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Do You Know what
Your Dog is Telling
You about Their Health?

"Knowing what is normal and abnormal can exposure to hundreds to thousands of dogs.
This Book helps fill in that missing experience."

-D.Rae Worden, Fergus Veterinary Hospital

Slide 1

Become a Rock Star of Veterinary Visits

Are you taking your dog to a vet for a wellness exam or because they’re ill? Do you know what questions to ask your veterinarian? Do you know how to get the most out of your visit?

Get your FREE Veterinary Visit Checklists and maximize your veterinary visits.

A Primer On Ringworm in Dogs

A Primer On Ringworm in Dogs: What Are the Bald Patches on My Dog?

Despite its name, ringworm (also known as dermatophytosis) is caused by a fungus, not by worms.

Fungi, known as dermatophytes, can infect your dog’s hair and dead skin, leading to bald, scaly areas with broken hairs. These areas can show up simply as patches or as rings.

A Primer On Ringworm in Dogs: Ringworm shows up most often on the feet, face, ears, and tail.

What does it look like

Ringworm most often appears on the feet, face, ears, and tail.

The infection is usually confined to hair, nails, and dead skin. However, inflammation and redness of other parts of the skin can develop from the body’s immune response to the fungus.

This inflammation can cause your dog to itch and scratch, and secondary bacterial infection may develop. In addition, ringworm is infectious, and other animals or people in the household can contract it.

Diagnosing ringworm

There are a variety of ways to diagnose ringworm infection.

Some of these fungal organisms will fluoresce under ultraviolet light. Therefore, your veterinarian may be able to diagnose ringworm during your dog’s visit by examining its hair and skin under a special light.

In some cases, your veterinarian may recommend a fungal culture. A sample of your dog’s hair and skin cells is placed on a special medium in an attempt to grow the fungus for both diagnosis and identification. Cultures can take several days to a couple of weeks.

Sometimes, fungal material can be visible directly under the microscope.

Treating ringworm

Ringworm can clear up on its own. But treatment speeds recovery and helps prevent infecting other animals (and people) in the household.

Repeated bathing with a medicated shampoo removes dead hair and skin and inhibits fungal development.

Oral medications are also available. In that case, treatment needs to continue for weeks to months. In addition, all pets in the household may need treatment because some animals can carry ringworm without showing any signs of infection.

You will need to clean or discard any bedding, brushes, and other household items in contact with your dog.

Related articles:
Your Dog And Infections: Alien Invasion
Hair Loss (Alopecia) in Dogs: Why Is My Dog Losing Hair?
Tailored Veterinary Solutions: Thinking Outside The Box

Further reading:
Ringworm in Dogs

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of American and an award-winning author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners . What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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Do you know what your dog is telling you about their health?

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog is an award-winning guide to help you better understand what your dog is telling you about their health and how to best advocate for them.

Learn how to see and how to think about changes in your dog’s appearance, habits, and behaviour. Some signs that might not trigger your concern can be important indicators that your dog needs to see a veterinarian right away. Other symptoms. white hard to miss, such as diarrhoea, vomiting. or Limping are easy to spot but can have a laundry List of potential causes, some of them serious or even Life-threatening.

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog is a dog health advocacy guide 101. It covers a variety of common symptoms, including when each of them might be an emergency.

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog: Order Now