My Pitbull has red spots, scabs, and dry skin. Shampoo not working?

Hello. Ava may have a bit of a staph infection in her skin. I recommend using an antibacterial shampoo called KetoChlor Medicated shampoo made by Virbac. When you use this, you should lather her up & leave the shampoo on for 5-10 minutes before rinsing. Repeat twice a week for the next 4-6 weeks. Most of the big pet retailers will carry this, but you can also find it on Amazon & Chewy.com. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Pits are prone to allergic skin disease, and everything you describe can be symptomatic of this condition. Lex may benefit from a prescription allergy diet trial on something like Hills z/d fed exclusively for 9-10 weeks. He may need to be on allergy medication like apoquel to help stop the itching, and if he has a secondary bacterial or fungal/yeast infection in his skin, this needs to be addressed as well. See your vet for a skin allergy workup and proper medications. Hope that helps!

I would be worried about an staph infection on the skin or a form of the mange known as demodex or red mange. They can cause thinning hair and baldness with scales and scabs. You can bath him to help but you will need to see your regular vet to see which it is as they have very different treatments. His appetite may be decreased because he is feeling bad from the skin problem and it is making him miserable.

This dog needs oral antibiotics and steroids to treat the skin at this point. You need to take her to the vet. This treatment (antibiotics/steroids) is only treating these symptoms though, not the underlying cause. I suspect allergies are the underlying problem but it could also be mange. Both are VERY common in this breed. The scratching, hair loss and infection are secondary conditions. Allergy testing is needed to find out what she is allergic to and a skin scraping to check for mange mites is warranted. Most clients say "I went to the vet and got no answers" but they also declined all testing the vet recommended. Vets don't have crystal ball so they need to do testing to find out what the problem is. Please get her to the vet so her skin can be treated appropriately to get her feeling better and then after the treatment is done get her allergy tested. They can't be tested while on medication. You can try this home allergy test kit as a cursory screening and then go over the results with your vet to get a treatment plan in place but honestly, skin patch testing is a better diagnostic tool. ( https://www.chewy.com/dna-my-dog-test-my-pet-dog-allergy/dp/205062 )

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I think continuing the use of a medicated shampoo would be good as he likely has secondary infections. I think this could be due to allergies and it would be crucial to identify the allergic component to try to see if he can improve. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. 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!

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

It is difficult to know without seeing the lesions but he could have a bacterial skin infection, allergic dermatitis, trauma, etc. You could bathe him with a medicated shampoo and see if that helps. Otherwise, he should be examined by a vet to determine the cause and treat. He may need an antibioic, anti-histamine, and/or a corticosteroid to treat.