Skin changes in your dog: what to note before a vet visit

What to describe

Look at the skin where the coat parts. Describe its colour, whether it is flat or raised, dry or damp, and whether the surface is unbroken. Note thinner areas of coat, changes in texture or shine, any smell and whether it is new. For scratching, licking, chewing, rubbing or shaking, note where it happens and whether there is more than before.

1. 1Where is the change? Name the body part and the side. Note whether it stays in one place or appears elsewhere.
2. 2When did you first notice it? Write down what changed first and what you see now.

How do you look for a skin or coat change?

You do not need a special examination: good light, your hands and a calm moment are enough. Part the coat with your fingers so you are looking at the skin, not only the hair over it. Run your hands over the whole body — many owners do this while stroking or brushing. Compare what you find with the same place on the other side, and with what you remember from before. Include the places a quick glance misses: ears, belly, armpits, groin, paws and the base of the tail. If your dog becomes restless or protective of a spot, stop and note that too — how your dog reacts to being touched there is itself an observation.

1. 1Choose a calm moment in good, even light.
2. 2Part the coat and look at the skin underneath; feel for anything raised, rough or tender.
3. 3Work over the whole body, not only the place you already noticed.
4. 4Compare both sides, and compare with what is usual for your dog.
5. 5Note what you found, where, and the date — even if you are unsure it matters.

What counts as a change?

Your dog’s own usual skin and coat are the baseline: how much coat there is, its shine and feel, the colour and moisture of the skin, any smell, and how much scratching, licking or rubbing happens from day to day. A change is anything new for your dog or different from that usual — a spot that was not there before, coat that feels different under your hand, more scratching than usual, a smell that is new.

Not everything that catches the eye is a change in the skin itself. Loose hairs, dirt or a seed head caught in the coat can look like one from a distance. Parting the coat and looking again at the skin underneath tells you what you are actually describing.

You do not need to judge whether a change is important before writing it down. Recording something small costs little; deciding what it means is your veterinarian’s work, and the record is what gives that work a starting point.

An example in ordinary words

For example: “The skin behind the left ear looks redder than the skin beside it. I first noticed it today.” Add the date to the note. This is an example of a description, not an explanation of the cause.

Keep the note for your visit

Keep dated notes and photographs together in a notebook or on your phone.

A photograph is part of the description. The same spot, with the coat parted the same way, in plain light, tells your veterinarian more than a single dramatic close-up: take one wider picture that shows where on the body it is and one close picture with something of known size beside it. Keep photographs dated and together with the notes, in whatever format you will actually maintain — a notebook and a phone camera both work.

Our guide to what is worth writing down about a dog’s skin covers the six useful details and comparable photographs. For a packing list and questions to ask, see preparing for the appointment itself.

What belongs on your checklist?

Copy or print this list and keep it with your notes. One line per look is enough; our record-keeping guide has the fuller format.

1. 1Where: the body part and the side.
2. 2What it looks like: colour, flat or raised, dry or damp, skin unbroken or not.
3. 3The coat over it: thinner, changed in texture or shine.
4. 4Any smell.
5. 5Scratching, licking, chewing, rubbing or head-shaking: where, and whether there is more than before.
6. 6When you first noticed it, and the date of each look since.
7. 7A photograph of the same spot, taken the same way as last time, kept with the note.
8. 8Anything that changed recently, in your own words.

When to contact a veterinarian

Persistent itch, hair loss, odour, open lesions, ear involvement or a sudden change are each a reason to book an appointment. Painful, open or worsening skin also needs veterinary attention. You do not need to finish a record before calling.

For difficulty breathing, collapse or unresponsiveness, uncontrolled bleeding, seizures, or suspected poisoning, contact emergency veterinary care now.

What varies normally

Skin and coat vary between dogs, across the body, with age and with season. Studies in healthy dogs found variation in the thickness of the outer skin layer by body site and in surface pH by age and site. Read more about how canine skin is built.

Hair grows, rests and is shed in cycles. A study following dogs of different breeds over a year found that the balance of growing and resting hairs varied with coat type; in seasonally cycling coats it also shifted with temperature and day length. These general findings cannot tell you whether a change in your dog is normal.

Normal variation or a change to record?

The variation the studies above describe is broad and slow. Skin thickness differs from one body site to another, surface pH differs with age and site, and hair grows, rests and sheds in cycles that differ by coat type and shift with season in the coats that cycle seasonally. Those findings describe a range across healthy dogs — they are not a rule that settles any individual dog.

A change can sit inside every normal pattern and still be worth recording, and nothing on this page can tell you that a change is safe to ignore. The useful question is not “is this normal in dogs?” but “is this different from my dog’s usual — and is it one of the reasons to contact a veterinarian listed above?” Recording is the part that costs little; the record is what turns “I think something changed” into something your veterinarian can work with.

What needs a veterinary examination

A description or photograph cannot identify the cause, tell you how serious a change is or confirm that it is safe to wait. A veterinarian can examine your dog and arrange tests when needed. General information about variation in dogs cannot settle what is normal for your dog.

Where can you read deeper about one specific sign?

Each sign in this guide has its own page, built around the record that helps your veterinarian: the scratching guide, the flaky-skin guide, the redness guide, the coat-odour guide, the coat-change guide and the paw-licking guide. Each one shows what to note for that sign, in the same ordinary words this page uses.