The condition of your pet’s skin is like a window into your dog or cat’s overall health. There are a vast number of skin disorders known to affect pets. These disorders may be the result of parasite infestation, or allergic reaction, infectious or non-infectious disease. Generalized health conditions will also affect your pet’s skin. 

We can often detect and treat other veterinary conditions that may be affecting your pet based on clues the skin may provide. Because many of these skin diseases bear close symptomatic resemblance to one another, proper diagnoses and treatment may requires specialized testing to help determine the cause.

Our veterinarians maintain a special focus on diagnosing, managing, and treating pet skin conditions.

At Ingersoll Animal Hospital, we offer a wide range of dermatological diagnostics, including:

  • Skin scrape
  • Fungal and bacterial cultures
  • Cytology of the skin and ears
  • Biopsy
  • Allergy testing— serum testing
  • Video otoscope – allowing a magnified view inside the ear canal

Diagnosing the cause of skin problems can be like detective work — ruling out one possibility at a time. It is important to use a methodical approach to be certain of the root cause, and we try simple solutions before ordering more expensive diagnostics and treatments. We want the resolution and management of a chronic skin problem to be rewarding for the pet, owner, and veterinarian.

Skin diseases can be frustrating for pet owners because some can only be managed and not resolved. In these cases, we will need to see your pet on a routine basis for follow-up care and continued treatment.

Some of the common dermatological conditions we see are:

  • Alopecia (hair loss)
  • Atopy (environmental allergy)
  • Auto-immune skin diseases
  • Bacterial diseases
  • Endocrine and metabolic skin diseases
  • Flea allergy dermatitis
  • Food allergy
  • Fungal skin diseases (such as ringworm)
  • Nutritional skin diseases
  • Parasitic skin diseases
  • Seborrhea and acne
  • Skin cancer
  • Skin diseases of the foot or nail
  • Otitis (ear disease)

In some advanced cases, the veterinarians at Ingersoll Animal Hospital may recommend that you consult a dermatology specialist and will provide you with a referral.

Please contact us at Ingersoll Animal Hospital with any questions.