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Why is my dog getting bald patches and losing hair? What to do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 11 months and 26 days old | 48 lbs

My dog has patches of no hair/ bald spots. I found a small one on his tail, one needs his arm and 2 on his back near his butt. What is that? Is that normal? How do i get his hair to grow back? Picture attached.

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3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on May 6th, 2018

This could be due to an allergy, although it could also be an 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 and similar dermatological tests - 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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Other Answers

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

    Veterinarian

    Published on May 22nd, 2017

    This is probably due to flea infestation, 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 (advocate or advantage), 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 the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). 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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    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

  • Image profile

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

    Veterinarian

    Published on March 10th, 2019

    Hi, and thanks for your question. This could be 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). Eventually if no causes of the one listed are found, metabolic/endocrine causes can be suspected as well (like Cushing's syndrome or hypothyroidism). 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. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

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    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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