What causes my puppy's dull coat, scaly, crusty skin, and sores?

Skin lesions can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection, dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, or a combination of the above. I recommend making an appointment to have Opehli seen by your veterinarian to help determine the cause of the lesions you’ve noticed and to make sure they are treated appropriately. The vet will likely want to shave the area and look at a sample from the area under the microscope to determine if there is an infection and to figure out what medication is appropriate for treatment. In the meantime, you can bathe Opehli in hypoallergenic shampoo for dogs to clean the area, and put an e-collar (cone) on Opehli to help reduce the risk of licking/scratching at the area, but this will likely not resolve the lesions. The lesion in the picture looks like it could be a "hot spot" , and will not heal if she is able to lick or scratch at it. See the link below for more information: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952981

Skin lesions can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection, dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, or a combination of the above. In young dogs like Bowie and based on the description you provided, one common cause can be infection by mites that can live in the hair follicles and lead to hair loss, and secondary bacterial and fungal infections that can develop. I recommend making an appointment to have Bowie seen by your veterinarian to help determine the cause of the lesions you’ve noticed and to make sure they are treated appropriately. The vet will likely want to look at a sample from the area under the microscope to determine if there is an infection and to figure out what medication is appropriate for treatment. In the meantime, you can bathe Bowie in hypoallergenic shampoo for dogs to clean the area, but this will likely not resolve the lesions.

I can certainly see that Moglee has some skin lesions and I'm sorry to hear that they're causing him so much discomfort! These lesions could be a result of a bacterial skin infection (often from underlying allergies to fleas, food or the environment), ringworm or mange. Make sure that he is receiving a high quality flea and tick preventative, such as Nexgard, Bravecto or K9 Advantix II regularly. You can also try bathing him with an antiseptic shampoo (here is one example: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=27982). However, if Moglee's skin lesions persist or worsen, I recommend taking him back to his vet for further evaluation. An e-collar (cone) may also be beneficial to preventing further skin irritation from his ongoing licking until this issue resolves. I hope this helps and that Moglee feels better soon!

The lesion in the second image appears to be infected. The area will need to be shaved of all surrounding hair, scrubbed with an antiseptic such as dilute betadine or chlorhexidine, and then an antibiotic will be required (most likely a systemic one). George will also have to wear a cone to prevent him from continuing to cause any self-inflicted trauma to the area. Your vet will be able to get a better look at the lesions to see if he can figure out what may have started everything to begin with. He may want to obtain some skin scrapings to take a look at under the microscope. Hope this makes sense.

I can see that Benji has a few small areas of hair loss with yellow crusting, and these lesions could be due to ringworm, mange, or a skin infection. In order to accurately diagnose these lesions, a vet should perform a skin scraping and fungal culture/Wood's lamp exam. Both ringworm and Sarcoptic mange (scabies) can be transmitted to other dogs and humans, so it is certainly worth having the lesions evaluated. I hope that Benji is on the mend soon!

Although a picture of the lesions would help to determine the underlying cause, this is probably due to an allergy, but it could also be due to an infection or mites. Old age itself is unlikely to cause anything like you described. 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.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach! What you are seeing may be a bacterial skin infection. I would recommend using a shampoo such as Duoxo PS Chlorhexidine combination shampoo and bathe twice weekly until resolved. If there is no improvement, then I would recommend having a veterinarian take a look at Shadow so that further testing and treatment can be performed. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!