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What's causing my dog's hair loss, peeling skin, and bad smell?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Male | 6 years and 4 months old | 55 lbs

My pet suffering from hair loss,skin pealing and he's smells allot. Need your help to identify what type of skin allergy is this and how to cure it.

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1 Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on December 23rd, 2017

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat Lucky with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. advocate or advantage), then get him to 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 discovering the cause of the allergy. Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). simultaneously you should start him on a prescription hypoallergenic diet for at least 2 months. Hopefully you will see some results after all this, if not you and your vet should consider putting him on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica or Apoquel).

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