My dog has hair loss, itching, and red ears. Could it be allergies?

The most common reason for change of skin color and itchy skin is fleas. I would recommend keeping up with a monthly flea prevention. Even if you are not seeing fleas on Rockey he could be bitten by fleas causing sensitivity of the skin. IF you are using flea prevention monthly than it is possible Rockey is having environmental allergies that need medication from a vet to resolve. I would recommend taking Rockey to a vet to make sure the skin is not infected and stronger medications are needed. hope that helps

It looks as if your dog has a skin infection, most commonly caused by an allergy or fleas. The allergy could be a due to a protein in Rocky's food or an environmental allergy like to dust, pollens, grasses, etc. The allergy causes your dog to itch and chew at the skin which breaks down the skin barrier. This then leads to infection. Rocky will need antibiotics to help clear up the infection and possibly an anti-itch medication like Apoquel, Atopica, or Cytopoint to give some relief while the infection clears up. Since Rocky seems to continually have this problem he may need to be on an allergy medication long term. A medicated shampoo may be beneficial as well. I would also recommend he be on a good flea control too. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It sounds like Rocko has been miserable despite therapy. Skin issues are some of the most difficult to manage sometimes. There are a few, less-common diseases that could be going on in his case to include things like auto-immune disease. At this time, it seems Rocko needs to be referred to see a veterinary dermatologist to get a more pointed treatment plan. I would recommend contacting your vet and asking if they think referral is the next step. Your vet may have another next step prior to referral such as soon biopsy before sending for referral, but I hope something gives him at least some relief in the meantime. A sedative may even be appropriate to help break the itch-scratch cycle. It is hard to see whether the bug is the correct size to be anything to cause an issue, but it most closely resembles a flea. Even with prevention, some dogs are so allergic, a single bite will cause an outbreak of allergies, so environmental cleaning with vacuuming and, sometimes, consulting an exterminator, can be necessary in addition to year-round flea prevention for all of your dogs and cats. I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There can be many causes for hair loss in dogs. Mite infection, allergies, endocrine issues such as low thyroid or Cushing's disease as well as other disorders of the skin can all be causes. It is difficult to say for sure what the cause of Rocky's hair loss is without an exam and some diagnostic testing such as a skin scrape and blood work. I would suggest Rocky see his veterinarian soon so a cause for this can be nailed down.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. The UTI is unrelated and should be treated separately. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. It is possible that Rocky is dealing with a skin infection or a endocrine disease such as hypothyroidism or cushing's disease. Because the condition is not that severe, I would recommend starting with the below recommended products to see if these help. If there is no improvement after 4 weeks of using these products, I would recommend having a veterinarian examine Rocky so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. The below products can all be found online quite easily. 1. Douxo PS Chlorhexidine combination and bathe twice weekly until resolved 2. Douxo PS Calm mousse and apply once daily until resolved 3. Krillex shed free chews 4. Malacetic conditioning spray and apply to affected area twice daily until resolved 5. Essential 6 spot on by Dermoscent