How to Treat Canine Hair Loss

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about how to treat canine hair loss. The first thing to know is there needs to be a diagnoses first. Veterinarians will examine your pet, your dog, and try to find out why there's hair loss in the first place, because there are lots of different reasons why there could be hair loss. The most simple ones that we usually see are things like flea allergic dermatitis, that is allergies to fleas. That would cause a lot of inflammation of the skin, there for a lot of hair loss from itching and scratching. We also see lots of allergies, but there also can be metabolic diseases, such as hypothyroidism, there can be Cushing's Syndrome, things of that nature that can get them to loose hair as well. Poor nutritional quality can be a source of that, and just dry skin can also be a source of hair loss. So always get a veterinary diagnoses first, and they can help you on how to manage hair loss. You want to manage hair loss by treating the underlying disease, that is, getting rid of fleas if that's the cause, using antihistamines as a veterinarian directs, if it is an allergy, and then sometimes using other products. There are lots of sprays out there that can be used that are soothing to the skin if the skin is inflamed and dropping lots of hair. Also, there are lots of medicated shampoos that can be used, and conditioners, through your veterinarian, and that they can prescribe based on what the underlying cause of hair loss is. And again, you always want to have a diagnoses first because the treatment may vary on what's causing the hair loss to begin with."