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Why is my 8-month puppy licking, scratching, and red between legs?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | unneutered | 7 months and 20 days old | 13 lbs

I have a 8 month old puppy, and he is licking and scratching between legs from couple days ago. That spot is so red right now. I think it is flea because my son said he might see it on puppy's body. I don't know what to do. I gave him bath yesterday, but it didn't help. Please give me some advises. He looks so uncomfortable. Thank you.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on August 7th, 2018

Even though a picture would help to understand better the underlying cause, 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, 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 any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but 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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