My puppy chews his leg raw, fur gone, skin dry. What's wrong?

It looks like he has a bacterial skin infection so he should be examined by your vet for treatment. Your vet can prescribe an antibiotic, anti-histamine, and/or a corticosteroid to help treat the condition. He could have allergies so he may need to stay on an anti-histamine long term. You could also bathe him with a medicated dog shampoo, like Epi-Soothe, and see if that helps. You could also add Free Form Snip Tips to his diet to help keep his skin and coat healthy.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is likely either due to mites or allergies. I highly recommend that you have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They would be able to diagnose this so that therapy can be started. Best of luck!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Aster. I recommend that he sees a veterinarian to have his leg assessed. Yes, a seasonal allergy is possible due to you new location. He could also be experiencing an overgrowth of mites known as Demodex. This is diagnosed with a procedure known as a skin scrape. This tends to cause bald patches. In the meantime, you can bathe him with a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner such as an oatmeal or fatty acid based formula to soothe the skin. I would also place an E-collar on him to prevent any further self trauma. I hope this information helps!

When a dog chews on a joint or a leg, there is usually either an itch, irritation or pain involved. If you are doing flea and tick prevention, you can pretty much rule out a flea problem. This is likely pointing to either joint pain or possibly an active mass irritating your dog. Unfortunately it is not possible to see a lot on the photo, other than that your dog has been chewing on his leg for a while. I suggest you make an appointment with your vet for an exam. He will likely want to shave the area so he can examine the skin properly and palpate the bone and other structures. depending on the findings, he may also want to do an xray to see if there is bone or joint involvement.

Poor Fang! He could have a bacterial infection, ringworm, mites, injury, and/or an allergic dermatitis. His toe looks very swollen and I think he should be examined by a vet to determine the cause and treat. He might need an antibiotic, corticosteroid, anti-fungal, or other medications to help. Your vet can do a skin scrape, culture, or cytology, if needed, to help diagnose. In the mean time, you could soak his paw in a warm Epsom salt solution and see if that helps. Call your vet and schedule an appointment to have him seen.

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 him with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. advocate or advantage), then get him to the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might revile 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 stop the chewing and repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). simultaneously you should start him 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 him on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica or Apoquel).

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Toby! Possible causes for that severe of an itch are: scabies mite (exposure to foxes or other dogs that are itchy?), allergies or a skin infection. Even a few fleas can cause a severe flea allergy response. When a dog has a flea allergy it just takes one flea because they are allergic to the saliva of the flea. Since Toby is chewing herself raw she needs to see a Veterinarian. There are no at home drugs that will be sufficient to reliever her discomfort. After your Vet examines Toby they may want to do a skin scrape to check for scabies. Scabies is treated with ivermectin injections of topical Revolution. If she has a skin infection she could receive oral antibiotics and something to relieve her scratching, either prednisone or aopquel. She needs to be on year round flea prevention if a flea allergy is possible. I would recommend either Nexgard, Simparica, Bravecto or the Seresto collar. I hope this helps and I wish Toby a speedy recovery!