Any Maltese owner with skin problems?
I have gone through several websites and tried many different things and they aren’t working.
I have a Maltese (4 years old) and about a year ago, she started to scratch. I often carried her in the house because she can’t really come down the stairs. Anyways, I found out that there’s something going on with her skin so I took her to vet. She took a shot (don’t remember what it was called) and also got a special type of shampoo to kill any bacteria and prevent them from spreading. However, it didn’t work.
I did more research and I was thinking maybe she was allergic to food. So I changed food (can’t remember but it was quite expensive…it was all natural without any meat in it so I had too cook chicken breast and chopped it for her) but no luck.
She is completely shaved right now and I can tell that her skin has darkened where she had skin problems. It is awful and vet seems to be very clueless. Her skin becomes red and I can see some blood but very minimal, then I see scab. It repeated for a year now.
I moved to a new home so it can’t be a bacteria from carpet and I rarely take her outside so it’s not something from outside.
Can anyone help? 
Thank you for all the responses. I really appreiciate it.
None of my family smoke and the house is very clean.
Just to clarify, she is NOT losing hair. I shaved her hair so that I can easily see what’s going on with her skin. I was told to remove scabs as soon as possible because apparently, that’s another way of bacteria to jump from one place to another.
Go to these sites for additional info that might be effecting your dog.
It is possible for your dog to have alocepia also. My best advice would be to go to dermatologist vet. They are far better at diagnoses of the skin/coat & how to cure. She could have a different medical issue that is causing the alocepia like thyroid. I have a client with a havanese who is almost completely bald with dark skin at age 3 from alocepia. He did finallt get diagnosed properly & given a new med & his hair is growing back now after 3yr of being bald. It pays to go to the better vet in the beginning. joanplus4dogs
There are special dermatologists in the vet community. Ask your vet to refer you. If you have a major vet university near you contact them. This seems to be systemic and usually skin issues are food based. You might not just have found exactly what in the food is causing the issue.
This can often be tough and challenging to figure out, hence the fastest way is to go to a specialist. So many things can look like other things.
BTW, does anyone in your family smoke? Lots of dogs are allergic to smoke of many things. Just a thought.
Hang in there. I know how frustrated you are. Sandra R