Why is my dog losing hair, has black nails, and is so skinny?

Hi! It's possible that Poseidon may be showing signs or symptoms of an underlying allergy or systemic disfunction. You'll wan to take into account any changes in your pets environment to rule out any allergy. If you haven't noticed anything different, you'll want to visit your local Veterinarian and request a CBC and Blood Panel. There are several conditions and diseases that can cause hair loss/thinning in our pets.

Poor Poseidon! It's probably not related to heat rash. It sounds like Poseidon probably has an allergy causing itching and possibly secondary bacterial skin infection. Allergies can be related to food or environmental allergens. It is also possible that he has mites, fleas, or ringworm. You should make sure Poseidon is on a quality flea preventative like Frontline Plus, Bravecto, Nexguard, or Advantix. You can try bathing Poseidon in a gentle oatmeal shampoo or Douxo Calm shampoo to see if this helps. If Poseidon is very incomfortable he will likely have to be examined by a veterinarian. Skin samples can be obtained to make sure he doesn't have an infection and medication can be used to help with itching. Newer medications like Cytopoint tend to be very effective for dogs with allergies. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and I hope Poseidon is feeling more comfortable soon!

I would agree that Thor is much thinner than he should be. There are many different reasons for weight loss and muscle wasting, including hormonal conditions, parasitic conditions, certain infectious / inflammatory conditions, simply not eating enough over a long period, and of course, certain cancers. My advise to you would be to have Thor examined by your regular veterinarian via physical exam. They will determine if there is a need for further diagnostic laboratory work or imaging. It is often very difficult to make a diagnosis via physical exam unless there is some obvious and palpable inside of or on the outside of the animal. Supportive information via lab work and imaging is very often needed. Hope this makes sense.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Weight loss can be a sign of intestinal worms, organ dysfunction or disease (pancreatic insufficiency, liver shunts, kidney disease, liver inflammation/infection, etc.), food allergies or poor diet, and many other conditions. Hair loss can be due to parasites (mange, fleas, etc.), hypothyroidism, allergies (food or environment), immune diseases, etc. Given that Kalu is 2 years old, I would start by getting him dewormed and also get a product that treats for fleas, ticks and mange. See if his problems resolve. If they do not, then see your vet about testing. Best of luck with Kalu!

With the weight loss as well as the skin condition I would recommend a blood test to rule out internal diseases such as liver disease as well as a skin scrape and possible biopsy in order to fully investigate the underlying cause and to guide the most appropriate treatment

No, this hair loss does not sound normal and it does not look normal in the picture. Reggie could have a skin infection, fungal infection, or mange among other things causing his hair loss. Without seeing him in person, I can't say for certain what is going on. He does need to see a vet to have this diagnose and treated. I recommend giving his vet a call now to make him an appointment. Best of luck.

I'd have to say that this doesn't really look like pemphigus to me at all, but regardless, it's not a diagnose that can be made just by looking at the lesions, they have to be biopsied. It's also quite rare, so I would want to rule out other problems, like mange, ringworm, fleas, and allergies. If she's losing weight she may have an internal problem, and blood work will help to figure out what that is.