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Updated on September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Doberman Pinscher | Male | 3 years and 7 months old | 110 lbs
Hello we have 3 Dobermans. One of them is a 3 year old blue. Over the past year he has lost a bunch of hair on his back and stomach and the rest has thinned out. He is on a limited grain free Merrick food, real salmon oil and raw coconut. Any suggestions on why he is losing the hair?
3 Answers

Answered By Joy Fuhrman, DVM, MBA, CPA
Veterinarian
Published on April 21st, 2017
Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS
Veterinarian
Unfortunately there are many reasons for loss of hair in dogs such as hormonal disorders, allergies, parasites and many more. a full skin diagnosis process will be needed to try and find out the cause of the hair loss.
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Answered By Christie Long, DVM
Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist
I would also investigate with your vet whether Duke could be suffering from a condition called color dilution alopecia. It is quite common in blue Dobies, and causes hair loss and frequent skin infections. I've diagnosed this condition before in a Dobie that actually had another condition known as Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia (IMT), which means that the body is destroying its own platelets. We found likely not have found this problem until the dog was very sick - her hair loss due to color dilution alopecia likely saved her life!
There is no cure for CDA, but shampooing with a good quality prescription anti-bacterial shampoo may help to keep infections from occurring frequently. Some vets report improvement with melatonin, however this is anecdotal and may not actually help.
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