My dog has sudden flesh-colored skin patches on her. What are they?

It looks like your dog has a skin infection, most likely caused by allergies or fleas. The allergies can be from something in her food or to something in the environment, like grasses, pollens, etc. I would recommend taking Pippa in to see the vet so she can be started on some antibiotics to help clear up her skin. I would also recommend discussing with your vet some options for medication to help control her allergies like Atopica, Apoquel, or Cytopoint.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Piper. I recommend that she sees a veterinarian. Skin disease can be frustrating as many diseases can appear similar. Common cause of hair loss include mites, ringworm and allergies. An allergy can be to something in her diet, environment or even fleas. The veterinarian will examine her and ask questions about her lifestyle. Skin testing may be recommended. Based on these results, treatment can be started. I hope this information helps!

It looks like she could have a mild skin infection. You could bathe her with a medicated shampoo, like Epi-soothe and see if that helps. If not, have your vet take a look at her to determine the cause and treat. Your vet can do a skin scrape, cytology, and/or culture to help diagnose and then prescribe medications to treat. She may need an antibiotic, anti-histamine, corticosteroid, and/or other medications depending on the cause.

The pictures aren't very good quality and I can't really make out any discoloration. Here is some general advice for splotchy skin. Splotchy skin or red patches can be due to several things including allergies, a reaction to the shampoo, parasites or just a one time bacterial infection. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing her diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Protect the areas from licking or scratching. If they don't start looking better within about a week or if they get worse, have her examined by her veterinarian who may prescribe medications. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Sasha. I suspect she has a mild superficial skin infection starting on her belly. I would start by bathing her twice per week with a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner such as an oatmeal or fatty acid based formula. This may take care of it as it appears mild. If the lesions spread or do not resolve, she will need to see her veterinarian. Skin infections can be due to an allergy, irritation or parasites. I hope this information helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. The cefpodoxime should help with the bacterial infection component and the prednisone should help with the itch component. 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!

From the picture I cannot really see if normal or not but generally speaking, patches or pink/red skin could be 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. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!