For Referring Veterinarians

Healthy Nail Bed and Paw Nail diseases are very interesting to diagnose and treat as a veterinary dermatologist. Infections (bacterial paronychia, onychomycosis), immune mediated diseases (SLE, Pemphigus vulgaris, bullous pemphigoid), trauma, tumors (melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, keratoacanthoma), inflammatory (vasculitis), metabolic (hepatocutaneous syndrome), and other conditions (nail bed inclusion cysts) may affect the nails and/or nail bed epithelium. Signs of Symmetric Lupoid Onychodystrophy In dogs, there is an interesting nail disease called symmetric lupoid onychodystrophy/onychitis…

Veterinary dermatologists primarily care for dogs and cats with conditions involving the skin, ears, hair coat, nails and mucosae. We see parasites, skin infections, allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, hormone imbalances, and metabolic or systemic diseases that have cutaneous manifestations. Many skin diseases have characteristic features or breed associations we are trained to identify. The first thing we note at the time of an initial consultation is the signalment (species, age and breed). We inquire about…

Image Courtesy of Wiki Commons History A 10-year-old castrated male Hungarian Vizsla was referred for evaluation of a progressive patchy hair loss that was first noted in November 2012. He had no previous skin problems. There was a mild itch involving the sites of lesions on the trunk and on the forelimbs. The first observation made by the owner was patchy hair loss on the trunk and he appeared to be “moth-eaten.” Scaling of…