Why is my 12-year-old dog losing back hair and has bloodshot eyes?

These signs could be compatible with a metabolic or possibly endocrine disorders. Diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, renal failure, liver problems can be all responsible for those signs. A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Blood tests and urine analysis would be ideally needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

It's hard to know if these are related or not. Blood shot eyes can be related to allergies or a condition like dry eye or glaucoma (which both require treatment). The shedding could be the twice year blowing of the coat, poor nutrition, allergies or a thyroid condition. I think your best option is to have Mickey examined by his veterinarian. An omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs and feeding a diet like Nutro or Royal Canin may help improve coat health in general. I hope this helps and best of luck.

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!

Those spots on Mala could be several things including allergies to fleas, allergies to something in the environment, food allergy or endocrine disease. Each one of these problems is detected and addressed differently and I recommend to discuss with your veterinarian which one to start hunting down first. Parasites are often ruled out with an oral medication like Simparica. Food allergy is best ruled out with a diet trial using a hydrolyzed protein. Endocrine diseases are detected with blood work. Environmental allergies are a little more difficult to detect but a response to therapy or a blood test can give an indication. Once you figure out and address the underlying cause, the lesions should not come back. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing her diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having Mala wear an elizabethan collar at all times. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hair loss can have a variety of causes. One of the first things to determine is whether he is scratching himself in that area or not. Dogs often scratch themselves at night when we are sleeping so it is harder to see. If he is scratching, the hair loss could be due to parasites such as fleas or mites, a bacterial infection, yeast overgrowth, or skin allergies. If he does not seem to be itchy, hair loss can be caused by hormonal changes or certain endocrine diseases. These are just some of the possibilities. In order to determine what is most likely, I recommend taking him to your local veterinarian for a thorough exam and an initial skin test if needed to determine the cause.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I recommend a vet visit for Toby to assess the cause of his hairloss. Hairloss can be from allergies, parasites, endocrine disorders or breed related alopecia. Depending on what the veterinarian finds during Toby's exam they may recommend diagnostic testing to look for a primary skin disorder or bloodwork to check for endocrine (such as thyroid or adrenal gland) abnormalities. 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!