My dog has a red, round bald spot on her neck. Is a vet visit urgent?

Oh no, poor Scout! She could be suffering from an allergic reaction, and it's very concerning that her neck is quite swollen and her lumps are getting worse. She needs veterinary care now to diagnose what is causing her symptoms so she can be treated. Please take her into a vet now.

It is really hard to tell from a photo alone what is going on in the skin, however it is evident that something is causing inflammation of the skin. Dermatitis can be caused by many things including infection, irtitants, parasites, allergies or metabolic conditions. With you being away stress may have had a role in this. Ask your friend if they have given any new foods or used new shampoo? I would advise you to get to a vet for a skin exam in the next day or 2 as it is best to nip this sort of thing in the bud before it spreads.

It does look like a small scab. I would just leave it alone and watch Sophie for a few days. If she seems to be itching it or bothered by it, or if it bleeds or exudes a sticky discharge, then she needs to be checked by a vet.

I would recommend that you have Scout examined by a vet. It could be a bacterial infection, ringworm, demodectic mange, or something else. The vet will probably do a skin scrape to see what organism is causing the hair loss so that she can get appropriate treatment.

This is commonly seen when they get a skin infection (aka hot-spots). The neck is a common place for this to happen, because moisture often gets trapped under their collar and/or loose skin. It appears to be rather involved and there could be a deep infection - these are not easily treated without antibiotics. Considering it has been getting better with your current treatment, I think it's fine to continue treating at home for now. If it's not mostly resolved in two weeks, or gets worse, then I'd recommend a visit to the vet. Here are my recommendations for successfully treating this wound. 1) Clip the hair around the area and expose all of the lesions. 2) Wash the area with cool water and a medicated shampoo (can get this at the pet store) once a day. Use a cloth and gently wipe away the scabs. Do not scrub, because it will irritate the skin more. It's OK if all of the scabs do not come off in each washing. 3) Make sure the area is completely dry after washing. 4) Leave the collar off. I hope that helps and Zeus gets better soon.

Unfortunately, without physically examining the area and potentially performing some diagnostics, I can't say for sure what sort of lesion that is. At first glance, it looks like something that could have been self-induced due to a primary issue causing itchiness. You should probably schedule a veterinary appointment and in the meantime get a cone to prevent your pup come itching the area further. If you do not believe your pup is itchy, then I would be more concerned about some sort of animal bite or bacterial infection. Hope this makes sense.

This looks like it could be an area of local infection or a skin parasite. My other concern is that it could be petechiae, which are tiny pinpoint hemorrhages and would indicate she has a clotting issue - I can't zoom in enough on this picture to decide if it really looks like that or not, but if you're seeing similar red dots elsewhere, Lola should go to her vet right away. If it's just this one spot, if it's getting bigger or she's getting itchy, she should go to her vet.