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My dog has a belly rash. Is it from eating dirt? Can Benadryl help?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 2 years and 3 months old | 12 lbs

My dog has a rash on his lower belly, I mentioned that in my last question but I now have pictures of it, it appeared today and doesn't seem to bother him, will Benadryl help and if so how much can I give him? He's also been sick from eating dirt or acorns I believe, I'm not sure which because he eats things off the ground before I can stop him, could that be the cause of both the rash and sickness? I also switched his water from tap to spring to hopefully get rid of his tear stains.

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on October 23rd, 2018

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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