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Why does my dog have red patches and fur loss on her legs and feet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Dachshund miniature | Female | spayed | 1 year and 3 months old | 11 lbs

My dog has big red patches on the front of her fromt legs and is missing fur and she now has the redness on her back feet as well

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1 Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on September 2nd, 2018

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 Ruby with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. advantage), then get her 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 her 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 her on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica or Apoquel).

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