My dog is vomiting, gaining weight, and losing hair. What's wrong?

Hi. Sorry honey isn't feeling well. Being lethargic, quiet, and vomiting can occur for alot of different diseases or conditions. It can be from a dietary indiscretion, a food sensitivity, a GI infection,  pancreatitis, metabolic and endocrine conditions, foreign bodies in the intestines, and more.   The best thing for vomiting would be to get him seen and try to get to the bottom of the cause.  But he will need an exam and some diagnostics.  In the meantime, you can try a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice for 3-5 days, then slowly change back to her regular diet if doing well. The hair loss can be caused by bacterial infections, allergies, metabolic, or endocrine diseases. Your veterinarian may do some bloodwork to check for those conditions and also some skin testing. Good luck.

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.

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! He may be licking due to allergies. Diarrhea can be observed with conditions such as colitis, gastroenteritis, dietary indiscretion, intestinal parasites, among many other possibilities. I recommend that you have Jameson evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They may choose to check for parasites and to start medications for diarrhea depending on the results. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. You can use an e-collar in the meantime to prevent further self-trauma. 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!

With the weight loss as well as the skin condition I would recommend a blood test to rule out internal diseases such as liver disease as well as a skin scrape and possible biopsy in order to fully investigate the underlying cause and to guide the most appropriate treatment

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.

Those spots on Riley could be several things including allergies, skin mites, flea bites, ringworm (which humans can get) or a 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 his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. You can wash the lesions with soap once a day and rinse well (don't wash his whole body, just those spots). Protect the areas from licking or scratching and he may need to wear and Elizabethan collar at all times. Since he is still licking the lesions, it's hard to know if the changes to the lesions are a sign of recovery or a worsening. You MUST stop the licking. If the lesions don't start looking better within about a week or if they get worse, have him examined again by the veterinarian who may prescribe additional medications. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.