Is it normal for my pit bull puppy to have short hair, balding, and bumps?

I would get this checked by your vet as soon as possible. It could be a number of things, from fungal or bacterial infections, to mange. Identifying it quickly can save a lot of time and trouble as some of these conditions are a challenge to clear up. Your vet will do an exam, pluck some hairs and possibly do a skin scrape, which involves scraping a dulled scalpel blade on the skin to remove hair and a little skin to examine under the microscope. Based on these tests, your vet will be better able to tell you what is going on with your puppy's skin and how to treat it.

I would be worried about an staph infection on the skin or a form of the mange known as demodex or red mange. They can cause thinning hair and baldness with scales and scabs. You can bath him to help but you will need to see your regular vet to see which it is as they have very different treatments. His appetite may be decreased because he is feeling bad from the skin problem and it is making him miserable.

Hello! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! First off, you're doing a great job by keeping fleas off the mother dog and combing the pups regularly. Looking at the spots of hair loss on the head, my top suspicions would be ringworm, demodectic mange, or a bacterial skin infection. I would recommend you take her into a vet to find out what the problem is. Ringworm is a skin fungus that can be transmitted to people, but it is treated fairly easily if it is caught early. The vet will likely recommend a DTM culture to test for fungal infections, and a skin scraping and impression smear to find the root of the problem. I hope that helps!

These spots could be due to a underlying skin infection or a skin mite called demodex. If there are only the 3 small spots you can try to treat them topically at home with neosporin. If they sites do not resolve or if you begin to notice more spots I would recommend taking Maddox to the vet to be checked out. He may need antibiotics or a special medication if your vet finds mites. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Without pictures and without examining Shadow myself it is difficult to say what the problem is. If you are seeing round areas of hair loss, this could be due to ringworm, a bacterial skin infection or potentially skin parasites such as Demodex. I would have this looked at by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Poor Ghost! It's hard to be sure 100% but Ghost likely has a skin infection. Sometimes skin infections can be from allergies. Other possibilities are: fleas, ring worm or mites (demodex). I would recommend starting one of the oral flea and tick medications Nexgard, Bravecto or Simparica. They also have the added benefit of killing demodex. So that easily takes care of 2 of the possibilities. Ideally Ghost should see your Vet to properly diagnose the skin problem. If an infection we treat with oral antibiotics and something to stop the scratching. You can try a medicated shampoo: bathe 2-3 times per week, allow the lather to sit on the skin for 10 mins before rinsing. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=27234 I hope this helps and I wish Ghost a speedy recovery!

My concern with K.D. would be a couple of things. Young pit bulls are prone to developing mange, and it often causes random spots of hair loss just like you're seeing. If he's not itchy, it's likely the demodectic variety of mange, which sometimes will resolve on its own if there's just a spot or two. However, if you're seeing multiple locations of hair loss, it's likely he'll need treatment. Sometimes these guys have secondary bacterial skin infections as well which need antibiotics. Unfortunately these things need to be prescribed by a vet, who can also scrape the skin and verify that this is in fact mange. If it's not mange it could be fleas, or possibly a nutritional deficiency, but I'd consider both of those less likely. Get him checked out so that you can get him on the proper treatment.