Staph Infection

[Hubcitypam]

Had to take my foster doggie to the vet this morning. At first I thought he might have been bit by fire ants. It is really bad on his chest and front legs. The vet gave him a shot and put him on antibiotics for a month. He said it was probaly the stress of moving that caused it.

 

Anyone have experience?

Edited June 10, 2010 by Hubcitypam

[Guest K9_Lady]

Never dealt with it but I thought that a Staph Infection was bacterial? Didn't know it could be caused from stress.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

No personal experience, but my thinking on something like this is to really stay vigilant and as soon as you get even an inkling that maybe it's not getting better or might be worse, see the vet again. Did the vet do a culture?

 

Sending prayers for quick healing!

[cmc333]

what antibiotics did the vet give you? How long did the dog have the problem? Can you take a pix of it? Is it oozing or is it dry? Where did the foster doggie come from? Is he sure it's bacterial and not fungal?

 

Connie

[Hubcitypam]

The vet thinks maybe the stress from moving wore down his immune system. It says it can also be caused by allergies so we are cutting out his bites of canned being anything but chicken, which I know he can eat.

 

No, he didn't do a culture. When he got down near the dogs chest he said he could smell it

[onrushpam]

I've had LOTS of experience with skin staph.

 

Let me guess... he's white or light fawn? (If not, it doesn't mean anything... it's just more common in light-colored dogs.)

 

The best thing you can do is get some Malaseb shampoo. Actually, I have a GALLON of it and could send you some, if you'll send me your mailing address.

 

Wash him with it as often as you can... more than once a week.

 

Or, get some Chlorhexidene wound flush and dilute it with water and spray it everywhere you see the little staph scabbies.

 

I had a cocker (mostly white) with chronic, chronic staff. We fought it for YEARS, with frequent antibiotics, shots, etc. FINALLY a vet told me to use the Chlorhexidene shampoo. We got it cleared up and it never came back. (That was before they made Malaseb, which is more gentle on the skin.)

 

Don had a litter of teensy baby puppies with it (all white dogs) and we saved them by literally "painting" them (with a paint brush) with diluted Chlorhexidene. This sort of staph is just usually just annoying and itchy and a pain to clear up on adult dogs. It can kill puppies.

 

FYI, if your dogs has little scabbie things, give a good sniff. Staph smells like really dirty socks.

 

It is very common in hot, humid areas. One vet told me she sees 100s of dogs with it every summer... mostly white poodles, bichons, etc., etc.

 

 

 

[kudzu]

Yep, we've had some here. Little mixed breed foster dog, my Staghound & a couple others. Usually sort of an opportunistic infection. Most often it is easily cleared up however, it frequently recurs if you do not find & treat the root problem. Sometimes though it just shows up with no clear reason. Pam gave good advice. We usually tackle it with Malaseb & oral anti-b's.

[Sirocco_Nikki]

Sirocco had staph infected sores when we adopted him. (He is white with orange.) He had a round of antibiotics that he finished while at the foster home. We had to continue the baths 3 times per week with a medicated shampoo. I think it was Chloro-hex. The vet had us switch to oatmeal shampoo after a couple weeks.

 

I would guess that a weakened immune system contributed to his infection also. Sirocco had a nasty case of hookworms when we got him. He was almost 10 pounds under his race weight at our vet's office the day after we adopted him. His skin improved quickly after our vet treated the hookworms. He has not had another staph infection in the 8 years he has owned us.

[Hubcitypam]

Let me guess... he's white or light fawn? (If not, it doesn't mean anything... it's just more common in light-colored dogs.)

 

The best thing you can do is get some Malaseb shampoo. Actually, I have a GALLON of it and could send you some, if you'll send me your mailing address.

 

FYI, if your dogs has little scabbie things, give a good sniff. Staph smells like really dirty socks.

He is actually a black tux.

He is a pretty needy dog in general so I can buy into stress of change being a factor on his immune system.

I will PM you my address and send you $$$.

As far as the sniff test, I let the vet do that and he said that is how he knew it was staph.

He is on 1,000 mg cephalexin twice a day for a month. That seems huge to me, but the pharmacist at Sam's said it wasn't out of line.

I'll see if I can get pictures. They are not oozy, just look like fire ant bites. Vet said fur may come out with some scabbies so he may look a bit mangey for a time.

[onrushpam]

Staph lesions don't really ooze. They'll get little crusty scabs and if you pick at them, a tuft of hair will come off with each one. For some reason, it tends to concentrate around the hip area, in front of the tail. But, my cocker used to also get them in her "arm pits" and all the way up her back. I know this is gross, but my cocker would lie on my lap and I'd pull those little tufts of hair out and she'd groan with pleasure. My DH was completely skeeved by it!

 

It's too funny that most of your boy's littermates are or have been at JCKC! We've placed two of them and I think we're getting another one next week!

Small world!

[Hubcitypam]

Yep, it's lttle crusty scabs that take off a tuft of hair if you mess with them....but I didn't know if I should or not and forgot to ask the vet as we were in the waiting room over an hour due to an emergency surgery and I had to get to work "as soon as I could after you take care of that baby". I was only 15 minutes late but am still working on 3 hours sleep.

 

He spent half the waiting time whining and half the time working the entire human population of the waiting room for pets. On his flanks (not many patches at all) you can see the little tuft of hair on the scab sticking up from the rest of his sleek black body. He's just breaking all the rules...black and front end loaded in a major way and not rear centered.

 

 

[Hubcitypam]

It's too funny that most of your boy's littermates are or have been at JCKC! We've placed two of them and I think we're getting another one next week! Small world!

...almost as small as both of us going to Lubbock for Christmas!

[Guest RocketDog]

Keflex/cephalexin is a good one for skin cruddies, I have experience with my non-grey (chinese crested - you want skin drama, get one of them!) having skin issues and keflex works wonders for her and doesn't bother her stomach.

 

My boy Rocket came off the Wichita track with staph-like oogies all over his chest, belly and legs, and a good bath combined with the antibiotics administered after his neuter did wonders for helping his skin clear up. We haven't had any issues with him since, and for the record he's a b/w cow-dog.

[Guest Vers]

Simba (fawn) developed a staph infection secondary to skin inflammation from an apparent food sensitivity. He's been on 1000 MG of cephalexine 2x/day for a month, and no new scabs are developing now (hoping we're finally clear of it). He still looks terrible -- the scabs were all over his chest, shoulders, flanks and rump -- even some on the top of his head -- and his fur is pretty patchy in those areas.

 

Thank you for the tip on the Malaseb shampoo. My vet recommended Pyoben shampoo, so that's what I've been using, but I think I'll pick up some of the Malaseb for maintenance. Just glad it's warm enough now to wash him out on the deck -- I was having visions of my huge house pony racing through the house covered in suds He's so patient when I shampoo him, too, but he likes to lean against me as I'm using a mitt on him to work the soap in. It's a wet wet wet job!

[Guest mountain4greys]

Our white greyhound had a staph infection. After fighting it for a year, we went to a specialist. Cephalexin did the trick. The specialist knew what it was right away, but he did a culture anyway, which just proved it.

 

His spot was on his rear leg. One big round red ring. It looked like he had ringworm.

[GeorgeofNE]

Staph infections (of the skin) are actually quite common--well, they have been for me, since I'm on my second dog with seasonal allergies!

[Hubcitypam]

After only 5 days the staph welts are fading fast. There are a very few little scabbies on his front legs but the difference is totally amazing. Maybe we caught it very early before it got too bad.