The integumentary system is the largest organ system comprising skin, hair, nails, footpads as well as glands and their products. The dermatology & allergy service provides diagnosis, treatment or management of a variety of conditions affecting an animal’s integumentary system, including:

• Skin infections (bacterial such as pyoderma due to Staphylococci and other bacteria, fungal/yeast such as ringworm and Malassezia dermatitis, viral)
• Allergic skin diseases (environmental allergies or atopy or allergy to pollens, molds and dust mites, food allergies, allergies due to the bites of insects such as fleas and mosquitoes)
• Endocrine/ metabolic skin diseases (Cushings disease, Hypothyroidism)
• Auto-immune skin diseases (pemphigus foliaceus and others)
• Skin cancers and cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes.
Our veterinary staff is also skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of the following conditions:
• Chronic or recurrent ear canal and middle ear infections (otitis).
• Hair loss (alopecia)
• Foot and footpad diseases (pododermatitis)
• Nail disorders
• “Hot spots” (acute moist dermatitis)
• Acral Lick Dermatitis
• Cutaneous drug reactions
• Genetic/congenital skin diseases
Listed below are some of the more common diagnostic tests or procedures we perform:
• Skin and ear cytology
• Fine needle aspirate
• Skin and ear bacterial culture
• Skin fungal culture
• Acetate tape preparation
• Skin scraping
• Trichogram
• Flea combing
• Wood’s lamp examination
• Hormone level testing to evaluate hormonal causes of skin diseases
• Intradermal/skin allergy testing for atopic dermatitis
• Serologic allergy testing for atopic dermatitis
• Allergen specific immunotherapy
• Food elimination trials
• Skin biopsies (most biopsies will not require general anesthesia)
• Medicated bathing
• Skin mass removal