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Why is my dog scratching and losing hair without fleas or infection?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | unneutered | 73 lbs

my dog is scratching and he is losing hair! there is no sign of active infection or fleas, no pyoderma or erythema. he is just scratching and losing hair in many spots

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on November 2nd, 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). 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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Other Answers

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    Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on August 29th, 2018

    Hello, sorry to hear about Dodger. Based on your brief description, it sounds like he is having allergies. Most common allergies to cause this severe itchiness is something called flea allergy dermatitis. This is an allergy to the flea saliva itself, and a single flea bite can cause severe irritation of the skin to cause itchiness. You do not have to see fleas on your pet to for them to gave this allergy. Lucky, this is treated medically with anti-allergy medications and often antibiotic. The best way to tell these causes apart is by having Dodger evaluated by his veterinarian. If needed, they will then start Dodger on anti-allergy medications and antibiotics. Hope this helps and best of luck.

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