My dogs have skin issues. Is it an allergy or something contagious?

There are itchy skin conditions which can be transferred from pets to people - scabies, ringworm and occasionally flea bites can all cause itching in people. I recommend you get Goldie fully checked by your vet and skin scrapings/hair tests performed to rule these out - depending on the findings you may also need to see your own doctor or pharmacist for treatment also. Generally speaking however, recurrent seasonal itching is much more likely to be related to allergies and requires symptomatic treatment for Goldie - these are not contagious to people

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. If that is the case, that is not transmissible to humans. 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 could indeed be mange, an allergy or a bacterial or fungal skin infection. Sarcoptic mange and a fungal infection are contagious to people so I strongly suggest you make an appointment with your vet for a skin exam. Your vet will do a skin scrape and look at it under the microscope, hopefully finding a mange mite. He may also take a brush sample to try and grow a fungus in a test tube. Please make an appointment today.

Your dog's skin issues are unlikely to have anything to do with your son's, but the only way to know for sure is to have your vet examine him. He may have allergic skin disease, external parasites, or bacterial or fungal infection going on. Your vet may want to do a skin scraping or skin culture or cytology to figure out what is causing the skin issue. Good luck!

Mange is caused by mites. There are two types of mange, sarcoptic mange and demodex mange, each caused by a different mite. Sarcoptic mange is highly contagious to other animals and humans, while demodex mange is not. The symptoms depend on what type of mite is presents. Yes a skin allergy could potentially look like mange, but a vet will be able to diagnose the underlying cause. You will need to take Mister Brown into the vet. Best of luck.

Blue's skin is very inflamed! There are a few things that can cause this including mites (both demodex and scabies) and allergies. Secondary bacterial infections are also super common when the skin looks like this. Allergies and demodex are not contagious but scabies is and it can be found where ever pets go (including the pet store). Humans can get scabies from their pets but the infection is usually short lived as we are not the target host. You should speak with your doctor if you have any rashes. This is not something you can likely tackle at home, it needs medication to get better. I recommend to take Blue into see her veterinarian who needs to run a diagnostic called a skin scrape to check for mites (and thus know how to treat her). Blue will likely get an antibiotic as well. I hope this helps and feel free to post any additional questions.

Mr. Brown may be having the skin issues due to ringworm, skin mites or allergies. Allergy testing can be complicated and expensive, ruling out food allergies is certainly easier by using a hydrolyzed diet. Diagnosing ringworm and skin mites is very easy. I recommend to have him examined by his veterinarian and at least rule out the easy things that may spread to the other dogs. At least then you can start treatment and decontamination if needed. Things you can do to improve skin health in general include changing the diet to something that is aimed at tskin health such as Nutro or Royal Canin. Giving him an additional omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs will also help but may not fix the situation. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.