Skin Problems in Dogs

Meet Asia

Lianne McLeod, Guide to Exotic Pets, has written an extensive account of her two dogs who suffer from itchy skin and hair loss. Learn what is involved in a veterinary referral work up, how skin diseases are examined and ruled out, the topical medications, oral medications and special diets that veterinary dermatologists use to diagnose and return their patients to good health.

This is a photo of Asia when she was about 7 months old. It shows that once upon a time, she did have hair on the backs of her legs.

Asia in the Winter

This photo shows just how bad Asia's hair loss (alopecia) got over the winter. She lost virtually all the hair on the lower half of her body. Though it is faint here, she also has some red patches on her skin. Her condition improved a bit in the spring, growing some of her hair back.

Asia in the Spring

In this photo, Asia shows hair loss and redness from licking on the backs of her legs and around the anal area. This aspect worsened considerably over the spring and summer.

Asia in the Summer

This photo shows the continuous loss of hair on Asia's backend.

Asia With Histiocytoma

This photograph shows a close-up of Asia's lump, which was most likely a histiocytoma.

Asia With Histiocytoma

This photo shows another close-up view of Asia's Histiocytoma.

Asia With Histiocytoma

Here is a full view of Asia. The lump on the chest is a suspected histiocytoma.

Asia Flare-up

A wider shot of Asia showing the redness under her front legs and on her neck.

Asia's Flare-up

Asia with a severe flare-up.

Asia's Histiocytoma

Asia's supposed histiocytoma is shown in this photo. About three weeks after it appeared, it started to clear-up. It was a relief to see it shrink away, as a surgical removal became unnecessary.

Meet Simba

Simba is about two years old here. Notice how much hair he has, and how white he is, with very little pink coloration to his skin; if you look carefully, you can see an inkling of pinkness is under his far front arm.

Simba in the Winter

This photo shows the rash that Simba would typically develop when his skin problems flared up. You might also notice that one of his nipples is enlarged from being chronically irritated as that is an area where he scratches a lot. The sores became much worse over the summer of this same year.

Simba in the Summer

During the summer, Simba developed raw peeling patches of skin like these ones on the backs of his legs, a new development for him. You can also see the extent of his hair loss, which had developed over the previous six months.

Simba in the Summer

Here is another photo of Simba from the summer, showing the irritation on his skin and the resulting hair loss.

Simba in the Summer

This is a close-up of one of Simba's new types of sores during the summer. His enlarged, irritated nipple is seen to the left of the sore. He had also lost most of the hair on the lower half of his body by this time as well.

Simba Late Summer

This photo is from later in the summer. Notice all of the freckles you can now see on his skin, which was not visible before his hair loss. Though it is hard to see from a photo, he has very little hair anywhere below the top of his shoulder blade.

Simba Late Summer

This is a close-up of Simba's skin taken five weeks into treatment. While the hair loss is still dramatic, he has very little redness to his skin now, the sores are completely healed, and no more were developing.

Simba's Skin During Treatment

Here is a closer view of Simba's skin five weeks into treatment with antibiotics, antihistamines and a low dose of corticosteroids. His skin saw great improvement after the initial weeks of treatment.

Simba Flare-up

After the improvement Simba's skin was showing after medication, he broke out in an itchy red rash on both flanks as well, made worse by scratching.

Simba's Toe Lesion

Sometimes, skin conditions will show in odd places at random times. Here is a photo of a lesion on Simba's toe.

Simba Rubbing His Face

This, along with scratching his flanks, is what Simba did for most of his awake time during weeks 19 and 20 of this Dermatology Diary.

Simba Rubbing His Belly

Simba trying to relieve his itchy skin by scratching against the carpet.

Asia and Simba On the Couch

Now that many of their symptoms have alleviated, Asia and Simba take life easy on the couch. Both dogs are being maintained on very low doses of prednisone as needed.

Asia With Maintained Condition

Asia's condition is stable and is maintained on very low doses of prednisone. Here, she's taking it easy by hanging out on the couch.

Simba and His New Pal Lola

Lola and the other new addition, Boss (not pictured) were added to the family. So far, they do not show any signs of allergies.

The Whole Family

Here is the whole crew, posing for the family photo! Left to right: Simba, Boss, Lola, and Asia.