My 2-year-old Lab Bruno is suffering from a fungal infection on the right side of his body. He does not have hair on that side, we were applying an ointment and due to continuous application for almost an year, our vet says that maybe the hair follicles have destroyed and no hair is growing on that part. The surface has become dry and to moisten it, we were told to apply Cetraben moisturizing cream but there has been no effect. Recently our vet asked us to try out Ketoheal ointment. Please advise what we should do.

Hair loss (alopecia) is a common complaint in pets in our country and results from a number of causes, such as endocrine disorders, bacterial or fungal infection, allergies and parasites. Therefore, my approach would be to find underlying cause and then your vet will be able to recommend suitable medications that will eliminate the cause and therefore hair loss. Your vet may run some test on skin or use lab tests. For e.g., fungal infection is easy to confirm with culture and can be controlled effectively with available medicines. Lastly, hair alone takes away approximately 30% of protein from the diet for its health. Hence, balanced and complete nutrition is most important for healthy skin and hair coat.

Question by – Rupal, Pune