My Dog's Skin Problem

by Stephanie
(Masury, Ohio)

Reader Question on Dog Skin Problem Followed by Suggestion From Our Vet

We have a 6-year-old male Lab/Pitt Bull mix. Last year after he was at the kennel for a few days, he developed a patch of what looked like skinned off hair like you would see if the dog was running and slid on the pavement and skinned his hip.

We took him to the vet about 3 times for this and the vet is puzzled. He gave us antibiotics which did not help, he took a scraping to check for mange, he gave us a topical wash and also an antibiotic spray. None of them worked. Now the spot is even bigger and has bumps. He is black and the skin looks very white with dry looking bumpy skin and no hair.

Any ideas?

Suggestion From Our Vet on Dog Skin Problem
Hello,

You mentioned that your veterinarian did a skin scraping for mange. Did he or she run any other additional tests? In cases like these, a fungal culture to look for ringworm and skin cytology to determine if a yeast or bacterial infection might be playing a role are also usually good ideas. If these tests have not been run, they would be a good place to start. However, skin conditions can be difficult to diagnose in dogs. Sometimes a skin biopsy or a referral to a veterinary dermatologist is necessary.

Best of luck,
Jennifer Coates, DVM