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Why does my dog have non-red bumps on his back that he scratches?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 1 year and 4 months old | 80 lbs

My german shepard has three little pimples about 8 inches apart on his back that he scratches they don't look red

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on April 14th, 2017

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be fleas, infection or mites.

First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), 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, pollins, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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