My dog is sluggish, has a skin issue, and is losing weight. Why?

With the weight loss as well as the skin condition I would recommend a blood test to rule out internal diseases such as liver disease as well as a skin scrape and possible biopsy in order to fully investigate the underlying cause and to guide the most appropriate treatment

I’m so sorry to hear about Sargeant. Though your question focuses on the skin, I must insert that weight loss in any dog - but an older dog particularly- is very concerning. Liver, kidney, and heart disease, as well as cancer are the things I would want to rule out first. If you have not yet run a basic blood panel on Sargeant, I would highly encourage it. In terms of the skin, underlying allergies can cause repeated skin infections and hair loss. If Sargeant is itchy, talk to your vet about possibly pursuing allergy treatments. A trial treatment for mites is also a good idea. Finally ringworm, auto-immune disease, and others are possibilities. Best of luck to you and Sargeant!

Cookie is experiencing very general symptoms of disease, these symptoms could fit almost any internal condition, it could be due to a serious condition such as cancer but it could also be due to a foreign body in the stomach for example, from the symptoms described it's very hard to know. i would recommend taking him to the vet as soon as possible in order to get him checked, if he doesn't show any other obvious symptoms during the examination, a blood test and possibly an ultrasound will be needed in order to try and find out what is wrong with Cookie .

I am sorry your dog is not feeling well. The information provided and picture don't really match. If a patient is drinking more and losing weight I would be concerned about endocrine diseases like diabetes and cushings disease. However the picture looks more like possible skin mites or an underlying autoimmune disease I would recommend taking her to a veterinarian to help you resolve the issues. They most likely will need to run basic bloodwork and possible a skin scrape to determine if mites are present.

Hello! Those lesions could be caused by an infection like bacteria or even fungus as well as allergies. Usually though mild infections and allergies don't cause dogs to be depressed/act abnormally. If his behavior continues, he has any vomiting, or his food/water intake goes down further I recommend having your veterinarian do an exam as those changes could be caused by something more serious, like liver issues, anemia, an infection or even cancer.

Poor girl. This looks suspicious for either ringworm or mites. Please have your vet do a skin test on Cookie to determine which is the underlying cause so that this is properly treated. Until you can get Cookie seen, its best to keep her away from other pets, young children and the elderly, in case this is contagious. I do hope that Cookie's skin condition improves soon! Best wishes and take care. : )

I am very concerned by these pictures. I worry that the skin may be a manifestation of an underlying health issue. I would highly recommend blood work and a skin biopsy to help identify what the underlying problem is. Unfortunately cancer is high on my list of concerns. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon.