FAQ

A veterinary dermatologist is a veterinarian with at least four years of advanced, specialized training in diagnosing and treating skin, ear, and allergy conditions in animals. These conditions include chronic itching, hair loss, rashes, infections, nail disorders, hormonal skin disease, and autoimmune conditions. At Veterinary Skin & Ear, our board-certified specialists focus exclusively on dermatologic care to restore comfort and quality of life for your pet.

While your primary veterinarian can manage many general skin & ear conditions, a veterinary dermatologist is trained to handle the most complex and chronic skin and ear problems. At Veterinary Skin & Ear, our team treats chronic and challenging dermatologic cases every day—some of our specialists have over a decade of focused experience. We use advanced diagnostics and targeted treatments not typically available in general practice. If your pet has persistent skin or ear issues, our expert team is here to help.

No, a referral is not needed to book an appointment with Veterinary Skin & Ear. Whether your pet is experiencing itching, allergies, or recurrent ear infections, you can contact us directly to schedule a consultation. 310-855-3499.

You can request an appointment by calling our office (310-855-3499) or visiting our website veterinaryskinandear.com/appointment. Our team will walk you through the steps and help you prepare for your pet’s first dermatology visit.

At your pet’s first appointment, the dermatologist will:

• Review your submitted history and prior medical records

• Conduct a full skin, ear, and nail exam

• Ask clarifying questions to refine the diagnosis

• Perform any needed diagnostics (e.g., cytology, cultures, allergy testing, bloodwork, biopsies)

We then build a custom treatment plan tailored to your pet’s needs and your goals. Everything is clearly explained, and we work closely with your primary veterinarian for coordinated care.

We work with most pet insurance providers. While we don’t accept direct payment from insurance companies, we will provide complete documentation to help you submit claims quickly and efficiently. Let us know your provider, and we’ll make sure you have everything needed after your visit.

Chronic scratching, licking, or chewing can signal underlying issues like allergies, infections, parasites, autoimmune disease, or hormonal imbalances. If the behavior persists or worsens, it’s time to seek expert help. At Veterinary Skin & Ear, we diagnose the root cause and build a long-term relief plan for your pet. Read more https://veterinaryskinandear.com/why-is-my-pet-itching-licking-or-scratching/

Ear infections are commonly linked to:

• Environmental or food allergies

• Hormonal imbalances

• Tumors or polyps

• Ear mites

• Foreign material (foxtails, toys, rocks—we’ve seen it all!)

Recurrent infections often suggest a deeper issue that needs specialty care. Our team at Veterinary Skin & Ear specializes in diagnosing and treating chronic and complex ear conditions. Read more https://veterinaryskinandear.com/ear-infections/

Yes! We offer both intradermal skin testing and blood testing for environmental allergens. These tests help us design personalized treatments like allergy patient specific immunotherapy. If your pet is constantly itchy or inflamed, schedule an allergy consultation with Veterinary Skin & Ear to get answers.

Generally you can not tell without a diet trial though some clues are:

• Food allergies cause year-round symptoms (itching, ear infections, GI upset)

• Environmental allergies are often seasonal (pollen, grass, dust mites)

A detailed history, food trials, and/or allergy testing are essential to tell the difference. Our dermatology world class experts will guide you through each step of the process.

Yes. Symptoms like hair loss, red bumps, or skin thickening can indicate allergies, infections, parasites, or autoimmune disease. If your pet hasn’t improved with general care, a board-certified dermatologist at Veterinary Skin & Ear can help uncover the cause and create a path to healing.

We treat a wide range of dermatologic issues, including:

• Chronic itching or infections

• Environmental and food allergies

• Hormonal skin diseases

• Autoimmune and rare skin conditions

• Nail and paw pad disorders

Learn more on our Specialty Services page.

We use intradermal testing (a small series of injections) and IgE blood testing to pinpoint environmental allergens. These tests are safe, well-tolerated, and allow us to create a personalized allergy treatment plan for your pet. To see if your pet is a candidate, contact us today.

Yes! At Veterinary Skin & Ear, we offer several immunotherapy options:

• Subcutaneous injections (every 2 weeks at home)

• Sublingual drops (twice daily in mouth)

• Intralymphatic injections (monthly in-clinic for 6–8 months)

Allergy immunotherapy (hyposensitization) trains your pet’s immune system to stop overreacting to allergens like dust mites, pollen, or human dander. While not a cure, it’s effective for approximately 75% of pets when maintained long-term.

For a full overview, visit our Allergy Immunotherapy page.

Some conditions are curable with one visit with us, while others require lifelong care. Our goal is to reduce flare-ups and improve your pet’s quality of life with the fewest medications possible. Many pets eventually need only minimal ongoing treatment after starting the right plan.

We offer:

• Prescription anti-itch and allergy medications  

• Topical therapies and medicated shampoos

• Immunotherapy (shots, drops, or lymph node injections)

• Prescription or hydrolyzed diets

Each plan is tailored to your pet’s needs and diagnosis.

Yes. We use evidence-based treatments proven to be safe when appropriately managed. Our doctors monitor your pet’s progress closely, adjusting medications and treatments as needed to ensure long-term health and comfort. We’ll explain all options and monitor your pet’s progress closely at Veterinary Skin & Ear.

At Veterinary Skin & Ear, we know some of our clients travel several hours to see us, so we’ve invested in advanced, world class in-house technology to deliver answers as quickly as possible.

• Same-day results are available for many tests, including skin cytology (for bacteria, yeast, or tumor cells), ear swabs, and certain bloodwork.

• Our on-site laboratory allows us to analyze samples immediately, helping us start treatment without unnecessary delays.

• For more advanced diagnostics like allergy testing, cultures, or biopsies, results typically take a few days.

• We also offer access to an on-call CT unit, with real-time review by our team and rapid follow-up from a board-certified radiologist—usually within 24 hours.

No matter the test, we keep you informed every step of the way and discuss results with you as soon as they’re available so your pet’s treatment plan can move forward without delay.

Some conditions resolve in one visit, while chronic or complex cases may need check-ins every 3–6 months. We tailor follow-up schedules based on your pet’s needs, your availability, and how your pet responds to treatment. We’ll create a plan that works for your pet and your schedule at Veterinary Skin & Ear. 

Before your visit:

• Fill out our online history forms (Very Important) 

• Let us know your primary veterinarian’s info so we can obtain records for review

This helps us build the best plan from day one.

Then you can just focus on your pet—we’ll handle the rest.

Absolutely. We provide second opinions every day for pets with unresolved skin or ear problems. If you’re seeking advanced insight or want to explore alternative treatments, schedule a consultation with the board-certified team at Veterinary Skin & Ear.

At your pet’s first appointment, the dermatologist will:

• Review your submitted history and prior medical records

• Conduct a full skin, ear, and nail exam

• Ask clarifying questions to refine the diagnosis

• Perform any needed diagnostics (e.g., cytology, cultures, allergy testing, bloodwork, biopsies)

We then build a custom treatment plan tailored to your pet’s needs and your goals. Everything is clearly explained, and we work closely with your primary veterinarian for coordinated care.

The majority of the diseases we treat are chronic or recurrent conditions. Sometimes, multiple rechecks will be required to get you and your pet on track. Through treatments and client education, we hope to achieve the highest quality of life and medicine for our patients. Recheck examinations can vary in length from 20 to 45 minutes.

Follow up will be recommended on an individual basis based on disease and treatments. Some patients will only need one visit. Others patients may require yearly visits, while others may need visits every week to two weeks for three to six weeks.

Cytologic findings can change within days on an individual pet. Technique and site selection is some of the key skills that veterinary dermatologists must learn during their residency training.

Itching, licking, scratching, chewing, inflammation, red skin, conjunctivitis, self-induced hair loss, and sneezing are common symptoms of environmental allergies. Other symptoms include bacterial infections of the skin, paws, and ears, as well as yeast infections of the paws, nail beds, and ears.

Allergy shots (allergy-specific immunotherapy) are regular shots you give to your pet over a pet’s lifetime to reduce or eliminate their allergies. Each allergy shot contains small amounts of what your pet is allergic to and stimulates an immune response. Allergy shots train your pet’s immune system to avoid an inappropriate hyperactive response. Once your pet’s immune system gains a tolerance to the environmental allergens, their clinical signs of itching, licking, scratching, and infections will reduce or vanish. Immunotherapy is custom-made for each individual pet and is the safest long-term treatment for environmental allergies. With time, it can even lead to a cure in select cases. While this treatment does not provide an overnight cure, it can provide the majority of pet’s significant relief from their allergies over time.

Allergy shots typically start working in three to eight months. However, there are some cases that respond sooner and others that can take 12 to 14 months. There are also some cases, due to many complicated factors, that do not respond to immunotherapy.

Yes! Just like humans with canine or feline dander allergies, the reverse can happen, and our pets can be allergic to us. Allergy immunotherapy is the only way for a human allergic pet to gain tolerance to their owner’s dander.

When dogs and cats have food allergies, the majority are pruritic (itching, scratching, chewing, scooting, rubbing, and licking themselves and other objects). Half of dogs will have generalized full body itching, while half of cats will scratch their face/head or neck. Any part of the body can be itchy in a dog or cat with food allergy. Other symptoms include bacterial skin infections, ear infections, eosinophilic granuloma complex, skin redness, inflammation, and hives or urticaria. Non-skin related signs include frequent and recurrent diarrhea, vomiting, multiple bowel movements per day, increased flatulence, increased borborygmi (gut noise or stomach growling), conjunctivitis, and, even rarely, sneezing.

A food allergy trial is done by removing all diets and treats that may be causing your pet’s allergic response. It is best to perform a diet trial with a nutritionally balanced novel protein or hydrolyzed diet made for pets with food allergies. Currently, the very best way to diagnose a pet with food allergy is with a novel protein diet trial and then subsequent challenge of that new diet.

Based upon the recent available literature written by experts in our field, the most common foods in dogs that lead to food allergy reactions are beef, dairy, chicken, and lamb. For cats, the leading food allergy reactions are from beef, fish, and chicken.

Frequently, we see our clients attempt multiple diet changes with over-the-counter diets. If your pet has a true allergy, over-the-counter diets will likely not resolve their allergies. There are also concerns that the many available minimally-regulated pet foods might contain unlabeled food sources that could negate your attempt of a diet change for your allergic pet. An unknown ingredient within an over-the-counter pet diet can lead to allergic reactions in your pet. Think about this the same way you would think about a person with a peanut allergy. Commonly, pet food is processed in a facility where many diets are made using the same machines just like many candy bars are made in facility where nuts are present. Though the candy bar does not have nuts added in, there is a label that warns of the potential that peanut residue could have contaminated the candy bar. In the pet food industry, there are minimal regulations and requirements for this to be written on a pet food label.

Here is an example of how this could play out:

You identified that your pet gets itchy, ear infections, and a red belly after feeding them chicken, so for years, you have fed them an over-the-counter fish-based diet. Recently, your pet’s fish diet goes on back order and you switch to a new fish-based diet. Unbeknownst to you, this new diet has unlabeled chicken in it due to the way the food is processed. Within the week, your pet is itchy, has ear infections, and their belly is red.

The same scenario can play out for years. Despite their owner’s best attempt to avoid certain foods, a small amount can slip in, leading to years of suffering.

That is wonderful! Here is a link: https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/catsfoodreactions

Food allergies are very complex. Currently, there is no accurate test to diagnose food allergies.
Here is a link: https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-017-1142-0

We ask you to not bathe or clean your pet’s ears or apply ear topical medications one week before your first consultation or if it has been six months since your previous exam and there are new problems that need to be addressed.

It is highly unlikely, and in some cases, it may fuel your pet’s disease or lead to other health issues. For years, we have had clients report they tried adding coconut oil to their pet’s diet, applied it into ears, or directly onto skin. While most reports from clients report little clinical benefit, some report worsening of skin or ear issues. With oral application, due to the high level of fat in coconut oil, weight gain and pancreatitis are possible with excess use. When coconut oil is used topically in the ears and on their skin, there can be little benefit or worsening, likely due to the many cases of Malassezia (yeast) infections we see in veterinary dermatology. Yeast love fat! Yeast eats oil to survive. They enjoy the high concentrations of triglycerides found in coconut oil. Thus, placing coconut oil on your dog’s skin or in their ears can fuel the common yeast infections we see secondarily in our allergic pets.

CBD or cannabidiol is an extract from cannabis. CBD is touted for its endless human health benefits with ever expanding research. Currently, there are studies underway to evaluate CBD in dogs with atopic dermatitis, but as of now, there is no information. There is a study in dogs with arthritis that showed some benefit from the CBD. Another study of the use of CBD in dogs with epilepsy failed to show a reduction in seizure frequency compared to placebo. Currently, there is no information on cats given CBD.

The initial consultation fee is required to be paid upfront upon appointment booking. Your fee/deposit will be used as a no-show fee should you not reschedule or cancel your appointment at least 24 hours in advance. If you choose to cancel your appointment and do not wish to reschedule, you must contact us at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment time in order to receive a full refund. For Monday appointments, we require notification by 12PM the Friday before your scheduled appointment.

A 15 minute grace period is granted for each appointment time. Arriving past this grace period may forfeit the appointment time, and your appointment may be canceled. 

For recheck exams, your appointment must be canceled 24 hours prior to your pet’s exam (Monday exams must be cancelled by 12:00 pm on the Friday before the appointment). Failure to cancel ahead of time will result in a cancellation fee.