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My puppy has ear infection, skin issues, and diarrhea. Is it allergies?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | unneutered | 5 months and 6 days old | 60 lbs

5 month puppy has an ear infection and superficial pyoderma, both of which are being treated but has also had on and off diarrhea for the last month. Could it be food allergies? Or more likely atopy? He's otherwise healthy, energetic, gaining weight and loves to eat!

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on May 20th, 2017

Yes this is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be 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, pollens, 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 if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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