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What causes a brown spot with short hair on my dog's lower back?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Bichon Frise | Female | unspayed | 5 years and 5 months old | 14 lbs

Hi, my female dog has a brown spot on her fur in her lower back. Her hair is long but in that area her hair is short. Its like a quarter size. She hasnt been scratching it nor licking it. I just noticed it now that she jumped in my lap and I was carresing her. As i was touching it to check she did not seem discomfort. It looks red because I was touching it and scratching it. But at first it was her normal pink coat just the brown short hair.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on January 18th, 2018

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat Mia with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. Trifexis or Advantage), then get her to the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.

If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try discovering the cause of the allergy.

Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). simultaneously you should start her on a prescription hypoallergenic diet for at least 2 months.
Hopefully you will see some results after all this, if not you and your vet should consider putting her on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica or Apoquel).
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