The skin can demonstrate disease with only a limited number of symptoms. It can:
-
Lose hair
- Gain hair
- Change hair color
-
Change skin color:
- Lose pigment
- Gain pigment
- Inflame (red)
- Blanche (white)
- Bruise (purple or blue)
- Become scaly
- Become crusted
Become scabbed
- Thin
- Thicken
- Erode or Ulcerate
- Exude fluid
- Crack or peel
The dermatologist must be adept at recognizing the types and patterns of lesions affecting the skin, and together with obtaining a thorough history piece together a list of the most likely causes of disease (the differential diagnosis list).
There are four categories of skin disease (dermatitis/dermatoses) that occur most frequently in companion animals. They are allergic dermatitis, ear infections, skin infections, and immune-mediated/autoimmune dermatoses.
