Causes and Symptoms of Atopic Dermatitis in Dogs
📝 Summary
Atopic dermatitis in dogs comes from internal factors (genetics, hormones, allergic predisposition) and external ones (pollen, dust, certain foods, flea bites, drugs). It shows as intense itch, redness, and rashes, often first around the eyes, paws, armpits, and lower back.
1 Causes
Internal factors include heredity, allergic tendency, and hormone imbalance. External factors are broader and split into seasonal and non-seasonal. A dog can react to inhaled dust or dander or to eaten foods such as horse meat, ham, or milk. Injections, mosquito bites, parasites, and pathogens also trigger it.
Many external triggers are clearly seasonal: pollen, dust, mites, and dander in the air; spoiled meat or milk in the diet; injected drugs or serum; mosquito bites; contact with chemicals; or too much sun. This pattern is most common in dogs aged one to three.
2 Symptoms
The first sites are usually around the eyes, between the toes, the armpits, groin, perineum, and lower back. The main signs are severe itching with local redness and swelling; papules, scaling, and hair loss appear in some cases. Long-standing allergy leads to skin pigmentation, thickening, and a lichenified, wrinkled texture. Mild chronic itch may be light or fade on its own, while severe cases can need over a year of treatment.
Rash and itch are the chief symptoms in both dogs and cats, and drug-induced allergy is not rare. For example, subcutaneous vitamin K1 or K3 or an intravenous herbal injection can bring on rashes around the eyes, lips, or belly, with drooling, redness, and scratching. Food allergy is very common in dogs, so if you find a food that triggers it, change the diet to stop repeats.
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