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Why is my dog itching, losing fur, and vomiting after food change?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Female | unspayed | 3 years old | 40 lbs

My dog lucy has been itching and rubbing her face along carpet for about a week now. Im worried shes itching to where her fur has fallin out. Also been throwing up. I changed her dog food recently could that be it. She also has severe anxiety.

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on November 6th, 2018

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although pic would help to determine 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. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Lauren Kennedy, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 3rd, 2017

    Vomiting after eating, if consistent, Is very concerning. This usually indicates some type of GI disease. Most common would be a gastric outflow obstruction (food cannot get out of the stomach) or a GI foreign body and resultant blockade. If this behavior is persistent, then I would recommend taking Rooney in to see your veterinarian to be examined. Your vet will most likely want to perform X-rays to determine the extent of the GI disease. Persistent itchiness and hairloss is usually a sign of a skin infection, generally caused by external parasites such as fleas and/or mites or an allergy. Again, I would recommend a physical exam by your veterianarian to determine what exactly is going on. The loss of pigmentation on the nose is a normal variant. It does not usually indicate any type of disease process. I’m not sure what you meant by ‘lean tail’. If you could post another question with more details I could better address this concern. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

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    Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

    Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

    Published on November 3rd, 2017

    Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Based on how his skin looks and the itch you describe, he most likely has skin allergies of some sort. The vomiting you describe is likely a separate issue such as dietary indiscretion, pancreatitis, among other possibilities. Likely diagnostics for the vomiting include general lab work and abdominal ultrasound or radiographs. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

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