i have a one and a half year old golden retriever, and these past 4 or 5 months, his fur along his hind legs and upper arms looks unhealthy and stringy. he always bites those places. he takes flea/tick treatment, so it can’t be that he has bugs. and i brush his fur pretty regularly and switched his food in case he has an allergy, yet his fur stays the same and he still bites those places. can’t be the weather cuz he does this any season. what could it be?

My dog was rescued about three months ago and we don’t know anything about his history. He has allergies but we are not sure if they are environmental only, food only, or a combination of both. He does not have any fleas.
Last week I brought him to a new vet (the old one was useless and a firm believer in feeding Purina or Iams) and he decided on a mild course of action as a first step. He prescribed 1 adult benadryl (25 mg) twice a day, Welactin fish oil once a day, and Douxo Calm shampoo and spray. He told me to keep feeding California Natural lamb meal and rice for 3 months, which he was already eating for the past 3 or 4 weeks, but with treats that had other ingredients.
The shampoo treatments call for 3 baths in 7 days, and then to use the spray every 3 days for a month. After the first bath the dog seemed to be better, with a soft coat and calmer skin instead of the pink/red skin he always had before. But yesterday I began to notice he has some raised spots (they look like scabs) in his back which seem worse today and he has some tiny red spots that look a little scaly in the belly area. He is extremely itchy this morning, even biting and chewing his back.
During the exam, the vet noticed one spot that looked like a scab, but today there are at least 5 more of those, so I assume it is getting worse even though he is on Benadryl, the shampoo, etc. I was wondering whether anyone here has seen those symptoms before and could help me to suggest something else to my vet. I cannot believe he would miss something as serious as mange, for example, but maybe there is something else he is missing. We discussed the blood test for allergies, but he said that most of the time they are not helpful because they cannot diagnose food allergies and often it is impossible to keep the dog from getting in contact with whatever it is he is allergic to in the environment. Even so, I am considering it. What is the price range?
I also had tried to get the dog to start eating EVO red meat yesterday by introducing it as treats, which he would not eat. I managed to get him to eat 2 pieces a little after 12 pm yesterday. Could an allergy to beef or another ingredient in the food cause such a powerful reaction this quickly after such a small exposure?
Thank you and I’m sorry this is so long…

I found three dogs on the side of the road yesterday. Two seem perfectly healthy. The third seems to be an adult, as he doesn’t have pointy puppy teeth. The skin on his back and down his tail is red, itchy and swollen. He’s also “balding” in this area. It’s not patchy, as he’s still got a little hair all over this area, it’s just thinning pretty badly.
The hair and skin on his face, paws and legs seems to be fine, which leads me to believe it’s not mange/scabies. Also, while he does have some fleas, he doesn’t seem to have a large number of bite marks. The redness is even and his skin is smooth and not flaky. It is, however, dry.
I don’t know how long he’s been outside. Could he be itching because of stress/allergies/sunburn? Do you think it’s anything contagious? I have the 3 of them quarantined from the rest of my dogs. Do you think it’s necessary?
I know seeing a vet would be the best option, but I really can’t afford it unless it’s absolutely necessary…

My Dog is a 13month old Lhaso Apso, she was recently suspected to have a food allergy to either Wheat or Beef, however no testing has been done, we changed her diet to see if that would help. Now she has a horrible rash on her body, I found a couple bumps that I assumed were flea bites, however after careful examination I have discovered that thwese bumps (red and swollen lumps) cover her entire back end and there are a few sporatic ones elsewhere. She does Itch and occasionally bite to scratch but not to the point I would suspect something this bad, She does have a few fleas but I really have to search to find one. She also suffers from a constant Ear infection in which the medication my vet prescribes only lessen the severity but never cures. She has absolutly No hair loss, she seems happy and energetic, she has regular baths (weekly) and really has no other issues that would cause me concern. Not sure if it’s releated but she did start her first heat 4 Days ago.

My boyfriend picked up a dog off the street late last night. She’s a Golden Retriever, about 2-3 years old (according to the vet) and just beautiful. She hasn’t been spayed and looks to have had more litters than she should have had by now (lots of extra skin swinging fairly low).
The vet cleaned out her ears and noticed that she IS covered in fleas and her skin seems pretty irritated about it – she may also have some allergies. I’ve given her a really good bath with some medicated flea shampoo and will apply Advantage when she’s dry. There doesn’t seem to be any mange.
The odor I’m talking about is just kind of a…it’s weird…kind of sweet (though that may be partly the shampoo) but mixed with something that isn’t so pleasant. It’s not overpowering, it’s not a rotting smell…just wondering if there are infections that could cause the dog’s body to have an odor. Could it be the result of being bitten up by fleas?
I know I’m not being very specific, I’m sorry!! So really, any suggestions would be helpful. I’ve never dealt with an adult, non spayed dog so I wasn’t sure if she could be in heat…though her nipples don’t seem swollen and the vet didn’t mention it…