patches are not usually itchy; they may be solitary or multiple. Most remain less than three inches in diameter. If your Lundie gets large spots or the skin condition covers more than 25% of the body, please get your dog to a dermatologist as it is likely to have some other condition.
The cause of this problem remains unclear. Early in the process, skin biopsy results describe inflammation of the hair follicles and the dermis. On old, quiescent lesions, biopsy reports indicate hair follicle arrest and skin atrophy. Sometimes the pathologist finds inflamed sebaceous glands and calls it sebaceous adenitis, however, in most cases of the disease intact functioning sebaceous glands are found on biopsy, which is not consistent with Sebaceous Adenitis. Unlike that disease, Lundie skin spots don’t spread all over the body and will often go away with or without treatment. Lundie skin spots might also be compared to 'Alopecia X' of Pomeranians and other arctic breeds, however with Lundie disease, both long and short haired parts of the coat are affected, not just the long hair. The areas can appear consistent with hypothyroid disease and occasionally even Cushings, but the tests for those diseases are usually normal.
In my opinion, this is an inflammatory skin condition of the hair follicles and dermis. The origin is unknown at this time. There is a dry seborrhea component and likely some hormonal influence. The areas may get a secondary Staph infection which should be treated. Lundehunds get an inflammatory process in their intestines, it is not surprising they get an inflammatory disease of their skin. Someday we may know the cause of that inflammation. These spots are not uncomfortable or a health hazard, merely cosmetic.
Treatment: New, active spots can be treated with Staph antibiotics, dry seborrhea topicals and prednisone. Old inactive, atrophic lesions can be treated topically with emollients to soften the skin, plus I have good success using Melatonin, one 3 mg tablet two to three times a day. The melatonin 'jump-starts' the hormone receptors in the atrophic hair follicles and may help combat a hormonal cause. It may take 4-6 weeks to see new hair growth on Melatonin so don't get discouraged, although it doesn't work in every case. If it works, continue it until hair is fully re-grown, then taper it slowly. Often, for no known reason, the areas start re-growing hair and become normal.
Honky-snorts: Lundies get a form of 'reverse sneeze' where the epiglottis interferes with wth soft palate. It sounds awful, like they can't breathe, but it's harmless. It goes away after a very short period of time.
Itchy-butt disease: Usually only females get this. It looks like their rear end is having a fit, much like a male dog mating or scooting without touching the ground. It's likely a inflammation of the urethra or vagina/vulva. I've done many things for it, but I think it usually just goes away on its own, although that may take hours or even 2-3 days.
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