Dog has alopecia dermatitis symptoms?

[bxdobs]

Looking for Help

I have a very unhappy 16 year old 40lb dog with medium length straight hair that has itchy patches breaking out all over his body ... these patches are bleeding which form caked up black crusty mounds ... when we bath him, these dissolve but the hair around the affected area just literally falls out ... these patches appear to grow in a circular fashion (once the hair has fallen out the problem seems to follow the hairline with the area in the center is no longer a problem) ... bathing, brushing and medicated creams otomax provided by the vet are doing nothing for him ... he was on antibiotics for a few weeks as well with little to no change ... 2 vets now have no idea other then to agree there is some kind of skin irritant.

There has to be something we can do for this dog who is at times scratching and or biting himself raw other then possibly shaving him bald.

If this is some kind topical treatment we could try that won't harm him?

Multiple open sores could lead to other infections which he doesn't need at his age.

[MaxaLisa]

What type of testing did the vets do? Which antibiotics was he on?

[bxdobs]

They didn't do any testing just visual inspections

Antibiotics were for after surgery as he had to have a growth removed from his foot (dew claw was removed)

[MaxaLisa]

It could be fungal, it could be staph, it could be a lot of things. I have a K9 dermatologist here locally that I would go to for something like this. If you could get a good recommendation, that would be the quickest and cheapest way to get to the bottom of this. Your vets should have already done a skin test, but since you didn't mention that, that's a good indication that you really need to see someone that can get to the bottom of this.