My energetic dog is sluggish, vomiting, and losing hair. What's wrong?

If you don't care for that vet, find another. I think the vomiting and hair loss/itching are unrelated. For vomiting, common causes would include dietary intolerance or indiscretion, food allergy, intestinal parasites, GI blockage, gastroenteritis, bacterial or viral infection, IBD, pancreatitis, among others. She likely needs blood work and/or x-rays to see what could be causing it. For the hair loss and itching, the most common causes would be a combination of fleas, flea allergies, and food allergies. Clementine should be on a monthly flea preventative, and may need a special diet once the vomiting is resolved.

Poor Shaggy! This vomiting, weight loss, and dull fur could be due to a heavy burden of intestinal worms. It could also be caused by a medical illness such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic GI illness, or a foreign body among others. I would take him into the vet for a physical exam, blood tests, fecal exam (bring along a sample of his feces), urinalysis, and possibly x-rays. Using these tests, the vet can diagnose what is causing Shaggy's symptoms so he can be treated.

Oh my - it sounds as though Riley has a lot going on. It's likely that his excessive licking is associated with the hair loss that you've noticed, as licking is a sign of itchiness in dogs. I agree that his whining sounds like a sign of discomfort. This could all be associated with his other issues, or due to other skin conditions, like mange, ringworm, or allergies. Vomiting, diarrhea, weight gain, and excessive urination could be due to a number of different health conditions. Some of these possibilities include gastrointestinal viruses, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease, liver disease, endocrine disorders (such as Addison's disease), or food allergies. The challenge is that all of these conditions are treated very differently, so it's important to figure out the root cause of all of Riley's issues. At this point, Riley really needs to be examined by his vet and have some diagnostic testing performed. I assume that your vet will likely recommend some baseline bloodwork to check on his organ function, as well as a fecal flotation test for parasites, and skin testing to see if any infectious conditions are present. Based on their findings, they'll be able to come up with the best course of treatment for Riley. I hope that everything goes well!

Those are all very general signs of illness, and I would be concerned there is a GI issue or underlying illness if she is both losing hair and unable to keep food down/losing weight. Parasites, obstructions, viral illnesses, infections, organ issues, metabolic diseases, etc can all be potential causes, so it would be best to seek out veterinary care from your vet or an ER clinic as soon as possible.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Vomiting and inappetence can be observed with conditions such as gastroenteritis, pancreatitis, dietary indiscretion, gastrointestinal foreign body ingestion and obstruction, among other possibilities. She may be having side effects to the medications administered. Hair loss and scratching are likely due to allergies. For this reason, I highly recommend that you have Shelby evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment as soon as possible as I am afraid she is likely becoming dehydrated. They would be able to check for these possibilities and also check her hydration status and give her medications to make her feel better. Good luck!

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although pic would help to determine the underlying cause, this is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask 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 to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). 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. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Hello! Those lesions could be caused by an infection like bacteria or even fungus as well as allergies. Usually though mild infections and allergies don't cause dogs to be depressed/act abnormally. If his behavior continues, he has any vomiting, or his food/water intake goes down further I recommend having your veterinarian do an exam as those changes could be caused by something more serious, like liver issues, anemia, an infection or even cancer.