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Why is my dog chewing, scratching, and losing hair with black crust?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Jack Russell Terrier | Male | unneutered | 10 lbs

Massive amount of hair loss black crust always chewing and scratching black patches red sore on foot

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on April 5th, 2017

Scratching, chewing and hair loss can be caused by various reasons such as fleas, mites ,fungal infection, bacterial infection and allergies. the first 4 needs to be ruled out before we start treating for allergies. in order to do that first de-flea him with a high quality flea treatment such as advantage spot on, if it doesn't help - take him to the vet in order to check for/treat the other possibilities. If everything is ruled out, then an allergy treatment can be started. Usually an hypoallergenic food is a good way to start together with anti histamines. if it doesn't help - the best solution is a medication called Apoquel which treats allergies with great success and without side effects.

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