What's causing my dog's scaly, crusty hair loss on his back?

It looks as though Luke may have a skin infection, either bacterial or fungal (and sometimes both). My recommendation would be to consult with your vet about getting a medicated shampoo that will help clear up his skin. From the pictures you provided the infection doesn't look too bad yet but may get worse and Luke may need oral medication as well. Good luck!

We commonly see an overgrowth of normal bacteria on the skin cause crusting and scabbing. When this happens around and in the hair follicles, the hair will easily fall out. When a dog has a thick coat, the crusting can spread under the coat and go unnoticed. From your picture, it looks like this area may be over the hip/pelvis. In older dogs, when their bones are more prominent, they will sometimes have areas like that due to lying on harder surfaces. These can become pressure sores, so be sure to keep an eye out for those. I agree that the area does not look irritated, but there is still some brown crusting left, so be sure to monitor the area closely for any spread of the crusting. If the crusting spreads or the skin appears red, be sure to have your vet evaluate the area. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there-it sounds as if Bentley could have ringworm, a fungal infection. These are usually easily treated by Medicated shampoos and oral antifungals, as long as there are no complicating factors. Your vet can do a culture for this and get you squared away pretty quickly! Hope this helps.

The most common reason that we will see partial hair loss with a ring of crusting on the skin is a bacterial infection. Crusts can be a sign of a bacterial skin infection which is also called pyoderma. Here is an article on pyoderma. https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951996 There are a number of treatment options for pyoderma. Sometimes we can resolve them with topical treatment (antibacterial shampoos, sprays or wipes), but sometimes they require oral or injectable antibiotics. However, we still needs to look for the cause of the pyoderma. There are a number of reasons for skin problems in dogs. This article does an excellent job of describing them. You could be dealing with allergies (of various types) or external parasites (such as fleas or mites). https://www.petcoach.co/article/why-is-my-dog-so-itchy/ This is also an excellent article on itching in dogs and the possible causes and treatments. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2604 I would recommend having your veterinarian evaluate Stella to discuss your treatment options to resolve this skin problem. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

It could be a pyoderma (skin infection). See your veterinarian for an exam. He or she may diagnose bacterial or fungal skin infection and can prescribe the appropriate medication afterwards. Treatment may be topical, systemic or a combination. Consider adding an essential fatty acid supplement, such as DermCaps or EicosaCaps, to her diet to promote healthy skin and coat. Place an e-collar (cone) on your dog if she is licking or chewing excessively.

Poor Samantha! A round yellow, scaly patch of skin like this could be caused by quite a few different things. The most common possibilities would include allergies, a bacterial or fungal skin infection, or skin mites (mange). Treatment will depend on what the underlying problem is, so I would recommend taking her to the vet for an exam when you are able to - he/she can do some simple skin tests to help diagnose the problem and get her started on appropriate medication to treat it.

From the photos here it looks like these are patches of hair loss. We can have hair loss at points of pressure if a dog likes to lay on hard surfaces, but we also worry about things like ringworm (a fungal infection), skin mites, and bacterial infection causing patches of hair loss. I would recommend bringing your dog in to the vet to examine the area. They may recommend a fungal culture if ringworm is suspected or a cytology of the skin to check for bacteria or a skin scrape to check for mites.