Skin disease is a common ailment in dogs and there are many causes of canine skin disease.
Skin disease is one of the most common conditions seen in dogs. It can have many different causes, can be localized or widespread, and can range from mild to severe. Depending on the severity of the condition, skin disease can make your dog extremely uncomfortable.
Hot Spots and Canine Skin Disease
Hot spots are a type of skin disease. The term “hot spot” is used to describe a localized area of inflammation (redness) on your dog’s skin which is itchy. Hot spots are usually devoid of hair as a result of trauma caused by your dog licking and chewing at the area. The hot spot may be bloody and/or heavily scabbed.
Anything that makes your dog itchy can cause a hot spot for your dog. As a result, hot spots can have a variety of different causes.
Symptoms of Skin Disease in Your Dog
The symptoms most commonly seen with skin disease are itchiness, hair loss, inflamed skin, scabs, and odor from your dog’s skin. For some dogs, skin disease may cause restlessness, irritability, and lack of appetite.
Common Causes of Skin Disease in Dogs
There are many different diseases that can cause skin disease, and these diseases tend to look very much like one another. Even though the causes are varied, there are only limited ways that a dog’s skin can react, causing similar symptoms to manifest despite the cause.
- Fleas are one of the most common causes of skin disease. Many dogs actually develop an allergy to fleas. Even small numbers of fleas can cause skin disease for a dog that is allergic. Fleas cannot be ruled out as a cause of skin disease simply because live adult fleas are not found on your pet.
- Food allergies are another very common cause of canine skin disease. Allergies can be developed to any ingredient in the food.
- Atopy is an allergic reaction that occurs to something within your dog’s environment. This may be an allergy to a plant pollen, to dust mites, to a particular type of fabric or to many other items. Atopy is another common cause of skin disease.
- Skin infections can cause your dog to be very itchy and can contribute to skin disease. However, skin infections rarely occur in healthy skin. Usually, trauma caused by another skin disease damages the skin and sets up the conditions for an infection to occur. Infections can be bacterial in nature or caused by yeast. The most common yeast involved in known as Malassezia.
- Parasitic diseases can also cause skin disease. Mange is an example but there are actually several different form of mange. Demodectic mange is most commonly seen in young dogs. When seen in older dogs, it often occurs secondary to other disease. Scabies is another form of mange. Also known as sarcoptic mange, scabies is contagious not only to other dogs but to people as well.
- Fungal infections are frequently referred to “ringworm”, even though there is no true worm involved. These infections are contagious to people as well as to other animals.
These are only a few of the causes of skin disease in dogs. There are also other, less commonly seen forms of skin disease as well but these are the most common.
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