My dog's chronic skin & nail issues, plus vomiting: is it serious?

Hi. Sorry honey isn't feeling well. Being lethargic, quiet, and vomiting can occur for alot of different diseases or conditions. It can be from a dietary indiscretion, a food sensitivity, a GI infection,  pancreatitis, metabolic and endocrine conditions, foreign bodies in the intestines, and more.   The best thing for vomiting would be to get him seen and try to get to the bottom of the cause.  But he will need an exam and some diagnostics.  In the meantime, you can try a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice for 3-5 days, then slowly change back to her regular diet if doing well. The hair loss can be caused by bacterial infections, allergies, metabolic, or endocrine diseases. Your veterinarian may do some bloodwork to check for those conditions and also some skin testing. Good luck.

I would encourage you to consider checking his thyroid levels, as this can cause all of these symptoms. You may also consider doing a biopsy of the skin and one of the nail beds to look for signs of an autoimmune disorder or zinc deficiency. Best of luck and I hope you find an answer soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

If you don't care for that vet, find another. I think the vomiting and hair loss/itching are unrelated. For vomiting, common causes would include dietary intolerance or indiscretion, food allergy, intestinal parasites, GI blockage, gastroenteritis, bacterial or viral infection, IBD, pancreatitis, among others. She likely needs blood work and/or x-rays to see what could be causing it. For the hair loss and itching, the most common causes would be a combination of fleas, flea allergies, and food allergies. Clementine should be on a monthly flea preventative, and may need a special diet once the vomiting is resolved.

Oh my - it sounds as though Riley has a lot going on. It's likely that his excessive licking is associated with the hair loss that you've noticed, as licking is a sign of itchiness in dogs. I agree that his whining sounds like a sign of discomfort. This could all be associated with his other issues, or due to other skin conditions, like mange, ringworm, or allergies. Vomiting, diarrhea, weight gain, and excessive urination could be due to a number of different health conditions. Some of these possibilities include gastrointestinal viruses, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease, liver disease, endocrine disorders (such as Addison's disease), or food allergies. The challenge is that all of these conditions are treated very differently, so it's important to figure out the root cause of all of Riley's issues. At this point, Riley really needs to be examined by his vet and have some diagnostic testing performed. I assume that your vet will likely recommend some baseline bloodwork to check on his organ function, as well as a fecal flotation test for parasites, and skin testing to see if any infectious conditions are present. Based on their findings, they'll be able to come up with the best course of treatment for Riley. I hope that everything goes well!

Honestly this sounds like a potentially serious skin problem. I would highly recommend at this point to get Daiquiri's skin biopsied to check for immune mediated diseases and skin cancer. Especially since it seems that everything else has been tried. Also baseline bloodwork (CBC, Chemistry) is highly recommended here. I don't see how depression has anything to do with your pets skin problems.

Sometimes an autoimmune issue can cause dogs to lose nails. Other severe internal medical illness or chronic inflammation can also cause this to happen. I would recommend that Misty get checked out as soon as possible to see what could be the cause, investigate her weight loss (she may need diagnostics like bloodwork, x-rays, or intestinal parasite screening) and get started on appropriate medications.

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although pic would help to determine the underlying cause, this is probably 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. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.