Alopecia is one of the most common skin complaints in dogs — partial or complete hair loss with several possible causes. Here’s how to recognise the pattern, what’s likely behind it, and what to do.
What alopecia is
Alopecia is a very common condition in dogs. It causes partial or complete hair loss and can affect the skin, the endocrine system, the lymphatic system, and the immune system.
It affects dogs of all ages, breeds, and genders. The onset can be gradual or acute.
Symptoms and types
Alopecia is very noticeable. It’s typically characterised as:
- Varied or symmetrical hair loss across the body
- Bald circles, often accompanied by crusting and inflammation around the affected area
- Scaling of the skin in some dogs
The look matters: the pattern of hair loss is what points toward the cause. The first question worth answering is whether the dog is itchy — if your dog is losing hair but not scratching, that narrows the field dramatically before you get anywhere near a diagnosis.
Causes
There is no single dominant cause. Demodicosis is one well-known one, but hair loss in dogs arrives by several quite different routes:
- Self-trauma — the dog scratches or chews the hair out. This is allergic disease or sarcoptic mange, and the hair loss is a symptom of the itch rather than a disease of the follicle
- Inflammation of the follicle itself — bacterial folliculitis, demodicosis, or ringworm
- Endocrine disease, which switches the follicle off without inflaming anything
Other contributors include:
- Disrupted hair follicle growth, often from infection, trauma, immune disease, or endocrine system abnormalities
- Hair follicle inflammation — if you’re seeing multiple missing patches, this is often what’s behind it
- More specific disease patterns when there’s a widespread area of hair loss
How vets diagnose the pattern
Proper diagnosis turns on the pattern and severity of the hair loss. Three main pictures appear:
Multiple patches of hair loss
Often accompanied by reddening of the skin and mild scaling. A fungus such as ringworm or bacterial infections are generally associated with this type of hair loss. Another known cause is scleroderma — a skin condition that develops from scar tissue or after a recent vaccination.
Symmetrical hair loss
This pattern has several known causes, all of them hormonal:
- Excessive steroid levels produced by the adrenal glands
- Low thyroid levels
- Increased oestrogen levels
- Low female hormone secretion
- Testosterone-related hair loss (when testosterone drops suddenly)
Symmetrical hair loss is the pattern that should send you to the vet for blood work.
Patchy to generalised hair loss
Mange is one of the most familiar causes of this type of hair loss. Other causes include bacterial infections and ringworm. This pattern is usually accompanied by redness of the skin and inflammation.
Two things are worth knowing here. Demodicosis is usually not itchy unless a secondary bacterial infection has set in, which is the opposite of sarcoptic mange — so an itchy dog and a comfortable dog with the same bald patches are likely to have different diseases. And generalised demodicosis appearing for the first time in an adult dog is a red flag for something underneath it — thyroid or adrenal disease, neoplasia, leishmaniasis, or immunosuppressive medication. That case needs a workup, not a shampoo. Our guide to mites and mange goes through the differences.
What you can do
Get the cause treated first. Mites and ringworm need a prescription — the isoxazolines clear both sarcoptic mange and generalised demodicosis at 98–100% in controlled trials, and no topical skincare product has published cure-rate evidence against either. Symmetrical hair loss needs blood work.
Topical care has a genuine job, and it starts where the pathogen treatment leaves off. Mites, fungus and bacteria wreck the skin, and clearing them does not repair it — the crusting, scale, damaged barrier and secondary overgrowth all outlast the infection. The Dermagic Skin Rescue Lotion is for that: supporting the skin while the follicles recover and the coat regrows. For symmetrical hair loss with a suspected hormonal cause, topical care still helps the skin while the hormonal cause is investigated.
Some breeds are affected far more than others. If yours is a spitz breed, start with Pomeranian alopecia: natural treatment for Black Skin Disease — the pattern and the protocol apply equally to Chow Chows, Keeshonds and Samoyeds. Pomeranian owners still working out what the hair loss is can start with why is my Pomeranian losing hair?.
If the answer turns out to be Alopecia X, the treatment decision is a genuinely difficult one and worth reading properly before committing to anything — melatonin, neutering, trilostane, deslorelin and the topical route have very different evidence behind them, and some of the widely-quoted success rates don’t survive a close look. We’ve compared them all in Alopecia X treatment: what works, what doesn’t, and why.
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Shop on dermagic.eu →For specific guidance on your dog’s case, email customerservice@dermagic.eu or call +44 7425 388643.