More Skin Issues

[Guest tuxandtails]

well first im hoping to get him into the vet on wednesday, its the only day im available due to my work schedule, so we will see. other than that, wanted to see if anyone here had any advice or ideas.

 

i posted a little while back about tails dry skin, well thats still there, but for the last maybe week and a half he has been obsesively bitting at a spot right where his rear leg connects to his body. he has chewed all the fur of this spot, and it seems as if he makes it bleed often. it started out small, but is pregressively getting bigger, and now im worried about it. i have been muzzling him at night to prevent him from bitting while im asleep, and we keep a close eye on him durring the day and stop him whenever he tries. yet and still though, he still causes more damage. he has no fleas, so this isnt the issue, and he isnt chewing any other area. what do we think? here are a couple pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!

 

Brock

[Guest whatahound]

Not sure if its the same but.... several years ago Ace had something just like that on his neck. He scratched it like crazy until it was a bald spot. I took him to the vet several times and after two different rounds of antibotics and a skin scrape which came back negitive for ring worm. We decided to treat it as if he did have ring worm, I don't remember the name of the medication but it was a clear liquid. It cleared it up and it never returned.

[Burpdog]

Mizzy will do that if she has one flea, just one!

 

Vet will need to scrape it and look at it. Are you giving him fish oil caps? What food are you feeding?

[Guest Cris_M]

Here's a trick I learned from a dermatologist. Put hydrocortisone on the spot. If it clears up, great. If it gets worse, it is fungal. Hydrocortisone is like fungus candy. If it is fungal, call your vet and see if an over the counter med will be safe to use.

 

Another thought is that both my greyhounds have been challenged in being able to reach all parts of their bodies. That is, the base of the tail and certain other areas were off limits. Could it be that Tails actually itches somewhere else and can only get to that spot? And, now that it is irritated, he keeps going back to it?

 

Glad you've got the appointment for tomorrow. I think both of you will feel better afterwards.

[Guest tuxandtails]

Are you giving him fish oil caps? What food are you feeding

 

i ordered him some grizzly salmon oil, hasnt came in yet, hoping that will relieve the skin issues. he eats 4 cups a day of nutro natural choice large breed.

[Guest becca97]

hi, if your dog has dry skin anyway we've found adding a teaspoon of vegetable oil if you've got no fish oil to their food help a lot.

 

Rhia our greyhound has a bit of sensitive and dry skin and it helps her, my 14yr old collie when we had her (many moons ago now) had terrible skin problems but regular oil and washing in aloe vera dog shampoo settled her skin and coat down very quickly.

 

As for the specific wound that has developed glad you're taking to the vets its the only thing to do to be honest, although if you have such a thing over in the US if it happens again and you can't get to a vet immediatly try treating with wound care powder (a company called johnsons make it now and its sold in pet shops, used ot be one could only get it from the vet so worth asking if its alien to you) if nothing else it soothes the external discomfort, helps to ease the skin and acts as an antiseptic while keeping the wound drier and it doesn't taste so nice so can help discourage worrying at the sore spot.

 

other than that good luck and hope its something easy to clear up.

 

beccaxx

[Guest minzenon]

You could try solution of 50% listerine (yes the mouth wash) to 50% water and dab solution on the area.

Edited June 18, 2008 by minzenon

[GeorgeofNE]

Your vet needs to look at that at this point.

 

It could be many different things--I can't imagine any vet attempting to diagnose a skin problem over the phone. A scraping test is painless and not expensive. Whatever caused the irritation may be long gone, but if the dog is still chewing and licking it, creating a "hot spot," he could have a mild infection brewing, and he might need a short course of antibiotics.

[Guest greytmonty]

Your vet needs to look at that at this point.

 

It could be many different things--I can't imagine any vet attempting to diagnose a skin problem over the phone. A scraping test is painless and not expensive. Whatever caused the irritation may be long gone, but if the dog is still chewing and licking it, creating a "hot spot," he could have a mild infection brewing, and he might need a short course of antibiotics.

I agree, vet ASAP. Whatever the original cause might be (ringworm, flea dermatitis, allergies), your dog may develop a secondary skin infection from scratching and biting at the spot. These can be a real PIA to treat, we have been there, done that. Please go to the vet ASAP.

[Guest becca97]

Let us know how the vet visit goes .....

 

ps, if this occurs again i'd recomend taking to the vet if it doesn't clear in a day or two at the outside.

[Guest DeweytheGreyt]

Your vet needs to look at that at this point.

 

It could be many different things--I can't imagine any vet attempting to diagnose a skin problem over the phone. A scraping test is painless and not expensive. Whatever caused the irritation may be long gone, but if the dog is still chewing and licking it, creating a "hot spot," he could have a mild infection brewing, and he might need a short course of antibiotics.

I agree, vet ASAP. Whatever the original cause might be (ringworm, flea dermatitis, allergies), your dog may develop a secondary skin infection from scratching and biting at the spot. These can be a real PIA to treat, we have been there, done that. Please go to the vet ASAP.

 

I agree completely. We weren't sure what was going on on Fallon's side when he came off the track, but whatever it was was only exasperated by his licking and chewing the area. By the time we adopted him, his side looked like this.

 

 

It took almost a year to get it cleared up and a ton of antibiotics.

[Guest lauri]

Make sure your dog's food doesn't contain ANY corn - the scourge of skin issues in pets. You could also try a grainless food like Evo. Yes...have a vet check it, but change the food.

 

My friends dog had something similar. Had been feeding Canidae. Store was closed when she was out of it so got another brand of food from the grocery. Skin issues started after that. Vet gave her pills, creams you name it and it just got worse. Then he wanted to do other tests and biopsies and whatever else. Vet NEVER asked about the food.

 

I asked her if she changed food. She said she had gotten a 40 lb bag on sale (when she ran out of Canidae) for a miniature poodle, so he was on this food for quite some time. She ditched that one, got the Canidae and the skin cleared.

 

You know...a lot of horses have issues with corn as well It's considered a 'hot' food as the skin conditions it causes are 'hot' diseases. Corn doesn't digest properly. It's JUST a filler.

[Guest tuxandtails]

thanks everyone for your help. tails went to the vet today, and was such a well mannored boy. the vet determined there was no fungal, or parasite cause. he felt there was extensive dry skin, which caused him to scratch and bite the area, and create a "hotspot", which he now cant leave alone. as a result, he also has a mild skin infection. they gave us an antibiotic treatment, anti inflamtories, and a topical spray. also, as i have already been doing the last few days, he is too where his muzzle at all times unless he is eating. so im relived its not so major, but now, once the spot has healed, i need to attack the dry skin issue... im hoping this grizzley salmon oil helps! if there is no change relatively soon, i will give a change in food a shot as well.

 

any other suggestions to correct this are gladly welcomed

 

side note, the boy had a penile infection too, so im glad i caught that as well

Edited June 19, 2008 by tuxandtails

[Guest becca97]

ohhh poor boy penile infection ick

 

re dry skin we have found a good food and regular oil helps (if we don't have fish oil we add veg oil) and we feed an oily fish with mashed potatoes a couple to three times a week (mackerals good)

 

What i also do with both my old collie who had terrible dry skin and Rhia (grey) who has mild skin dryness is wash them regularly in a moistening conditioning shampoo ... we are currently using an aloe vera mild shampoo that we dilute into a jug of warmish water and right now wash outside so the sun helps keep warm and dry off, in winter in the bath with warm towels and hair drier to help warm up and dry off.

 

for mine this seems to do the trick, if they do develope any sore spots (Rhia came ot us with a multitude from various cuases, some dry skin developing hotspots others less benign reasons (one i swear was a cut) .... liberal use of woundcare powder helped heal them, and with the dry spots we used rescue remedy cream to help moisten and soothe in conjunction with the wound care to help (ironically) dry and heal.

 

We've had her for two and a half weeks (feels like much longer she is such a sweetie) and all her sores and dry spots have healed brilliantly within a week and a bit of her being with us on a better diet, out of kennels and with regular treatments for her skin.

 

regular brushing with a soft brush or rubber brush seems to help as wellgets the natural oils and juices flowing, and of course all of this helps the bond between person and dog

 

good luck for both you and your pup

 

beccaxx

Edited June 19, 2008 by becca97

[Guest tuxandtails]

ohhh poor boy penile infection ick

 

re dry skin we have found a good food and regular oil helps (if we don't have fish oil we add veg oil) and we feed an oily fish with mashed potatoes a couple to three times a week (mackerals good)

 

What i also do with both my old collie who had terrible dry skin and Rhia (grey) who has mild skin dryness is wash them regularly in a moistening conditioning shampoo ... we are currently using an aloe vera mild shampoo that we dilute into a jug of warmish water and right now wash outside so the sun helps keep warm and dry off, in winter in the bath with warm towels and hair drier to help warm up and dry off.

 

for mine this seems to do the trick, if they do develope any sore spots (Rhia came ot us with a multitude from various cuases, some dry skin developing hotspots others less benign reasons (one i swear was a cut) .... liberal use of woundcare powder helped heal them, and with the dry spots we used rescue remedy cream to help moisten and soothe in conjunction with the wound care to help (ironically) dry and heal.

 

We've had her for two and a half weeks (feels like much longer she is such a sweetie) and all her sores and dry spots have healed brilliantly within a week and a bit of her being with us on a better diet, out of kennels and with regular treatments for her skin.

 

regular brushing with a soft brush or rubber brush seems to help as wellgets the natural oils and juices flowing, and of course all of this helps the bond between person and dog

 

good luck for both you and your pup

 

beccaxx

 

thank you! he just got his flea treatment, so i will try bathing him saturday with a moisturizing shampoo, hopefully this will also help the situation!

[Guest ishapespace]

Any luck with the "hot spot"? Just wanted to check on your boy

[Guest tuxandtails]

Any luck with the "hot spot"? Just wanted to check on your boy

 

oh ya, he leaves it alone now ( i still muzzle him at night and when im gone so he cant bite it if he tried.) all the redness and scabs are gone and hair has started to grow back. so i think all is well!