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Why is my blue Doberman losing hair on his back and stomach?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Doberman Pinscher | Male | 3 years and 7 months old | 110 lbs

Hello we have 3 Dobermans. One of them is a 3 year old blue. Over the past year he has lost a bunch of hair on his back and stomach and the rest has thinned out. He is on a limited grain free Merrick food, real salmon oil and raw coconut. Any suggestions on why he is losing the hair?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Joy Fuhrman, DVM, MBA, CPA

Veterinarian

Published on April 21st, 2017

Hair loss can be due to skin diseases including mite or flea infections or bacterial or fungal infections including ringworm. Hair loss can also be caused by autoimmune disorders that affect the skin. Finally, endocrine diseases including hypothyroidism and Cushings disease can also cause hair loss. I recommend you take Duke to your veterinarian for a full work up. You vet will likely want to do skin scrapings to check for mites or other skin infections as well as complete blood work to rule out endocrine diseases, Once the cause of the hair loss has been determined, appropriate treatment can be described. The good news is that with the correct medications, Duke may likely regrow all his hair.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Unfortunately there are many reasons for loss of hair in dogs such as hormonal disorders, allergies, parasites and many more. a full skin diagnosis process will be needed to try and find out the cause of the hair loss.

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    Answered By Christie Long, DVM

    Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

    Published on

    I would also investigate with your vet whether Duke could be suffering from a condition called color dilution alopecia. It is quite common in blue Dobies, and causes hair loss and frequent skin infections. I've diagnosed this condition before in a Dobie that actually had another condition known as Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia (IMT), which means that the body is destroying its own platelets. We found likely not have found this problem until the dog was very sick - her hair loss due to color dilution alopecia likely saved her life! There is no cure for CDA, but shampooing with a good quality prescription anti-bacterial shampoo may help to keep infections from occurring frequently. Some vets report improvement with melatonin, however this is anecdotal and may not actually help.

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