Why is my dog losing hair, bald in spots, and has skin sores?

Question

My 8 month old St Bernard is losing her hair and is almost completely bald in some places. She also has some sores on her skin. What should I do to make her skin better and her coat grow back and be healthy? Pet's info: Dog | Saint Bernard | Female | unspayed | 8 months and 27 days old | 80 lbs

Ricardo Fernandez, DVM · Accepted Answer

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. This could potentially be due to mites for example and a physical examination and diagnostics would help to determine this. 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!

Why is my dog losing hair, bald in spots, and has skin sores?

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