'Crusty' hair around ears/mouth ??

I noticed that Ella has a weird kind of hair loss around the ears. Just on the edges her skin was sort of crusty, and the hairs sticking together. I pulled them out in tiny little clumps and she didn't mind so she wasn't in pain or anything and her ears now look and feel normal again. Now I noticed the hairs around her lips are a little bit the same..
She also has a bald patch on her chest, which I initially thought might be from her harness, but it's lower down. It's more where her skin touches the floor when she lies down so I thought it might be that..
It doesn't look like anything serious, she's otherwise very healthy and has a very shiny coat, eats, poops and runs normally..

Just wondering what it could be and if it could be food related?

Hi Florence both mange and yeast infections can cause 'crusting.' If the coat and inner ears look healthy with no smell I wouldn't think there is a lot to worry about but if in doubt I would get it checked by a vet.
Often a simple wash like Malaseb is all that is needed.

My late Molly had ears like Ella but her hair never grew back She never used to bother about them and we were never worried but what we did find was that it only happened after she'd had a little wart type thing removed from the side of her nose

Mouse has the same issues, sort of, I've had her to the vets for skin scrapings and other tests... a couple of hundred dollars later, we get the diagnosis of Alopecia. her skin cells are slightly inflamed, which could indicate an allergy. With her white hair, it's easy to see there's black "gunk" around the hairs, and it's really easy to pull it out.

The edges of her ears (which were scabby, hard and sore), and her neck have completely cleared up though, since I realized she's allergic to silver metals, but she still has the black gunk in her follicles (and has for 3 years)... The diagnosis of Alopecia is annoying, though, as it's so general!

Thanks Mini, I don't think it's mange, but I'm not sure about yeast. There's no smell at all, the inner ears are fine and the vet didn't notice anything when I went 3 weeks ago. I'll go back sometime soon for her rabies jab so I'll have her checked then!

Huh.. well Ella hasn't had anything like that done to her and the rest of her body (and her ears) are fine, it's just the rim of her ears. I'll keep and eye on it and will let the vet know.


Hmm, I'll look into that and perhaps ask the vet about it. It's not serious and doesn't seem to disturb her at all though so I don't think I'll be able to spend hundreds on tests.. But thanks for the tip!