Possible seasonal alopecia

Hi, Could this be a sign of seasonal alopecia? She had hair loss on both sides, her flanks and has suffered allergies in the past. She would bite/lick feet but has had a cytopoint injection before which helped her and worked well. She has had hair loss before but not as bad. Possibly thyroids even? We will get her checked. Thanks.

Hello!  - and thank you for introducing this interesting topic.  I can't see the hair loss - the alopecia - very well on this picture but that is ok.   If you have got to the point of using cytopoint, it seems likely that your vet has done some tests and ruled out the usual endocrinological (hormone) causes of hair loss, for example anal gland disease and Cushings disease, and also demodex secondry to eg stress and parasitic causes such as Ringworm, fleas and mites.   Cytopoint is an established treatment for allergies but allergy is a chronic disease, ie one that can need to be managed throughout an animal's life.  However, an injection will not last for ever.  It therefore sounds to be worth talking to your vet about what needs to be done to manage your dogs' skin from here.

(My apologies; anal gland disease is not endocrinological in origin; i will write that again)

Hello and thank you for introducing this interesting topic. I can't see the hair loss as well as I would like on this picture but that is ok.   If you have got to the point of using Cytopoint, it sounds likely that your vet has done tests that point to the skin problem being connected to allergy.  Perhaps they have already ruled out parasitic causes (mites, fleas, Ringworm, Demodex secondary to stress), hormonal causes (Cushings, sex-organ related), drug-related causes and so on.  Allergy is a life-long condition and single Cytopoint injections are certainly not a magic cure; the trigger of the allergy may also need to be identified and eliminated, although this can be very difficult to acheive.   We would reccommend speaking with your vet in order to establish where things are now and to formulate a plan forward from here.

Seasonal flank alopecia is hair loss that appears at specific times of year and has no other cause.  In general it is self resolving and does not itch; the skin does not feel any different to the haired skin.  However, it is difficult to diagnose; diagnosis often carried out by ruling out other, more worrying causes.  Some people hypothesise that there might well be another cause in a lot of cases.  Again, your vet will help to establish a plan of action.