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Italian Greyhound puppy losing hair: What causes it & what to do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Italian Greyhound | Male | 4 months and 3 days old | 5.5 lbs

Hi there my Italian Greyhound puppy is experiencing hairloss. I am unsure what the cause is my vet said possibly a bacterial infection. We tested for mites he does not have mites. I've been giving him Benadryl however this has not seemed to help. Do you have any idea what the cause may be?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

Veterinarian

Published on July 16th, 2017

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Oh goodness I love greyhounds and in the US we never see them as puppies just as adults rescued off the race track! Sadly a lot of skin conditions look exactly the same. The most common skin diseases that look like that are: demodex (non-contagious mite) which are sometimes hard to get on a scrape, a skin infection either from yeast or bacteria or ring worm. I recommend you ask your Vet about treating for demodex despite a negative scrape. Some of the edible flea and tick products are being used off label to treat demodex. I'd also ask the vet about doing a tape cytology of one of the hairless areas and look at it under the microscope to see if there are too many yeast or bacteria present. And then have them send out a culture of the hair/skin for ringworm. The culture can take up to 4 weeks to be finalized. I guess ultimately it could be nutritional and Rain just may need time on the diet you have him on. Good luck!

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    Answered By Mirissa Duncil, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hi there! It looks a bit like Rain may have a fungal infection as your vet has said. Oral antifungals and/or medicated shampoos often help with this. If this does not cure him-another idea would be allergies, especially if it has shown up only in summer months or any environmental changes have been experienced. I hope this helps, he is super cute!

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