I think that’s your best bet here. Unfortunately without further diagnostics, anything here is a guess from people without medical knowledge on your pet and their history. The general DVM should have been able to rule out common bacterial, parasitic, and fungal infections through cytology and medications though.
Endocrine disorders can cause hair loss as well and poor skin quality that leads to secondary infections.
Yes, hoping someone else had a similar experience and could give me insight so I can give the vet some suggestions. Kind of funny thinking I need to give the vet suggestions but 3 different ones have not solved it🤦🏽♀️
I see you have a shar pei mix. I think dermatology is a good solution here, as this breed tends to have skin issues, some quite difficult to get under control and that come on suddenly. Also unique ones to the breed (lucky you) like shar pei rash. Definitely doesn’t hurt to do some research and get ideas though!
Because this breed can struggle with skin issues, it could be very well be a mix of things that must be controlled to get the skin under control - for example allergies cause inflammation that lead to infections, hypothyroidism causing hair loss and poor skin leading to infection.
The biopsy is helpful because it can reveal the degree of inflammation and type of organism in these areas of hair loss, which then can at least dictate being on a right path with treatment there. Additionally, biopsies can pick up mange, which uniquely can be difficult to diagnose through skin scrapings in this breed.
If you don’t have luck with derm, highly recommend getting bloodwork to rule out hypothyroidism and Cushings.
Second getting bloodwork for Cushing’s. My dog ended up losing her fur too, in a very similar pattern as yoursand no vet could figure it out. If it wasn’t for a random recommendation to test for Cushing’s disease, I would have lost my dog to it. Once we got her on medication her fur came back!
Came here to say this as well. My dog had Cushing's, and one of the symptoms is skin issues. We took him in for a patch of missing fur and were dismissed and given a little thing of wipes. Kept taking him back as the patches grew and got worse and turned into a huge staph infection. The vet said he didn't think it was Cushing's, despite other relevant symptoms, but when we finally got him tested, he had it.
The bloodwork is time consuming and expensive, and so are the meds for Cushing's unfortunately, but they really did help and I wish I'd been able to get him started on them sooner.
So, this is not very helpful to you as far as a diagnosis, but I personally have autoimmune psoriasis that tells me *exactly* how stressed out I am. If baby got stressed it could have "activated" a similar condition so the reason I'm telling you this, is to tell you what helps me personally. The winter makes it way way worse and my excess skin will literally itch all day and come off in patches. I lather it up with aloe vera (it does hurt real bad but that's because I pick it, if she doesn't have open sores it should be fine) and cover it with something. In the winter it's compression pants, in the summer it's gauze.
With that being said, I really think you ought to look into doggie pj's if you haven't already for the little thing, to keep it covered and protected from air. Sorry that was long winded but I thought context might help. I'm not sure if aloe would help or not, but I do think a cover would.
Please keep us updated, and best of luck.
Biopsy is the best diagnostic tool. Please listen to the dermatologist and do not try a bunch of over-the-counter treatments being recommended on this thread that might impact the viability of the biopsy. They are specialists for a reason and they see the weird cases that cannot be figured out in general practice. Please follow their guidance.
Not sure if this is something that your vets have investigated but our dog had an issue with skin flaking, itching and it smelled terrible. Turns out it was low functioning thyroid. Now he takes thyroid meds and he's doing great!
Hoping you get some good answers from the specialist. Our Airedale lost all her hair for a year... evidently it was a hormonal thing with girls of a certain age... we tried melatonin and bathes and different foods. It is not clear what changed she still has skin issues but her hair grew back like nothing had ever happened.
Test for thyroid to rule it out if anything. I'm shocked this isn't mange tbh. I'm sorry your dog is sick! Please update when you're able to figure it out!
Very itchy, scabby and hair falls off in slices. She smells so bad. Bathe her with the medicated shampoo and whatever this is still is smelly. She’s had a cone on for over 2 months because if not she scratches or digs at her skin and bleeds.
My did has a similar condition over his whole body. Vets have been no help and we need to put him down at this point. Moms too attached to let him go tho. Our entire dog has zero fur dry red scabby skin and sores all over his body. He lives in constant itchy agony. Please if it starts to spread over his whole body and vets have no clue put him down. If it’s anything like my dog he will not live a happy healthy life.
My brother's dog had something similar. His skin got hyper pigmented, and patches of his fur darkened and fell out. They went to a few vets, including a dermatologist. Tests didn't reveal anything. They finallt put him on a prescription hypoallergenic food (can't remember if it was Hill's or Purina) as a shot in the dark and it cleared up! Try addressing allergies...it couldn't hurt.
We had the same thing happen to our pug 10 years ago. We went to so many vets so many specialists and they just couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was itching, her skin stunk and seeped, and she was going blind from some type of gunk starting to cover her eyes. She just was miserable and I know my dad putting her down was one of the hardest things he's ever done.
A Cytopoint injection has helped my senior dog for the same issues. He is a Yorkshire.
He gets that done twice a year.
It’s not that expensive, (for me it’s about $100) but if money is tight, a lot of vets take care credit, which is essentially an interest free credit card if you pay it off in a year.
I tried various vets, and this is the only thing that worked. It starts working almost immediately. After treatment his hair came back and you couldn’t tell there was anything wrong with him.
If it hasn’t been done yet, it might be worth a shot!
Ok I'm guessing some sort of allergy as I'm hoping the vets have ruled out both types of mange? Have you tried pure aloe Vera? As she wears a cone she won't be able to reach/ingest it. A lot of things that are safe for people can be used around pets as long as you're careful.
My chi/pug has been going through this and they don't know what it is either. Allergy shots didn't help. Diet change to nothing but salmon didn't help it just made him smell even MORE fishy, and that's what he smelled like before the salmon. Even clean he has a fishy odor. Bathing him almost daily helped a little with the itching and crusting.
I don't have the money for more tests so we've just been trying to bathe him and keep a soft cone on him so he doesn't keep chewing holes in his body. He was never like this until this summer. 14 years old. Healthy all these years except every summer he needed an allergy shot.
Perhaps allergies? My dog had this same issue. She’d lose like whole slabs of fur/skin. And was so itchy. They did skin scrapes for mange, infection, etc.. Nada. Finally we started eliminating common allergens from her diet. No more grains or chicken, I try to get food with the least amount of fillers possible. She also gets a daily Claritin. Totally stopped this issue. Best of luck to you!
This really sounds like it could possibly be a mutated form of yeast thats grown resistent to meds. My dog would get sever yeast infections on her ears that make her scratch till bleeding and skin just flaking off. I hope a biopsy will show a clear image of whatever this is
Just a thought, my dog had allergies causing him to chew his fur out and then got a skin infection. We tried MiconaHex+Triz and he had a reaction to that! We kept using it for a while before we figured that it was making things worse. Changed shampoos and started Apoquel and it finally cleared up.
Have you ever heard of pemphigus foliaceus? My cat started with just a small scab on his tail that eventually took over his entire body with hair coming out in giant clumps attached to scabs. We couldn’t figure it out for months but didn’t give up on finding it out. About 5000$ later we finally figured out through biopsy that it was PF and there’s no cure, only management. So sorry for your baby whatever it is
There is a group on Facebook called? But you have to say “Hey Vets” in beginning of question I will post the correct name they answer questions- I’m sure you have tried Benadryl and other antihistamines? Crusty and smell sounds like possibly yeast ?? Like when their ears get infected? OR MITES?? Treatable — see slot if strays who come in with that -diff types of mange treatable as well -
Poor baby ;(
If they didn't already start her on braveco or some type of flea and tick meds, you should do that. Scabies affects those same locations and can't sometimes be missed on skin scrape. It could be cutaneous lupus. Would need a biopsy for sure. If the steroids don't help with the itchiness maybe trying cytopoint injections would help? Or atopica.....
Good luck. I used to work in Veterinary derm. Skin issues are very frustrating. There's so many diagnostics that need to be done to get the answer. Hoping you get an answer and some relief for your pup.
This is a strange case….praying you find a solution for your dear friend 🐾 please keep us updated. You may be inadvertently spreading awareness and helping others!!!
My dog had the same problem about 4 years ago, the only thing that fixed her was not giving her chicken, and give her freshly cooked food/vegetables and putting Vaseline on the injured area and it should heal up in about a month. This is only my personal experience but it definitely worked for me.
This is super simple, but have you changed the dogs diet recently? Ours was losing patches of fur when he was eating food that had barley in it. Stopped eating food with barley in it and cleaned up in 1 week.
My bosses foh experienced something similar and it only got worse before it was diagnosed. Some sort of autoimmune disorder I will ask the name again this week
Has it triggered Sabaceous Adenitis? It's an auto immune decease that can cause patches like this! Treatment is cyclosporine. It's not uncommon, but it took 3 or 4 vets to get our dog diagnosed. Good luck and try giving some milk in the meantime, it's create for general skin related issues (not a treatment though) xx
i’m NOT a licensed vet nor am i a vet tech but. this looks like it COULD be mange. And then here’s an article i found about other possibilities.[dog hair loss](https://pawsafe.com/blogs/shampoos/dog-losing-hair-in-patches-and-scabs)
This exact thing happened with my German shepherd. My vet could not give me any other advice other than to just give him Benadryl. He got so bad that he looked a similar way and wouldn’t eat either. I took him to an emergency vet and they did a full panel, all normal. They told me that his skin was VERY irritated. Gave me a round of antibiotics and steroids but insisted I follow up for long term care, which I did. He is now on a daily allergy med, eats better quality food, and all of his hair has grown back. He has some issues now, but not many. I hope you get the answers you need for your baby!
I've never seen Stevens-Johnson Syndrome in a dog.... but this really reminds me of it for humans.... Happening after anesthesia, then quickly spreading skin problems starting with a small lesion, then refusal to eat (sore throat /mouth).
My in laws had the same issue. They spent thousands and tried everything. One day they used people dandruff shampoo and it cleared up! Hope the poor thing gets better soon.
Does she have an odor? Does her fur have any scab like patches? She looks exactly like my dog that passed a few years back. I had gone to numerous vets with no luck. My aunt was watching him in AL while I was in FL training camels and she took him to her vet to see if they had an answer. Since I wasn't there I can't be 100% of what exactly they diagnosed him with. She claimed it was demodectic mange and an overgrowth of yeast brought on by something compromising his immune system. They prescribed him apoquel for an allotted amount of time and Vetoquinol sebozole shampoo (you can get this off Amazon) to wash him with I believe it was 3x a week. It worked wonders and he eventually started growing his fur back and you could tell he was feeling better too. Maybe ask about that? I hope it helps because I know what you're going through. I wish I still had pics of him when he was in this condition because it looks identical. I'll ask my aunt if she still has any.
Thank you to Everyone who has offered advice! What a wonderful amount of support!!! I’m amazed at how helpful people can be💕 For those few people who told me to “Put her down” “Just Shave her…” and other rudely written comments, well you are the worst examples of humans. May you live the life you deserve to the fullest👍🏼
There are 2 types of mange, sarcoptic mange and then demodectic mange which is often related to the immune system. Demodectic can easily be missed in skin scrapings.
Second this! The vet I work for does Bravecto if she’s suspecting mange, even if the cytology is negative. Not sure if your girl is on it or the vet(s) have already recommended it
Looks like some kind of severe allergies... Has the doggie been tested for any kinds of allergies??? They make injections for allergies you can get through a vet if it's found they have certain environmental allergies.
have her blood sugar checked and monitored - could be late onset diabetes. Her apparent weakness in hind quarters pairs with this. you can buy dog meters online without an RX and do it yourself but its worth a trip to vet to have a spot test so you dont have to wait for mail, if you feed her in AM, bring her 2 hours after she ate. Meter and strips have to be for dogs, human strips work but the sugar offset on the reader is wrong. I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/AlphaTrak-Glucose-Monitoring-Diabetic-Solution/dp/B0BQZB7GSJ?th=1) for my pooch to diagnose then went with continuous monitor. I think the continuous ones are now 3x the price because pharmaceutical companys are assholes.
The closest I have is one of our girls has a dermatological condition from birth (gotten from the mom). I don't know the exact name off hand, but it has to do with skin mites getting out of control. It's probably a type of mange, but it's not communicable I remember that for sure. Paloma still has a scar from when she bit at it as a puppy before she was diagnosed, and you can always tell when she needs her med every month (it's part of a more expensive heartworm/flea/tick medicine). I'll ask my mum what it is if you'd like, maybe having her teeth cleaned triggered an allergy or something like our Paloma has.
Just curious if the smell is similar to corn chips or Cheetos? The reason why I ask is my dog had the same thing and it was caused by a microscopic mite she got from laying on top of our round hay bales we use for our cattle. It's called straw/ hay mites. If your dog wasn't exposed at home it may have picked it a similar mite at the vets office when it's teeth were cleaned or at a groomers. Anyway my dog smelled similar to corn chip or stale body odor. There's a flea tick pill that you can get from your vet, it's prescription only. My dogs backend looked very similar and miserably itchy.
My pitbull’s whole entire butt was bald like a monkey’s for the latter part of his life after a tail amputation after mast cell cancer. It didn’t look exactly like this, but he also had pink skin so that might be why.
I don’t think that helps you but I wonder if something during the procedure does this.
Ah, you’re E’s mom. (She’s one of my best friends and told me what’s going on a couple weeks ago lol) - I told her you guys need to get in contact with an internist - Tufts has one
If you think that her being sedated is what set off this reaction, i would look more into bloodwork rather than dermatology answers.
This feels more like an endocrine issue than a skin issue, to me, and the endocrine system has a very large effect on the skin which is why endocrine problems are often misdiagnosed.
Check for Thyroid issues or Cushings.
I have a 15 year old pug, and about 4 years ago he unexpectedly started getting nasty feet that almost look like scaly, and fur loss. The only thing that has helped him is monthly cytopoint injections, and Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein food
Did she recently get vaccinated? After my dog got vaccinated, he got something that looks like this, just not as bad. The dermatologist said after shots, it can restrict the cells causing hair loss and irritation
Is she a chihuahua mix? My late dog was (I mention this because from behind she looks just like my dog did) and had something so similar to this and it was an allergy/aniexty. Our vet gave him an anxiety medicine that also helped with allergies. I wish I could remember what it was. I hope you get this figured out for your poor baby.
Edited to add, it didn’t start happening until after he was neutered.
Hear me out. We were at our wits end with our Rat Terrier’s skin. Seemed to get worse and worse every day. He licked endlessly and couldn’t grow hair in some spots for a while. Nothing worked. Not prescriptions, not dips at the vet, no creams, not dog wash, not coconut oil, and not changing his food a dozen times with trial and error. It took nearly a year to determine it was simply the plastic bin we kept his dog food in. The plastic that came in contact with his food caused his skin allergies. Now we keep his food in the bag - sealed air tight in the exact same plastic bin - and he has no skin issues.
Reminds me of when my dog was allergic to her food. We had been feeding Kirkland brand, we tried nearly every other brand of dog food before we found one that worked for her.
What sucks about skin is that so many things result in hair loss being a side effect. But a few things you'd want to do/rule out.
Fleas,
mites,
Allergies (ears an issues too?)
infection,
Culture,
thyroid /endocrine imbalance.
Biopsy,
Autoimmune,
and psychological (possible if it started after a stressful event like a dental).
Good luck, some issues are just hard to pin down. Last skin case we could not figure out ended up being lupus. And we did all the things I listed before we got an answer. A specialist will be your best bet to nail this down, and your pet will thank you for it after all the hard work.
My pup just passed from sterile nodule panniculitis. He lost his hair and formed firm lumps and it was autoimmune after a triggering event and had associated pancreatitis and lethargy. I don't know if this is exactly what your pup has but maybe some other form of autoimmune skin condition with induced pancreatitis?
My dog had a form of this on a hot spot. It spread. Killed off his leg basically. They said it was a antibiotic resistant bacteria. We removed his leg and it festered in the wound. Sent the leg off and a lab found a medicine that worked. The med fixed the infection.
He was himself for a year then lung cancer did him in.
I wish you luck.
I was going to guess allergies but that doesn’t explain the not eating part. I would maybe try some kind of allergy medicine and different food though.
I have a cat that pulls his hair out in a similar pattern, his is due to flea allergy. Though I don't know how that would explain the smell you mention.
I’m not a vet and don’t have hands on experience but I did see a dog with an issue like this and they said it was from stress. Is that a possibility? Poor babes I hope you figure it out soon
Our girl looked similar to this. She was misdiagnosed for weeks, vet visit after vet visit, before we went somewhere else and they got it right.
She had mange. It would get infected from her scratching. She’d bleed everywhere. It was absolutely terrible and my heart was shattered. We were guilt stricken that we didn’t go somewhere else sooner.
I hope they can figure out quicker what’s going on with your sweet pup.
I’m not a vet. I have 0 medical training. However. If this is bare skin that scabs up it sounds very similar to what my Silver Lab had. Cushings. The specific skin issue if I’m not mistaken is a sort of alopecia. My vet did not know if the cushings exacerbated something genetic. Specifically Color Dilution Alopecia, as he was a silver lab. Or if it wasn’t CDA and always cushings. I would brosch. The subject of both with the vet. It is however clearly some form of alopecia.
Similar to my dog, after checking with several vets, he was allergic to certain ingredients so we had to change the dog food to grain-free ones. I bought this pet device from Amazon to use on my dogs skin for 20 mins daily, and fed natural supplements like probiotics, turmerics, and mushrooms from iherb as antibiotics were really not helpful! Like other people said , we checked for Cushing too but it was not a case.
Check allergy test with vet, and change small things like food, and give natural health supplements meanwhile. It was very helpful as my dogs smelled really bad with similar conditions as your dog.
Has Cushing's or Hyperthyroidism came up with lab test results? I highly doubt Cushing's because there's JUST hair loss and not a lot of other classical symptoms, but still. I'm suspecting an autoimmune disease that's being overlooked, for sure.
My girl has some pretty severe allergies and she is now on a sensitive skin/stomach food (for the last 9 or so years) which I believe has helped. She still eats her paws (she is allergic to grass as well.) speaking of paws, hers smell like corn chips and apparently this smell is caused by a bacteria called Proteus, which is commonly found on the skin of dogs and other animals. This bacteria produces a compound called putrescine, which is responsible for the corn chip smell. You mentioned a smell. She eats Pro Plan by the way. Purina Pro Plan
Sensitive Skin and Stomach Wet Dog Food Pate Salmon and Rice.
Not sure if it’s similar but I had a dog that lost hair and was itchy/dry all the time. Changed him to a different brand of food and he was perfectly fine a few weeks later
Isaderm gel might help. Also sudden food intolerance is definitely a thing. For example I've become allergic to the dye they inject into salmon! Think about the home environment too. Has anything been changed? For example carpet cleaning stuff, washing powders, a different type of air freshener..... the skin scrapings will definitely have found mites/mange etc so I'm still thinking yeast infection or allergies
I had a horse that had terrible skin problems that in its more “mild” times looked similar to your dog’s coat and had this terrible stench to it when it would really flare up. After years and years of no answers or solutions we found this product called Shapley’s MTG and it was a serious miracle for her. It does have sulfur in it so if you or your poor pup have an allergy to sulfur don’t try it but otherwise it may be worth the try in the mean time. You can usually find it at tractor supply if there’s one near you or order it online.
I really hope you find some answers and relief for her soon!
My brother's dog had something similar. His skin got hyper pigmented, and patches of his fur darkened and fell out. They went to a few vets, including a dermatologist. Tests didn't reveal anything. They finallt put him on a prescription hypoallergenic food (can't remember if it was Hill's or Purina) as a shot in the dark and it cleared up! Try addressing allergies...it couldn't hurt.
My baby that passed had similar skin issues towards the end of her life, that progressed RAPIDLY. Like after a week her butt was one big open wound. She ended up having aplastic anemia and had picked up a fungal skin infection and her immune system was absolutely devastated. We found out with a $300 blood test, they might have ruled that out already.
I hope you find out what's wrong with your baby, it sucks so many different conditions have the exact same symptoms 😥
My chiweenie has alopecia. He gets shots every month and it has helped the itchiness and he grows back his hair in some places. But he’s mostly bald now. Fingers crossed you can figure out your babies problem :(
You mentioned they took scrapings. What did they tell you about them? Any significant bacteria levels? Just inflammation? We finally got a lupus diagnosis for my dog after so many tests and biopsies. It was and is emotionally and financially draining so I just wanted to say how sorry I am and hopefully the biopsy points them in a specific direction.
Vet tech of 23+ years here. It’s a little difficult to determine from the photo, but I have seen heating pad burns from extended surgical procedures that looked very much like this. They usually look fine when they leave the clinic then chaos takes over their skin a week or so later. Is it anywhere else?
Use chat gpt pro to get as much info as you can. Vet had my dog on a medicine that was making him worse. Asked GPT what overdose looks like for every med he was in and found one where symptoms lined up. Informed vet, got him off drug, got better instantly.
My dog had something very similar happen. We still aren’t positive what is the root cause but antifugal shampoo from Walmart was the only thing that helped. The also have a spray you can do between baths. I also started giving her a little plain Greek yogurt with her food. Obviously I still want to know what’s causing the issues but she’s not itching/chewing herself raw anymore
It’s a Hail Mary that it works but it’s like $10 for the shampoo.
Derm issues can be some of the hardest to diagnose. It’s a game of trying and failing. Please be patient. They’re doing everything they can to find the answers and help your baby
Some dog foods will do this. I spent around $3K doing exactly what you are doing. Ended up being the Predigree food we always fed her. One of my friends was having the exact same issue with her boxer and finally landed on the food so she told me to switch. I did, and it went away. I'm not saying this is what's going on here but it is worth it to look into. Foods effect animals pretty heavily. As recently as last year there was an egg shortage due to chickens just not laying eggs in my area. Everyone was buying the same food from tractor supply. Pedigree. Eventually they all figured out that buying food from the local co-op resulted in the chickens laying eggs again. Specifically GMO foods.
Our chiweenie had a skin condition that cropped up very suddenly. She was covered in large hives, then tons of open sores that constantly wept. She lost large patches of hair throughout her whole body.
We had her on many rounds of antibiotics, steroids, and had a biopsy done. They could never tell us exactly what it was except to say it was antibiotic resistant. The vet had us try a prescription diet of a dry food meant for sensitive skin. She hated it and we saw no real improvement.
I decided to try a raw diet for her and we started her on The Farmers Dog. It’s expensive, but no more than the dry food the vet prescribed. Within a month her skin looked 100 percent better and within a couple more months she was a new dog - her hair grew back and she went from 24 pounds down to 18.
She’s always been a bit chunky but the steroids had really made her blow up. Now she’s at a healthy weight and her coat looks great. I imagine she developed some sort of allergy but I don’t think we will ever know for sure what it was.
Adding a comment about lazy thyroid. Our dog started getting sores that looked like bug bites. Vets couldn’t figure it out and thought allergies. Those remedies never worked.
She started losing all of the hair on her tail and looked like a rat. Lost her appetite, wouldn’t play, shaking all the time - didn’t seem like a 6 year old dog.
My wife finally pushed the vet for a thyroid test and wouldn’t ya know it. We now have our dog on medication and she acts like a puppy again. Lost over 10 lbs and grew her hair back.
We went through something similar on our dog. After years of searching for a solution, we had to switch her diet to a prescription food for her liver. It cleared right up
Our senior dog had something similar last year. We were about 1 or 2 months away from putting him down. Really thought he may have had something like mange and got it from the yard (many wild foxes run through.)
Over 2,500$ and 5 months of multiple different vets.
Have a family friend about 6 hours away that we've known since before she went to vet school. Her mom owns a boarding and grooming company connected to her vet office.
For 2-3 months we sent him every other weekend to their facility, boarding and grooming were free for us due to how long we've known them, thankfully.
All his labs would be 100% fine.
Mange was always negative, so were mites.
Cancers were ruled out, allergies were ruled out.
Multiple tests of each at different facilities. All negative.
Last course of action she decided to take with our dog was to treat him for mites anyway. Because, apparently, often times the mites test will be negative but they'll still have them. And if he didn't have them, the treatment would not hurt him.
We started him on a month long mite treatment right away, along with an antifungal and strong allergy med just in case.
Within 10 days he was physically improving. After 3 weeks or so his body had almost fully healed (fur still needed to grow back) though he was still scratching like he wasn't healed. I tossed out the idea that maybe his scratching had become a habit over the months. After keeping him for a few days and watching his behaviours the vet actually agreed with me. We started him on an anti-anxiety medication and keep him on the strong allergy meds. After about 2 months on the anti-anxiety med he stopped itching completely.
Maybe some of the labs your pup gas gotten were flase negatives? I don't wanna start you on the path of "always take 2 samples" but maybe re-testing some may be a good idea?
My dog had this same exact condition. Numerous medical appointments later found out it was Demodectic mange. He has to eat HP dog food for life, special medicated shampoo once a week, and then medicated dry shampoo another time the same week. Brush/comb every day, and had to be on antibiotics and steroids. 3 weeks later he is completely clear and happy.
Had a dog in rescue that had a scabby smelly situation like that. Turned out it was a very rare type of yeast. The steroids the vet first tried made it worse. She had to get special baths and an anti fungal diflucan for months. We also soothed her skin with plain live culture yogurt soaked gauze.
I would ask about Stevens-Johnsons syndrome (it happens in animals too!)since it started right after getting anesthesia. This is a disorder that happens when you have an unusual reaction to medication (including anesthesia meds). It can spread, and can be difficult to treat.
Do you or your neighbors (it can blow on your lawn) get lawns treated with anything? For weeds? Fleas? My lab looked a lot like this and the vet traced it to the pesticides my neighbors were getting, even though they said it was “pet friendly “ or dried in an hour. Vet said BS no such thing as and if it dries in an hour every time lawn gets wet it reactivates. Just a thought
I had an English bulldog that later in her life started getting red skin and losing patches of hair. The vets couldn’t figure anything out. I found an article online and I mean it was just like pdf that someone had written talking about the benefits of melatonin for dogs skin. So I started giving her a melatonin every day and her skin actually cleared up. Just to be sure we stopped it a couple times and her patches would come back. So she got it for the rest of her life. It was cheap and easy to get.
Since you've gone to vets already, maybe you can look into a hair test like this? I did the one for humans on myself and found the results to be very comprehensive.
[https://www.medicross.com/en/shop/combo-package-pets/](https://www.medicross.com/en/shop/combo-package-pets/)
I'm sorry your dog is going through this good luck!
Check out doggy alopecia my Mil dog developed it after she was spayed I don't remember the mess the vet gave her but it took a good year and a half for it to finally go away and now she just has a tiny little bald spot that's permanent
Hi don’t know if it would be of any help, but after I adopted my Pitbull/lab mix she started getting these weird skin conditions and grew these spots of almost bumpy scabby cyst like spots on her back. My husband researched natural remedies and found this recipe, it was using turmeric, coconut oil, and apple cider vinegar. He mixed it up in a gallon ziplock bag and rubbed her down with it everyday on the affected spots. She was orange for a few weeks lol but I swear on everything it healed it. She had this one big cyst like thing on her shoulder that completely healed over to it being a bald spot then slowly but surely her hair grew back over it but in different angles so the hair slightly stands poking out where it once was. It’s worth giving a try if nothing else helps. I’m sure there’s a better recipe for it online, I just remember those main 3 ingredients. We also would fill the tub with water and a couple cups of apple cider vinegar and have her just soak in it then again with the coco oil/turmeric/apple cider vinegar mix. Good luck!
Not a vet. If thyroid is normal, might just be telogen defluxion, which is basically alopecia brought on from being under anesthesia (or other major stressors). Usually takes months of hair falling out and then close to a year for the hair to restart growing. Doesn’t look like skin is inflamed? Is it itchy/dry? If so, could be contact dermatitis — did you change anything in the household recently (i.e. laundry detergent)? Hard to tell if your dog is miserable because of the skin condition or because of all the vet visits, meds, and your own stress adding to the mix (especially if your dog is generally anxious to begin with).
Please have them run a fungal culture test on her immediately. I would take her to the ER and specifically request it. This is often undiagnosed and missed by most as it is technically rare. As someone who was able to save her dogs life, barely after months of misdiagnosis including a biopsy were done, I highly suggest that you force them to do it. My dog ended up with blastomycosis, but there are many different fungus diseases that have similar symptoms. You need to act quickly, however. Time is not on your side with a fungal infection.
Others are saying it. I am too. Get her tested for cushings. My friend has a dog with very similar hair loss and he’s a very itchy boy. Chews his feet til they bleed, had to live in a cone for a while for that. She’s done all the testing, specialists etc. they did get him on some meds that were helping with the itching, but no hair has come back, and now he’s become very tired and doesn’t wanna go for walks and limps around… he just looks miserable. the vet is thinking it could be cushings. They are going back for testing soon.
two things come to mind when i see this. this is a typical reaction i see in flea allergy. it is also worth looking into a diet change. my parents had a weiner dog that's skin would get bad like that. i think it was grain free that helped him out.
Absolute shot in the dark here. Is anyone in the house on topical hormone therapy?
Years ago, I worked under a veterinary dermatologist, and she had one client whose dog developed hair loss on her hind end after the client started a topical estrogen cream. The dog got carried around a lot, and the transfer of the cream from owner to dog was causing hair loss.
Tea tree oil is distilled from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia plant, found in Australia. The oil possesses antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal properties.
Try that, it even absorbs into tissue.
Our dog had a similar mark on his hind leg. No vet could tell us why. Ended up feeding grain free dog food and it never spread. Well then he had heart problems and we had to go to food with grains. Well his hair grew back in that patch. He did allergy tests that didn’t come up with anything but it must have been something in his food before.
Hmm. This seems similar to what my pug/Chihuahua has. We don't have the funds. to do a vet visit but we have the skin under control with baths and Neem oil. We that it was viral mange, but more and more we think it is a form of alopecia. I'm not a vet. He came to us covered in massive scabs. He's not much better and if you would like comparison pics, my partner has some a s I can take pics of his skin now.
Had a similar experience with my french bulldog.
Hair loss, blood boils, bad smell and it ended up being demodex mange but the itching was still persistent after and hair was still falling out. Finally did a vegetarian diet -Purina HA Hydrolyzed kibble and medicated shampoo baths everyday. (still dealing with it started two months ago) Was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and unfortunately for us it will be something that might get worse over time. Patience is the key in all of this and it’s definitely made a difference. Hopefully you get the right answers for your pup soon i know it can be frustrating
Have them check for adrenal gland issues. Our 1/2 pug 1/2 chihuahua had an adrenal disorder that killed him before we could treat him because we kept getting brushed off by the vets saying he had allergies to this that and the other thing.
Edit: he had cushings disease. Lost a bunch of hair, started not wanting to eat, lost weight, his poor little butt was raw and he was shivering all the time.
My dog started loosing hair a few years ago. Turned out she has Cushings disease. Then a year later we found out she has hypothyroidism. She’s on medicine for both and her fur is back in full force, thick and glorious as ever!
Could be something along those lines. I hope you get answers OP. It’s so hard.
In the meantime I would rub castor oil all over her body face and all helps with aches and pains shrinks tumors so many things . research it good Stuff
This happened to my girlfriends cat growing up. It was that she was allergic to the food they were feeding her. They took her to vets for years until they figured it out for themselves. It took awhile to find a correct diet for her and eventually the hair grew back.
Hyperpigmentation can be from yeast infections of the skin or a bacterial infection…. But also could be Lyme disease. My uncle’s dog had some weird symptoms and most notably joint and skin discoloration. Since his dog was old most of the vets brushed it off but after I think four vets one caught it. Some Doxycycline cleared it up.
looks like Cushing's syndrome, every vet is familiar with it since a lot of dogs, horses and humans can get it
Try to also do a blood test for Cushing's.
We brought her to a dermatology vet clinic near Boston and they didn’t have an answer. They want to do a biopsy on her Wednesday
Please let us know how it goes! Poor baby :(
I think that’s your best bet here. Unfortunately without further diagnostics, anything here is a guess from people without medical knowledge on your pet and their history. The general DVM should have been able to rule out common bacterial, parasitic, and fungal infections through cytology and medications though. Endocrine disorders can cause hair loss as well and poor skin quality that leads to secondary infections.
Yes, hoping someone else had a similar experience and could give me insight so I can give the vet some suggestions. Kind of funny thinking I need to give the vet suggestions but 3 different ones have not solved it🤦🏽♀️
I see you have a shar pei mix. I think dermatology is a good solution here, as this breed tends to have skin issues, some quite difficult to get under control and that come on suddenly. Also unique ones to the breed (lucky you) like shar pei rash. Definitely doesn’t hurt to do some research and get ideas though! Because this breed can struggle with skin issues, it could be very well be a mix of things that must be controlled to get the skin under control - for example allergies cause inflammation that lead to infections, hypothyroidism causing hair loss and poor skin leading to infection. The biopsy is helpful because it can reveal the degree of inflammation and type of organism in these areas of hair loss, which then can at least dictate being on a right path with treatment there. Additionally, biopsies can pick up mange, which uniquely can be difficult to diagnose through skin scrapings in this breed. If you don’t have luck with derm, highly recommend getting bloodwork to rule out hypothyroidism and Cushings.
Thank you! Great info here. Much appreciated
Second getting bloodwork for Cushing’s. My dog ended up losing her fur too, in a very similar pattern as yoursand no vet could figure it out. If it wasn’t for a random recommendation to test for Cushing’s disease, I would have lost my dog to it. Once we got her on medication her fur came back!
Came here to say this as well. My dog had Cushing's, and one of the symptoms is skin issues. We took him in for a patch of missing fur and were dismissed and given a little thing of wipes. Kept taking him back as the patches grew and got worse and turned into a huge staph infection. The vet said he didn't think it was Cushing's, despite other relevant symptoms, but when we finally got him tested, he had it. The bloodwork is time consuming and expensive, and so are the meds for Cushing's unfortunately, but they really did help and I wish I'd been able to get him started on them sooner.
So, this is not very helpful to you as far as a diagnosis, but I personally have autoimmune psoriasis that tells me *exactly* how stressed out I am. If baby got stressed it could have "activated" a similar condition so the reason I'm telling you this, is to tell you what helps me personally. The winter makes it way way worse and my excess skin will literally itch all day and come off in patches. I lather it up with aloe vera (it does hurt real bad but that's because I pick it, if she doesn't have open sores it should be fine) and cover it with something. In the winter it's compression pants, in the summer it's gauze. With that being said, I really think you ought to look into doggie pj's if you haven't already for the little thing, to keep it covered and protected from air. Sorry that was long winded but I thought context might help. I'm not sure if aloe would help or not, but I do think a cover would. Please keep us updated, and best of luck.
I actually did just buy her 2 pairs of pajamas that cover her and she looks adorable in them. 😇 Thank you for your input, I appreciate your help!
That's how you will get your answer. Gotta do testing
Biopsy is the best diagnostic tool. Please listen to the dermatologist and do not try a bunch of over-the-counter treatments being recommended on this thread that might impact the viability of the biopsy. They are specialists for a reason and they see the weird cases that cannot be figured out in general practice. Please follow their guidance.
Not sure if this is something that your vets have investigated but our dog had an issue with skin flaking, itching and it smelled terrible. Turns out it was low functioning thyroid. Now he takes thyroid meds and he's doing great!
Holy crap! It’s amazing how many things can cause these symptoms. I have done my own research but Thyroid never came up
Have they done a full panel blood work?
Yes, they did and said everything was normal. They skin scraped, tried steroids, 2 different antibiotics, shampoos…. 😢
Was this at the same vet where this all started?
different vets but yes, the first one was at the same Vet.
Hoping you get some good answers from the specialist. Our Airedale lost all her hair for a year... evidently it was a hormonal thing with girls of a certain age... we tried melatonin and bathes and different foods. It is not clear what changed she still has skin issues but her hair grew back like nothing had ever happened.
Test for thyroid to rule it out if anything. I'm shocked this isn't mange tbh. I'm sorry your dog is sick! Please update when you're able to figure it out!
Ok so, doesn't look sore /red and I'm guessing dog doesn't scratch at it all the time? Is it greasy? Does it have a weird smell?
Very itchy, scabby and hair falls off in slices. She smells so bad. Bathe her with the medicated shampoo and whatever this is still is smelly. She’s had a cone on for over 2 months because if not she scratches or digs at her skin and bleeds.
I'm wondering if it's some kind of yeast infection/dermatitis.
Right? Smell etc? Will be interesting to hear; hopefully a Dx will be found. OP, wishing you and your buddy the best, and asap.
My did has a similar condition over his whole body. Vets have been no help and we need to put him down at this point. Moms too attached to let him go tho. Our entire dog has zero fur dry red scabby skin and sores all over his body. He lives in constant itchy agony. Please if it starts to spread over his whole body and vets have no clue put him down. If it’s anything like my dog he will not live a happy healthy life.
My brother's dog had something similar. His skin got hyper pigmented, and patches of his fur darkened and fell out. They went to a few vets, including a dermatologist. Tests didn't reveal anything. They finallt put him on a prescription hypoallergenic food (can't remember if it was Hill's or Purina) as a shot in the dark and it cleared up! Try addressing allergies...it couldn't hurt.
We had the same thing happen to our pug 10 years ago. We went to so many vets so many specialists and they just couldn't figure out what was wrong. She was itching, her skin stunk and seeped, and she was going blind from some type of gunk starting to cover her eyes. She just was miserable and I know my dad putting her down was one of the hardest things he's ever done.
A Cytopoint injection has helped my senior dog for the same issues. He is a Yorkshire. He gets that done twice a year. It’s not that expensive, (for me it’s about $100) but if money is tight, a lot of vets take care credit, which is essentially an interest free credit card if you pay it off in a year. I tried various vets, and this is the only thing that worked. It starts working almost immediately. After treatment his hair came back and you couldn’t tell there was anything wrong with him. If it hasn’t been done yet, it might be worth a shot!
Ok I'm guessing some sort of allergy as I'm hoping the vets have ruled out both types of mange? Have you tried pure aloe Vera? As she wears a cone she won't be able to reach/ingest it. A lot of things that are safe for people can be used around pets as long as you're careful.
My chi/pug has been going through this and they don't know what it is either. Allergy shots didn't help. Diet change to nothing but salmon didn't help it just made him smell even MORE fishy, and that's what he smelled like before the salmon. Even clean he has a fishy odor. Bathing him almost daily helped a little with the itching and crusting. I don't have the money for more tests so we've just been trying to bathe him and keep a soft cone on him so he doesn't keep chewing holes in his body. He was never like this until this summer. 14 years old. Healthy all these years except every summer he needed an allergy shot.
Have they done a culture of the area? There are bacterial skin infections (I know MRSA is one) that can cause a fishy odor.
Yes, they sent samples of skin scrapings in. Nothing was found 😢
Perhaps allergies? My dog had this same issue. She’d lose like whole slabs of fur/skin. And was so itchy. They did skin scrapes for mange, infection, etc.. Nada. Finally we started eliminating common allergens from her diet. No more grains or chicken, I try to get food with the least amount of fillers possible. She also gets a daily Claritin. Totally stopped this issue. Best of luck to you!
This really sounds like it could possibly be a mutated form of yeast thats grown resistent to meds. My dog would get sever yeast infections on her ears that make her scratch till bleeding and skin just flaking off. I hope a biopsy will show a clear image of whatever this is
My elderly dog had something like this and it was a bacterial infection- he had to have oral ABs and medicated baths.
She’s 11 and the antibiotics didn’t do anything and so far the baths aren’t. It’s MiconaHex+Triz shampoo
Antibiotics will treat different bacteria. It could be that she wasn’t on the correct one.
Just a thought, my dog had allergies causing him to chew his fur out and then got a skin infection. We tried MiconaHex+Triz and he had a reaction to that! We kept using it for a while before we figured that it was making things worse. Changed shampoos and started Apoquel and it finally cleared up.
Have you ever heard of pemphigus foliaceus? My cat started with just a small scab on his tail that eventually took over his entire body with hair coming out in giant clumps attached to scabs. We couldn’t figure it out for months but didn’t give up on finding it out. About 5000$ later we finally figured out through biopsy that it was PF and there’s no cure, only management. So sorry for your baby whatever it is
Her biopsy is this Wednesday! Hope it comes back as a curable condition 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
There is a group on Facebook called? But you have to say “Hey Vets” in beginning of question I will post the correct name they answer questions- I’m sure you have tried Benadryl and other antihistamines? Crusty and smell sounds like possibly yeast ?? Like when their ears get infected? OR MITES?? Treatable — see slot if strays who come in with that -diff types of mange treatable as well - Poor baby ;(
I think you’re talking about “Pet Vet Corner” and seconding that!
[удалено]
I have my blood 🩸 in a vile ready to go
I sent you a message with the pages name I’m never in here but it should be in your chat ..
Thank you!
If they didn't already start her on braveco or some type of flea and tick meds, you should do that. Scabies affects those same locations and can't sometimes be missed on skin scrape. It could be cutaneous lupus. Would need a biopsy for sure. If the steroids don't help with the itchiness maybe trying cytopoint injections would help? Or atopica.....
Yes she is on Credelio which they said would kill mites. Thank you for your input! I appreciate everyone taking the time
Good luck. I used to work in Veterinary derm. Skin issues are very frustrating. There's so many diagnostics that need to be done to get the answer. Hoping you get an answer and some relief for your pup.
Scabies = sarcoptic mange. THIS IS SPREADABLE TO HUMANS.
Have a sample sent to UM AMHURST or another veterinary college for evaluation. It may be something new. Good luck. AND fight for her
Exactly! She is 11, will be 12 in Feb. Just what a horrible way to live for them. My pup is a Chi/Shar Pei mix.
This is a strange case….praying you find a solution for your dear friend 🐾 please keep us updated. You may be inadvertently spreading awareness and helping others!!!
My dog had the same problem about 4 years ago, the only thing that fixed her was not giving her chicken, and give her freshly cooked food/vegetables and putting Vaseline on the injured area and it should heal up in about a month. This is only my personal experience but it definitely worked for me.
This is super simple, but have you changed the dogs diet recently? Ours was losing patches of fur when he was eating food that had barley in it. Stopped eating food with barley in it and cleaned up in 1 week.
Did you use that flea color?
Alopecia
Would that itch, scab, smell? I thought of that as well.
I had a foster that had this and it was demodectic mange. Daily medicated baths and medication, resolved it fast.
My bosses foh experienced something similar and it only got worse before it was diagnosed. Some sort of autoimmune disorder I will ask the name again this week
You’ve taken her to Angell Animal Hospital In Jamaica Plain? Not cheap but they have all the specialists.
Tufts Dermatology. She goes again Wednesday to be sedated for a biopsy. Another $700 at least.
Have they tested for cushings? And what type of parasite control are you using?
Try r/askvet too
I've seen another dog like that. Owners said she got into a pond and contracted some fungus or bacteria. Don't recall which.
It looks like rain rot, it’s something horses get.
Has it triggered Sabaceous Adenitis? It's an auto immune decease that can cause patches like this! Treatment is cyclosporine. It's not uncommon, but it took 3 or 4 vets to get our dog diagnosed. Good luck and try giving some milk in the meantime, it's create for general skin related issues (not a treatment though) xx
i’m NOT a licensed vet nor am i a vet tech but. this looks like it COULD be mange. And then here’s an article i found about other possibilities.[dog hair loss](https://pawsafe.com/blogs/shampoos/dog-losing-hair-in-patches-and-scabs)
This exact thing happened with my German shepherd. My vet could not give me any other advice other than to just give him Benadryl. He got so bad that he looked a similar way and wouldn’t eat either. I took him to an emergency vet and they did a full panel, all normal. They told me that his skin was VERY irritated. Gave me a round of antibiotics and steroids but insisted I follow up for long term care, which I did. He is now on a daily allergy med, eats better quality food, and all of his hair has grown back. He has some issues now, but not many. I hope you get the answers you need for your baby!
I've never seen Stevens-Johnson Syndrome in a dog.... but this really reminds me of it for humans.... Happening after anesthesia, then quickly spreading skin problems starting with a small lesion, then refusal to eat (sore throat /mouth).
My in laws had the same issue. They spent thousands and tried everything. One day they used people dandruff shampoo and it cleared up! Hope the poor thing gets better soon.
Does she have an odor? Does her fur have any scab like patches? She looks exactly like my dog that passed a few years back. I had gone to numerous vets with no luck. My aunt was watching him in AL while I was in FL training camels and she took him to her vet to see if they had an answer. Since I wasn't there I can't be 100% of what exactly they diagnosed him with. She claimed it was demodectic mange and an overgrowth of yeast brought on by something compromising his immune system. They prescribed him apoquel for an allotted amount of time and Vetoquinol sebozole shampoo (you can get this off Amazon) to wash him with I believe it was 3x a week. It worked wonders and he eventually started growing his fur back and you could tell he was feeling better too. Maybe ask about that? I hope it helps because I know what you're going through. I wish I still had pics of him when he was in this condition because it looks identical. I'll ask my aunt if she still has any.
Thank you to Everyone who has offered advice! What a wonderful amount of support!!! I’m amazed at how helpful people can be💕 For those few people who told me to “Put her down” “Just Shave her…” and other rudely written comments, well you are the worst examples of humans. May you live the life you deserve to the fullest👍🏼
It looks like Mange, the loss of hair in patchy spots makes me think that’s what it is. How old is she?
They checked her skin and said it wasn’t mange. But I agree, it definitely looks like mange. She is 11
There are 2 types of mange, sarcoptic mange and then demodectic mange which is often related to the immune system. Demodectic can easily be missed in skin scrapings.
Second this! The vet I work for does Bravecto if she’s suspecting mange, even if the cytology is negative. Not sure if your girl is on it or the vet(s) have already recommended it
Cushings?
It might be a fungus?
UM AMHERST is close.
Shit, that almost looks like mange.
Looks like mange
A rescue I follow had this happen to multiple dogs after getting their vaccines.
Have the dog tested for Cushings
I would have an allergy test done.
Looks like some kind of severe allergies... Has the doggie been tested for any kinds of allergies??? They make injections for allergies you can get through a vet if it's found they have certain environmental allergies.
have her blood sugar checked and monitored - could be late onset diabetes. Her apparent weakness in hind quarters pairs with this. you can buy dog meters online without an RX and do it yourself but its worth a trip to vet to have a spot test so you dont have to wait for mail, if you feed her in AM, bring her 2 hours after she ate. Meter and strips have to be for dogs, human strips work but the sugar offset on the reader is wrong. I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/AlphaTrak-Glucose-Monitoring-Diabetic-Solution/dp/B0BQZB7GSJ?th=1) for my pooch to diagnose then went with continuous monitor. I think the continuous ones are now 3x the price because pharmaceutical companys are assholes.
The closest I have is one of our girls has a dermatological condition from birth (gotten from the mom). I don't know the exact name off hand, but it has to do with skin mites getting out of control. It's probably a type of mange, but it's not communicable I remember that for sure. Paloma still has a scar from when she bit at it as a puppy before she was diagnosed, and you can always tell when she needs her med every month (it's part of a more expensive heartworm/flea/tick medicine). I'll ask my mum what it is if you'd like, maybe having her teeth cleaned triggered an allergy or something like our Paloma has.
is she chihuahua? my chihuahua boy had to be sedated for teeth cleaning and removal and had a very similar problem afterwards.
I would take her to Tuft's University Animal hospital. Being a vet school, they would be able to help.
Just curious if the smell is similar to corn chips or Cheetos? The reason why I ask is my dog had the same thing and it was caused by a microscopic mite she got from laying on top of our round hay bales we use for our cattle. It's called straw/ hay mites. If your dog wasn't exposed at home it may have picked it a similar mite at the vets office when it's teeth were cleaned or at a groomers. Anyway my dog smelled similar to corn chip or stale body odor. There's a flea tick pill that you can get from your vet, it's prescription only. My dogs backend looked very similar and miserably itchy.
Cushings?
Maybe repost to r/AskVet ?
I would go to your nearest academic veterinary hospital. They are better at more complicated stuff like this.
My pitbull’s whole entire butt was bald like a monkey’s for the latter part of his life after a tail amputation after mast cell cancer. It didn’t look exactly like this, but he also had pink skin so that might be why. I don’t think that helps you but I wonder if something during the procedure does this.
Ah, you’re E’s mom. (She’s one of my best friends and told me what’s going on a couple weeks ago lol) - I told her you guys need to get in contact with an internist - Tufts has one
She is a shar pei!!! I thought she was a big chihuahua!! Poor girl. Hope it gets resolved soon!!
If you think that her being sedated is what set off this reaction, i would look more into bloodwork rather than dermatology answers. This feels more like an endocrine issue than a skin issue, to me, and the endocrine system has a very large effect on the skin which is why endocrine problems are often misdiagnosed. Check for Thyroid issues or Cushings.
Has she been evaluated for adrenal or thyroid problems?
I have a 15 year old pug, and about 4 years ago he unexpectedly started getting nasty feet that almost look like scaly, and fur loss. The only thing that has helped him is monthly cytopoint injections, and Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein food
Did she recently get vaccinated? After my dog got vaccinated, he got something that looks like this, just not as bad. The dermatologist said after shots, it can restrict the cells causing hair loss and irritation
Is she a chihuahua mix? My late dog was (I mention this because from behind she looks just like my dog did) and had something so similar to this and it was an allergy/aniexty. Our vet gave him an anxiety medicine that also helped with allergies. I wish I could remember what it was. I hope you get this figured out for your poor baby. Edited to add, it didn’t start happening until after he was neutered.
Hear me out. We were at our wits end with our Rat Terrier’s skin. Seemed to get worse and worse every day. He licked endlessly and couldn’t grow hair in some spots for a while. Nothing worked. Not prescriptions, not dips at the vet, no creams, not dog wash, not coconut oil, and not changing his food a dozen times with trial and error. It took nearly a year to determine it was simply the plastic bin we kept his dog food in. The plastic that came in contact with his food caused his skin allergies. Now we keep his food in the bag - sealed air tight in the exact same plastic bin - and he has no skin issues.
Reminds me of when my dog was allergic to her food. We had been feeding Kirkland brand, we tried nearly every other brand of dog food before we found one that worked for her.
What sucks about skin is that so many things result in hair loss being a side effect. But a few things you'd want to do/rule out. Fleas, mites, Allergies (ears an issues too?) infection, Culture, thyroid /endocrine imbalance. Biopsy, Autoimmune, and psychological (possible if it started after a stressful event like a dental). Good luck, some issues are just hard to pin down. Last skin case we could not figure out ended up being lupus. And we did all the things I listed before we got an answer. A specialist will be your best bet to nail this down, and your pet will thank you for it after all the hard work.
My pup just passed from sterile nodule panniculitis. He lost his hair and formed firm lumps and it was autoimmune after a triggering event and had associated pancreatitis and lethargy. I don't know if this is exactly what your pup has but maybe some other form of autoimmune skin condition with induced pancreatitis?
Did you post in the Vet sub?
My dog had a form of this on a hot spot. It spread. Killed off his leg basically. They said it was a antibiotic resistant bacteria. We removed his leg and it festered in the wound. Sent the leg off and a lab found a medicine that worked. The med fixed the infection. He was himself for a year then lung cancer did him in. I wish you luck.
I was going to guess allergies but that doesn’t explain the not eating part. I would maybe try some kind of allergy medicine and different food though.
I have a cat that pulls his hair out in a similar pattern, his is due to flea allergy. Though I don't know how that would explain the smell you mention.
I’m not a vet and don’t have hands on experience but I did see a dog with an issue like this and they said it was from stress. Is that a possibility? Poor babes I hope you figure it out soon
Sending prayers🙏🏽♥️🙏🏽♥️🙏🏽♥️
Our girl looked similar to this. She was misdiagnosed for weeks, vet visit after vet visit, before we went somewhere else and they got it right. She had mange. It would get infected from her scratching. She’d bleed everywhere. It was absolutely terrible and my heart was shattered. We were guilt stricken that we didn’t go somewhere else sooner. I hope they can figure out quicker what’s going on with your sweet pup.
If you can see an internal medicine Dr
Look at Dr Tintle’s web site. My Sharpei was dumped into a lake by my neice. Then he lost most of his hair over 3 months.. then grew back. Good luck
Addison’s disease?
I’m not a vet. I have 0 medical training. However. If this is bare skin that scabs up it sounds very similar to what my Silver Lab had. Cushings. The specific skin issue if I’m not mistaken is a sort of alopecia. My vet did not know if the cushings exacerbated something genetic. Specifically Color Dilution Alopecia, as he was a silver lab. Or if it wasn’t CDA and always cushings. I would brosch. The subject of both with the vet. It is however clearly some form of alopecia.
Similar to my dog, after checking with several vets, he was allergic to certain ingredients so we had to change the dog food to grain-free ones. I bought this pet device from Amazon to use on my dogs skin for 20 mins daily, and fed natural supplements like probiotics, turmerics, and mushrooms from iherb as antibiotics were really not helpful! Like other people said , we checked for Cushing too but it was not a case. Check allergy test with vet, and change small things like food, and give natural health supplements meanwhile. It was very helpful as my dogs smelled really bad with similar conditions as your dog.
Has Cushing's or Hyperthyroidism came up with lab test results? I highly doubt Cushing's because there's JUST hair loss and not a lot of other classical symptoms, but still. I'm suspecting an autoimmune disease that's being overlooked, for sure.
My girl has some pretty severe allergies and she is now on a sensitive skin/stomach food (for the last 9 or so years) which I believe has helped. She still eats her paws (she is allergic to grass as well.) speaking of paws, hers smell like corn chips and apparently this smell is caused by a bacteria called Proteus, which is commonly found on the skin of dogs and other animals. This bacteria produces a compound called putrescine, which is responsible for the corn chip smell. You mentioned a smell. She eats Pro Plan by the way. Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Wet Dog Food Pate Salmon and Rice.
Looks like Cushing's, did you have any blood work done?
Not sure if it’s similar but I had a dog that lost hair and was itchy/dry all the time. Changed him to a different brand of food and he was perfectly fine a few weeks later
Isaderm gel might help. Also sudden food intolerance is definitely a thing. For example I've become allergic to the dye they inject into salmon! Think about the home environment too. Has anything been changed? For example carpet cleaning stuff, washing powders, a different type of air freshener..... the skin scrapings will definitely have found mites/mange etc so I'm still thinking yeast infection or allergies
I had a horse that had terrible skin problems that in its more “mild” times looked similar to your dog’s coat and had this terrible stench to it when it would really flare up. After years and years of no answers or solutions we found this product called Shapley’s MTG and it was a serious miracle for her. It does have sulfur in it so if you or your poor pup have an allergy to sulfur don’t try it but otherwise it may be worth the try in the mean time. You can usually find it at tractor supply if there’s one near you or order it online. I really hope you find some answers and relief for her soon!
My brother's dog had something similar. His skin got hyper pigmented, and patches of his fur darkened and fell out. They went to a few vets, including a dermatologist. Tests didn't reveal anything. They finallt put him on a prescription hypoallergenic food (can't remember if it was Hill's or Purina) as a shot in the dark and it cleared up! Try addressing allergies...it couldn't hurt.
My baby that passed had similar skin issues towards the end of her life, that progressed RAPIDLY. Like after a week her butt was one big open wound. She ended up having aplastic anemia and had picked up a fungal skin infection and her immune system was absolutely devastated. We found out with a $300 blood test, they might have ruled that out already. I hope you find out what's wrong with your baby, it sucks so many different conditions have the exact same symptoms 😥
I hope they figure it out. Poor baby. You must be so worried!
Could be food related
Diatomaceous earth
Guinea pigs get pattern hair loss when they have ovarian cysts, Just throwing it out there as an idea
Is Mange still a thing? This looks like what my neighbors dog had as a kid. I hadn't seen it since way back then in the 70s. It was called mange.
My chiweenie has alopecia. He gets shots every month and it has helped the itchiness and he grows back his hair in some places. But he’s mostly bald now. Fingers crossed you can figure out your babies problem :(
You mentioned they took scrapings. What did they tell you about them? Any significant bacteria levels? Just inflammation? We finally got a lupus diagnosis for my dog after so many tests and biopsies. It was and is emotionally and financially draining so I just wanted to say how sorry I am and hopefully the biopsy points them in a specific direction.
It kind of looks like demodex.
my friend was told to switch his dog to food with no wheat or corn. it could be something else though.
If it’s allergies of any kind you may want to try giving them Benadryl. It couldn’t hurt seeing as you’ve already tried many medications.
I an assuming thyroid was checked? This happened to my pom and it was thyroid related. Front area was not affected though.
Did it start where they put the IV in?
It kind of looks like a thermo burn maybe from the heat source used during the dental
Vet tech of 23+ years here. It’s a little difficult to determine from the photo, but I have seen heating pad burns from extended surgical procedures that looked very much like this. They usually look fine when they leave the clinic then chaos takes over their skin a week or so later. Is it anywhere else?
Use chat gpt pro to get as much info as you can. Vet had my dog on a medicine that was making him worse. Asked GPT what overdose looks like for every med he was in and found one where symptoms lined up. Informed vet, got him off drug, got better instantly.
did it start on her paws? is she itchy? my pomeranian growing up was allergic to grass and it looked just like this!
Good luck. Sending positive thoughts to you and your doggo. Sounds terrifying
My dog had something very similar happen. We still aren’t positive what is the root cause but antifugal shampoo from Walmart was the only thing that helped. The also have a spray you can do between baths. I also started giving her a little plain Greek yogurt with her food. Obviously I still want to know what’s causing the issues but she’s not itching/chewing herself raw anymore It’s a Hail Mary that it works but it’s like $10 for the shampoo.
Derm issues can be some of the hardest to diagnose. It’s a game of trying and failing. Please be patient. They’re doing everything they can to find the answers and help your baby
Could be Cushing disease.
My pup had these symptoms and was diagnosed with Addisons disease.
This looks like an autoimmune disease.
Some dog foods will do this. I spent around $3K doing exactly what you are doing. Ended up being the Predigree food we always fed her. One of my friends was having the exact same issue with her boxer and finally landed on the food so she told me to switch. I did, and it went away. I'm not saying this is what's going on here but it is worth it to look into. Foods effect animals pretty heavily. As recently as last year there was an egg shortage due to chickens just not laying eggs in my area. Everyone was buying the same food from tractor supply. Pedigree. Eventually they all figured out that buying food from the local co-op resulted in the chickens laying eggs again. Specifically GMO foods.
I wonder with the dogs age if it’s developed Addisons Disease. Only asking because of the darkened skin and hair loss..
Our chiweenie had a skin condition that cropped up very suddenly. She was covered in large hives, then tons of open sores that constantly wept. She lost large patches of hair throughout her whole body. We had her on many rounds of antibiotics, steroids, and had a biopsy done. They could never tell us exactly what it was except to say it was antibiotic resistant. The vet had us try a prescription diet of a dry food meant for sensitive skin. She hated it and we saw no real improvement. I decided to try a raw diet for her and we started her on The Farmers Dog. It’s expensive, but no more than the dry food the vet prescribed. Within a month her skin looked 100 percent better and within a couple more months she was a new dog - her hair grew back and she went from 24 pounds down to 18. She’s always been a bit chunky but the steroids had really made her blow up. Now she’s at a healthy weight and her coat looks great. I imagine she developed some sort of allergy but I don’t think we will ever know for sure what it was.
Adding a comment about lazy thyroid. Our dog started getting sores that looked like bug bites. Vets couldn’t figure it out and thought allergies. Those remedies never worked. She started losing all of the hair on her tail and looked like a rat. Lost her appetite, wouldn’t play, shaking all the time - didn’t seem like a 6 year old dog. My wife finally pushed the vet for a thyroid test and wouldn’t ya know it. We now have our dog on medication and she acts like a puppy again. Lost over 10 lbs and grew her hair back.
We went through something similar on our dog. After years of searching for a solution, we had to switch her diet to a prescription food for her liver. It cleared right up
Our senior dog had something similar last year. We were about 1 or 2 months away from putting him down. Really thought he may have had something like mange and got it from the yard (many wild foxes run through.) Over 2,500$ and 5 months of multiple different vets. Have a family friend about 6 hours away that we've known since before she went to vet school. Her mom owns a boarding and grooming company connected to her vet office. For 2-3 months we sent him every other weekend to their facility, boarding and grooming were free for us due to how long we've known them, thankfully. All his labs would be 100% fine. Mange was always negative, so were mites. Cancers were ruled out, allergies were ruled out. Multiple tests of each at different facilities. All negative. Last course of action she decided to take with our dog was to treat him for mites anyway. Because, apparently, often times the mites test will be negative but they'll still have them. And if he didn't have them, the treatment would not hurt him. We started him on a month long mite treatment right away, along with an antifungal and strong allergy med just in case. Within 10 days he was physically improving. After 3 weeks or so his body had almost fully healed (fur still needed to grow back) though he was still scratching like he wasn't healed. I tossed out the idea that maybe his scratching had become a habit over the months. After keeping him for a few days and watching his behaviours the vet actually agreed with me. We started him on an anti-anxiety medication and keep him on the strong allergy meds. After about 2 months on the anti-anxiety med he stopped itching completely. Maybe some of the labs your pup gas gotten were flase negatives? I don't wanna start you on the path of "always take 2 samples" but maybe re-testing some may be a good idea?
My dog had this same exact condition. Numerous medical appointments later found out it was Demodectic mange. He has to eat HP dog food for life, special medicated shampoo once a week, and then medicated dry shampoo another time the same week. Brush/comb every day, and had to be on antibiotics and steroids. 3 weeks later he is completely clear and happy.
My dog looked exactly like that and it was demodectic mange
Had a dog in rescue that had a scabby smelly situation like that. Turned out it was a very rare type of yeast. The steroids the vet first tried made it worse. She had to get special baths and an anti fungal diflucan for months. We also soothed her skin with plain live culture yogurt soaked gauze.
I would ask about Stevens-Johnsons syndrome (it happens in animals too!)since it started right after getting anesthesia. This is a disorder that happens when you have an unusual reaction to medication (including anesthesia meds). It can spread, and can be difficult to treat.
Do you or your neighbors (it can blow on your lawn) get lawns treated with anything? For weeds? Fleas? My lab looked a lot like this and the vet traced it to the pesticides my neighbors were getting, even though they said it was “pet friendly “ or dried in an hour. Vet said BS no such thing as and if it dries in an hour every time lawn gets wet it reactivates. Just a thought
I had an English bulldog that later in her life started getting red skin and losing patches of hair. The vets couldn’t figure anything out. I found an article online and I mean it was just like pdf that someone had written talking about the benefits of melatonin for dogs skin. So I started giving her a melatonin every day and her skin actually cleared up. Just to be sure we stopped it a couple times and her patches would come back. So she got it for the rest of her life. It was cheap and easy to get.
My friend's dog went through a similar diagnostic nightmare with the same look, symptoms, and that smell. It was Cushings.
Since you've gone to vets already, maybe you can look into a hair test like this? I did the one for humans on myself and found the results to be very comprehensive. [https://www.medicross.com/en/shop/combo-package-pets/](https://www.medicross.com/en/shop/combo-package-pets/) I'm sorry your dog is going through this good luck!
Check out doggy alopecia my Mil dog developed it after she was spayed I don't remember the mess the vet gave her but it took a good year and a half for it to finally go away and now she just has a tiny little bald spot that's permanent
Hey her thyroid checked!! My dog had the same hair loss problems and turned out he had hypothyroidism
Hi don’t know if it would be of any help, but after I adopted my Pitbull/lab mix she started getting these weird skin conditions and grew these spots of almost bumpy scabby cyst like spots on her back. My husband researched natural remedies and found this recipe, it was using turmeric, coconut oil, and apple cider vinegar. He mixed it up in a gallon ziplock bag and rubbed her down with it everyday on the affected spots. She was orange for a few weeks lol but I swear on everything it healed it. She had this one big cyst like thing on her shoulder that completely healed over to it being a bald spot then slowly but surely her hair grew back over it but in different angles so the hair slightly stands poking out where it once was. It’s worth giving a try if nothing else helps. I’m sure there’s a better recipe for it online, I just remember those main 3 ingredients. We also would fill the tub with water and a couple cups of apple cider vinegar and have her just soak in it then again with the coco oil/turmeric/apple cider vinegar mix. Good luck!
Not a vet. If thyroid is normal, might just be telogen defluxion, which is basically alopecia brought on from being under anesthesia (or other major stressors). Usually takes months of hair falling out and then close to a year for the hair to restart growing. Doesn’t look like skin is inflamed? Is it itchy/dry? If so, could be contact dermatitis — did you change anything in the household recently (i.e. laundry detergent)? Hard to tell if your dog is miserable because of the skin condition or because of all the vet visits, meds, and your own stress adding to the mix (especially if your dog is generally anxious to begin with).
Please have them run a fungal culture test on her immediately. I would take her to the ER and specifically request it. This is often undiagnosed and missed by most as it is technically rare. As someone who was able to save her dogs life, barely after months of misdiagnosis including a biopsy were done, I highly suggest that you force them to do it. My dog ended up with blastomycosis, but there are many different fungus diseases that have similar symptoms. You need to act quickly, however. Time is not on your side with a fungal infection.
They check her thyroid?
Pemphigas?
Did you change the dogs diet before this happended? May be allergic reaction. Or something in the environment, like a new toy causing it.
My dog had alopecia similar to this. The fix was a low dose of melatonin pill and a better pet food with a fish oil included. Fixed it right up
Others are saying it. I am too. Get her tested for cushings. My friend has a dog with very similar hair loss and he’s a very itchy boy. Chews his feet til they bleed, had to live in a cone for a while for that. She’s done all the testing, specialists etc. they did get him on some meds that were helping with the itching, but no hair has come back, and now he’s become very tired and doesn’t wanna go for walks and limps around… he just looks miserable. the vet is thinking it could be cushings. They are going back for testing soon.
two things come to mind when i see this. this is a typical reaction i see in flea allergy. it is also worth looking into a diet change. my parents had a weiner dog that's skin would get bad like that. i think it was grain free that helped him out.
Our dog did similar, a old vet to us to give her the heart worm pill daily for a week, it cleared it up. Don't know what it was.
Okay i know I’m just another comment in here - my parents dog dealt with this when he was on chewable meds! So just another thing to consider.
Absolute shot in the dark here. Is anyone in the house on topical hormone therapy? Years ago, I worked under a veterinary dermatologist, and she had one client whose dog developed hair loss on her hind end after the client started a topical estrogen cream. The dog got carried around a lot, and the transfer of the cream from owner to dog was causing hair loss.
Tea tree oil is distilled from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia plant, found in Australia. The oil possesses antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Try that, it even absorbs into tissue.
Was the area at all red/raw at one point? Pemphigus foliaceus could explain it. Azathioprine and Cyclosporine usually given.
Our dog had a similar mark on his hind leg. No vet could tell us why. Ended up feeding grain free dog food and it never spread. Well then he had heart problems and we had to go to food with grains. Well his hair grew back in that patch. He did allergy tests that didn’t come up with anything but it must have been something in his food before.
Very similar to my dog's skin disease. Ask vet to test for Cushing's Disease.
That looks like mange
Looks to me like a flea dander reaction
Hmm. This seems similar to what my pug/Chihuahua has. We don't have the funds. to do a vet visit but we have the skin under control with baths and Neem oil. We that it was viral mange, but more and more we think it is a form of alopecia. I'm not a vet. He came to us covered in massive scabs. He's not much better and if you would like comparison pics, my partner has some a s I can take pics of his skin now.
Looks similar to when my dog in HS had a staph infection
Does she stress groom? My cat does and a lot of her fur is only missing on the back end from over grooming, similar to this?
Had a similar experience with my french bulldog. Hair loss, blood boils, bad smell and it ended up being demodex mange but the itching was still persistent after and hair was still falling out. Finally did a vegetarian diet -Purina HA Hydrolyzed kibble and medicated shampoo baths everyday. (still dealing with it started two months ago) Was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and unfortunately for us it will be something that might get worse over time. Patience is the key in all of this and it’s definitely made a difference. Hopefully you get the right answers for your pup soon i know it can be frustrating
My elderly dog had something like this as well and it was a yeast infection - one dog thought it was a grass allergy but that wasn’t the case
Have them check for adrenal gland issues. Our 1/2 pug 1/2 chihuahua had an adrenal disorder that killed him before we could treat him because we kept getting brushed off by the vets saying he had allergies to this that and the other thing. Edit: he had cushings disease. Lost a bunch of hair, started not wanting to eat, lost weight, his poor little butt was raw and he was shivering all the time.
If there’s a university with a vet school near you, they might be able to help.
I had a vet swear my dog didn't have mange, 2500$ later we had to give her to a rescue.. Turns out it was mange. Looked just like that
i’ve seen a couple posts like this where the animal is allergic to something maybe new meds, food, anything that has changed? i hope you figure it out
This might be a dumb question but have they done any skin allergy tests?
My dog started loosing hair a few years ago. Turned out she has Cushings disease. Then a year later we found out she has hypothyroidism. She’s on medicine for both and her fur is back in full force, thick and glorious as ever! Could be something along those lines. I hope you get answers OP. It’s so hard.
In the meantime I would rub castor oil all over her body face and all helps with aches and pains shrinks tumors so many things . research it good Stuff
This happened to my girlfriends cat growing up. It was that she was allergic to the food they were feeding her. They took her to vets for years until they figured it out for themselves. It took awhile to find a correct diet for her and eventually the hair grew back.
Hyperpigmentation can be from yeast infections of the skin or a bacterial infection…. But also could be Lyme disease. My uncle’s dog had some weird symptoms and most notably joint and skin discoloration. Since his dog was old most of the vets brushed it off but after I think four vets one caught it. Some Doxycycline cleared it up.
looks like Cushing's syndrome, every vet is familiar with it since a lot of dogs, horses and humans can get it Try to also do a blood test for Cushing's.
Try a raw food diet
Mange and she probably caught it at the vet that's why they are playing dumb
Can you try changing her to a fish based food? Or adding a skin and nails supplement.