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Dog Skin Conditions

Dog skin conditions that you should watch out for
By Tess Thompson

Pets are lovely creatures to have at home. They are fun to play with and provide useful company to humans. However, health concerns can pose lot of challenges to pet owners.

Although skin and coat problems in pets appear harmless they can be instrumental in producing complications that may be difficult to handle later. Cats, for example are know to develop feline acne, feline hair loss and cat dandruff that can sometimes lead to bacterial infections.

Dogs also suffer from issues like acne, hair loss and dandruff. In fact they can contract many more skin and hair related diseases. And therefore any veterinarian will tell you that the most common complaint that he hears from dog owners is excessive itching and scratching due to some skin infection or another.

But dogs are also known to ‘create’ skin problems for themselves. They itch and scratch excessively out of boredom, depression or separation anxiety and create lesions and wounds that get gory at a later stage.

Usually dog skin problems start with moist eczema or moist dermatitis. These basic inflammatory conditions are easily curable. However, you need to know certain solutions to be able to provide quick relief to your pet before you can take him to a specialist. Ideally some form of treatment should start as soon as you notice any skin condition. Ignored or delayed treatment can lead to serious and infectious skin disorders.

There are many skin disorders that can cause itching in your dog. Some of the main causes of skin conditions are:

Sensitivity to water or lawn grasses. This can cause itching, hair loss and skin irritation. Removal of the substance causing irritation provides some initial relief.

Insufficient quantities of good quality meat can cause skin problems for your dog. Dogs require a specified quantity of meat in their diet to maintain healthy skin and coat.

External parasites like fleas, mites, chiggers, deer flies and gnats are the most common causes, which induce excessive scratching and contribute to infections. This condition should be treated by the veterinarian as soon as possible.

Bacteria, fungus or yeast can find conducive places to reside in the skin or ear of your dog. The infections need to be treated by a veterinarian.

Allergic reaction to certain plants, fabric, dust or fiber can cause allergic dermatitis.

Neurogenic dermatitis can be caused if a dog continues to lick a particular area of the skin. This can cause “lick tumors” to occur.

There are other skin disorders that are caused by certain internal disturbances in the body of the dog. These are mostly autoimmune and immune disorders. Some skin disorders can lead to the formation of an abscess near a bite or a wound and result in pus formation.

Thankfully, this is not a common skin disease among dogs. Dogs can also develop skin cancers like humans and as a concerned pet owner and animal lover you will need to guard against such a possibility. Being mindful of any deviations in the skin or hair of your pet will ensure that timely intervention prevents further complications.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_skin_disorders
http://nzymes.com/Articles/dog_skin_hair_problems.htm#top
http://thepetcenter.com/exa/hotspots.htmlhttp://thepetcenter.com/gen/itch.html