My Rat Terrier's tail hair is falling out and eye is crusty. What to do?

This can be from an injury, scratching from fleas or an allergy, or may be due to her being hypothyroid. Low thyroid levels can cause dogs to have a rat tail look. I would check her for fleas, see if she’s scratching or rubbing the area due to allergies and consider getting a thyroid panel done to see if she is hypothyroid. If her thyroid level is low which is common in older dogs, then there is a daily supplement that will get the levels back to normal and the fur should fill in on the tail. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Daisy.

In such a young rat the most common reason for hair loss is parasites, I would trear him for them anyway as they can be hard to see. If that doesnt help then I would consider allergy, dust free bedfing can help and good quality pellet food specifically formulated for rats.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! When I see patients like this the first thing I do is a skin scrape to check for residual parasites like mites (which I suspect here) If none are found, often I will do a culture to make sure no resistant bacteria or fungi (like ringworm-another possibility high in the list) infect the skin, and if so what kind. Thank you for attaching pictures! It is very helpful to us. The "blood" that you are seeing is likely a secretion called porphyrin...it can be released due to stress or illness. I hope this information helps! If you need further assistance or would like a consult please don't hesitate to ask.

Hi there! There are a number of different things that can cause hair loss and a skin rash in dogs, so it's hard to say what might be wrong without being able to examine her and run some tests. If the hair loss is mainly around her lower back and tail, the most likely culprit is flea allergies - so if she isn't already on a good flea preventative like Nexgard or Bravecto, this is the first thing I would suggest. If you're positive that she doesn't have fleas, other possible causes of these symptoms would include other types of allergies (food allergies, or an allergy to something in the environment), a bacterial or fungal skin infection, or skin mites (mange). Wheat allergies are one type of food allergy, but it's actually far more common for dogs to be allergic to proteins like chicken or beef rather than grains or wheat - so this is possible, but not nearly as likely as some of the other possible causes. Treatment will depend on what the underlying problem is, so it's important to get a diagnosis first in order to know how to treat her. I would recommend taking Bear to the vet for an exam when you are able to. He/she can do some simple skin tests if needed to help diagnose the problem and get her started on appropriate treatment.

It is difficulty to say without seeing it; however in general hair loss on the tail can be caused by ringworm, alopecia X, Cushing's disease, or even allergies. For further info on what the cause could be, you could opt to do some skin testing (i.e. impression, biopsy) +/- bloodwork to look for underlying causes. I hope that this helps and best of luck determining the cause for Mishk's hair loss. Take care.

I would be concerned that Gracie’s eye is itchy and she is rubbing it. This would cause the hairloss, redness and flaky skin. She may have an underlying allergy or an ulcer or scratch on her eye that is making it uncomfortable. The terramycin should be safe to use in and around the eye. If the problem doesn’t resolve in 2-3 day though, then I would recommend taking her in to be checked out by your veterinarian. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Teddy looks like he may have an infection in the skin. Pets can get infections for many reasons including fleas, allergies, ringworm (which humans can get) or endocrine disease. I recommend to have Teddy examined by the veterinarian. Teddy will like get medications and possible a medicated shampoo. You also need to protect the area from licking or chewing by having him wear an elizabethan collar at all times. I hope this helps.