Why is my dog losing weight with red spots, pus, and bad odor?

Oh my. Poor girl. This doesn't sound like your typical hot spot/abscess due to trauma. There is an underlying factor here. Some possible causes are: an autoimmune skin condition, a resistant bacterial infection, skin cancer, or a mite infection with subsequent skin infections. I would highly recommend starting with a skin biopsy, which will give you a lot of information on the underlying cause and what treatment is needed. A skin bacterial culture should also be considered to determine if there is a resitant bacteria growing on Cali's skin that is not susceptible to the antibiotics tried so far. After these tests are done we should have a good idea or what we are dealing with and what treatment will likely resolve it. Best of luck with Cali and her skin woes. I hope things clear up soon!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. From the pictures that you provided my primary suspicions would be a skin infection. There are some things that you can do at home if you are unable to get to a vet right away. I would suggest starting with a shampoo that is medicated such as Duoxo chlorhexidine PS combination and bathe him twice weekly until the infection is resolved. I would also suggest starting welactin omega-3 fish oil and essential 6 Spot On by dermoscent. If there is no improvement then I would see your vet for further testing and treatments. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I am also available via phone or text base consultation if needed

I'd have to say that this doesn't really look like pemphigus to me at all, but regardless, it's not a diagnose that can be made just by looking at the lesions, they have to be biopsied. It's also quite rare, so I would want to rule out other problems, like mange, ringworm, fleas, and allergies. If she's losing weight she may have an internal problem, and blood work will help to figure out what that is.

I am sorry your dog is not feeling well. The information provided and picture don't really match. If a patient is drinking more and losing weight I would be concerned about endocrine diseases like diabetes and cushings disease. However the picture looks more like possible skin mites or an underlying autoimmune disease I would recommend taking her to a veterinarian to help you resolve the issues. They most likely will need to run basic bloodwork and possible a skin scrape to determine if mites are present.

I’m so sorry to hear about Sargeant. Though your question focuses on the skin, I must insert that weight loss in any dog - but an older dog particularly- is very concerning. Liver, kidney, and heart disease, as well as cancer are the things I would want to rule out first. If you have not yet run a basic blood panel on Sargeant, I would highly encourage it. In terms of the skin, underlying allergies can cause repeated skin infections and hair loss. If Sargeant is itchy, talk to your vet about possibly pursuing allergy treatments. A trial treatment for mites is also a good idea. Finally ringworm, auto-immune disease, and others are possibilities. Best of luck to you and Sargeant!

I am concerned that these spots on Demi aren’t wounds. Bacterial infection, fungal or yeast infection, mites, poor nutrition, among a few other things may be the culprit. I would recommend having Demi examined by a vet to determine what is going on and get her started on an appropriate treatment.

Thanks for the pictures. By looking at them, there seems to be a different look to some of them. The one on the nose appears raised, and has me concerned that it is skin mass. It could just be the picture angle... Hairloss in dogs is usually related to mites, or allergies. I would recommend taking Parker into a veterinarian. They can see if the lesions are related to each other. They will also do some diagnostics such as a skin scrape to check for mites, skin cytology to check for secondary infections and possibly a fungal culture. If the nose lesion is actually a mass, they will most likely do a cytology (stick a needle in it, push cells on a slide, stain slide and look at them under a microscope). If it turns out to be allergies, please realize that allergies (just like humans) can't be cured, only controlled. It may take a few different treatments to get them under control. Hope Parker feels better soon! Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!