Got any suggestions?

A couple of days ago I noticed that my collie Fenn had lost some of the hair around one of his eyes. just on the balck side of his face the white side is fine. it's right round his eye like half a pair of glasses. I am wondering if it might be a lack of something in his diet maybe a mineral or vitamin. He seems fine and it doesn't seem to itch or anything.
Has anyone any ideas? I could do without another vet bill this week.
Thanks
Lynn

Demodectic mange often first presents as hair loss around the eyes. It would be worth getting it checked by the vet.

Agree Shadowboxer, how old is the dog Lynn

I wondered about some sort of mange. I am not quite sure how they get it but there are a lot of foxes around where we walk.
As for Fenn's age, we are not 100% sure, he came from a rescue but from what we were told, he's just over 2.
Lynn

Then unless he has had demodex (sp) before I doubt it is that but it could well be the type of mange that they can get from foxes, will not attempted to spell it but it can spread to you so handle his bed with gloves on until you find out if it is the fox type mange.

Are you thinking of Fox Evil/Fox Mange Thordell? It is a type of alopecia (coming from the Greek alopex - fox). There is information available if you seach - alopecia+dog/s on Google.

Demodex can be brought on by any type of stress. Even by simple situations that give no obvious indication that your dog is stressing. One of mine developed Demodex post-castration. Demodex is present in all dogs but it seems to be a stress-related incident that causes it to flare up. Hair loss around the eyes is a classic symptom.

Sarcoptic Mange is an other type of mange, is this the one you mean?

Sarcoptic mange (fox evil)is quite different from Demodectic. It causes severe itching & usually starts on ears, elbows, hocks, chest. The dog will scratch like mad & bite at the irritated spots, & the skin becomes inflamed. It is very contagious to both dogs and humans.

SB is correct and that is what I meant, far too early for my spell checker when I wrote that. Have seen it on the fore face of dogs that stick their heads down warrens and when the fox goes into the hole the mites are scraped of the infected part and when the dog sticks his head down the area around the eyes and ears and convenient area for the mites to move into a new home.

yuck i hate beasties.