Robin Is A Total Mess--Our Poor Baby

[fsugrad]

I really have no idea what is going on with Robin's skin. This is the 2nd time he's had this.

He ends up with red dry crusty bumps on the outside of his ears, and then the fur on his ears starts coming out.

Last time this happened, the vet put him on simplicef (antibiotic) and a steroid. By the time he was off the meds, the crusties had gone away and he eventually grew all the fur back on his ears.

 

Well, last month the crusty ear situation came back.

Back to the vet, who put him back on simpicef and steroid. He was on antibiotics for a good 3 weeks or so. His ears were starting to get better, but once he was finished with his antibiotics (and only had a few steroid pills left) the crusties came back and it's gotten worse. He is seeing the vet on monday.

He also has a little pinkness and a few bumps on the insides of his legs and on his chin/throat area.

What could this be? Our vet figured it was something that was blooming or in the air right now that was irritating him. He had never had this before and now he's had it twice in the last 5 months or so. And now I'm concerned because the meds didn't fix things the second time around. Anyone have any ideas? The insides of his ears are perfectly fine and he doesn't have a flea or tick on him, by the way.

****

UPDATE, MON 8/30/10:

Robin's skin got worse and worse as the weekend progressed. His ears got super-crusty and even more bald. And then the bald patchiness started spreading to one cheek and around both of his eyes. And he had red bumps on the insides of his legs that he would not stop licking.

This morning when we woke up I was horrified to see he had red spots on his nose that weren't there the night before. He wouldn't even eat his breakfast today.

He had an appt with the vet today at 5:30 but we decided it couldn't wait any longer and my husband dropped him off this morning at 7:30 so they could try to work him in and examine him sooner. We're waiting to hear from them. We are so worried about our baby!

Edited September 23, 2010 by fsugrad

[Guest mcsheltie]

If it is a allergic reaction, steroids are the way to go. But if it is bacterial, fungal/yeast then steroids are counter indicated. Has your vet done a scrapping and a culture? They need a surface scraping with a blade and also pierce one of the bumps (pustules) with a sterile needle and check both under a slide & culture.

 

If there isn't any itchiness an allergy is low on the list.

 

Don't wash the area, give any oral or apply topical medications 72 hours before you to the vet.

 

A number of skin bacterial infections will respond to Clavamox and not to Cepha drugs.

Edited August 27, 2010 by mcsheltie

[Guest TeddysMom]

One of my none greys ended up with a nasty fungus that we had an awful time getting under control. Hopefully the vet will do a skin scrap.

[RileysLegacy]

Could be a staph infection - they are really hard to get rid of. Riley had it for years, it would go away with abx and steroids, but then come back. If it is staph, get Chlorhexiderm shampoo and bathe him every other day for a week, then as needed. After getting this shampoo, I never had to put Riley on meds again and eventually it went away forever.

[Guest goofydog]

No advice Rita but please give that big goof a gentle scritch from me.

[RobinM]

Not my very favorite cowboy!!! Hugs and well wishes to him. Hope it's a quick and easy fix.

[fsugrad]

Thank you everyone! I will try to take some pictures of his ears tomorrow in the daylight so you can get an idea. Now I've noticed that some of the fur on his cheek near his eye area is looking a bit patchy.

He's not getting any meds between now and his vet appt. Monday at 5:30 can't get here fast enough.

Our poor little (ok, not so little) goober!

[greymomnc]

Could be a staph infection - they are really hard to get rid of. Riley had it for years, it would go away with abx and steroids, but then come back. If it is staph, get Chlorhexiderm shampoo and bathe him every other day for a week, then as needed. After getting this shampoo, I never had to put Riley on meds again and eventually it went away forever.

 

 

This is what I was thinking. We had a weimaraner many years ago that used to get staph infections. Vern would get pink very slightly raised areas on his belly and the insides of his legs. On top of these raised areas was something almost like a layer of dead skin that you could just lift off---almost like peeling skin from a sunburn. I believe he was given Cephalexin when these flare-ups occured. They did not bother him at all. I would just find them while petting him. Hair loss was not really an issue as his belly and inside legs had almost no hair to begin with.

[Hawthorn]

I had a similar thing with Sophie a little while ago except that in her case it only affected one ear flap and the top of her head a little. She had the scaly bumps and the hair loss but in her case antibiotics didn't help at all (we didn't try steroids).

 

The vet wanted to give her a GA to get a skin biopsy to find out what it was but as I wasn't too keen on that idea we decided to try Advocate spot-on first. Within a week there was considerable improvement and within a few weeks it had completely cleared up and all the hair had grown back. So far, we have not had any recurrence. Advocate kills both demodex and sarcoptes mange mites (as well as fleas, but I know this wasn't the problem) so I have to assume in Sophie's case that it was one of these that was causing the problem but we don't know for sure.

 

Hope you find a solution soon.

[Guest Vers]

Poor Robin! His skin condition sounds very similar to Simba's earlier this year (you can see pictures of him here). As far as we could figure out, it was a staph infection (scrapings were not conclusive but it did respond to Keflex) that was preceded by an allergic reaction to a food (most likely potatoes). His skin did clear up with 2, 500 mg Kefles (cephalexin) 2x/day, which he stayed on for at least 3 weeks. We tried predisone briefly, but it clearly did not make things better and may have made them a bit worse. We've avoided foods with potato since, and he has not had a recurrence so far (knock on wood).

 

Hoping your vet helps you and Robin tommorrow. I wonder whether a course of a different antibiotic would be a good idea, without adding a steroid.

[fsugrad]

OK, this is what I posted around 11:00 this morning 8/30/10:

UPDATE, MON 8/30/10:

Robin's skin got worse and worse as the weekend progressed. His ears got super-crusty and even more bald. And then the bald patchiness started spreading to one cheek and around both of his eyes. And he had red bumps on the insides of his legs that he would not stop licking.

This morning when we woke up I was horrified to see he had red spots on his nose that weren't there the night before. He wouldn't even eat his breakfast today.

He had an appt with the vet today at 5:30 but we decided it couldn't wait any longer and my husband dropped him off this morning at 7:30 so they could try to work him in and examine him sooner. We're waiting to hear from them. We are so worried about our baby!

 

And here is the new update: MON 8/30/10 12:00PM

The vet called. She said she gave Robin a shot of prednisone so he could get some instant relief as he is completely miserable. And he's going to start prednisone tablets too.. She is going to rule out ringworm just to get all the basics ruled out. But she said it could take a week to get the results of the ringworm culture.

And she also said we should see if he's developed a food allergy along the way so we are going to start to transition him to a venison and potato food. She said that's all he's going to be able to eat for the next 3 months...no treats...I will have to give him pieces of the kibble as his treats.

And he will have to have topical heartworm meds during this time because the heartgard chewables he eats have flavoring in them too, which is a no-no for him during this time. I think she said he would have to switch to Revolution for the time being.

 

If none of this works then she said we would have to do a biopsy to rule out some sort of internal immune issue, but I really hope it doesn't come to that, as she says he'd need to be anesthetized for the biopsy...not like in humans where you just numb them up locally.

 

I will try to take a picture of our boy tonight. It will break your heart. In the meantime if you could send good healing, soothing thoughts or prayers we would definitely appreciate it.

[grey14me]

Oh how awful...tons of prayers for Robin :hope

[Batmom]

Oh, poor bug . Hope you and your vet can get to the bottom of things and make sweet boy comfortable.

[CaliforniaGreys]

I was hoping this was going to be an easy fix. At least the Pred should bring some instantly relief for him.

 

We're keeping your handsome boy in our prayers

[seeh2o]

How frightening, your poor Robin. My first thought was a staph infection, too. Sending healing thoughts.

[Burpdog]

Poor guy!

 

And she also said we should see if he's developed a food allergy along the way so we are going to start to transition him to a venison and potato food

 

I'd just put him on it cold turkey.

 

Marilyn is supposed to pick up BilJac (frozen) this week. Maybe you can get some from her & see if it works for him.

[maggiespet]

Poor Robin!!! Hugs for you and prayers that this gets cleared up quickly.

[racindog]

Prayers going up for your precious boy!!!!!!

[4My2Greys]

I was wondering if a yeast infection could possibly be Robin's problem. Check out the pictures here and description of this dog's skin problem. Not suggesting the use of the product, never have tried it myself, just thought the pictures might give you something to have the vet check into.

 

http://www.nzymes.com/pc/successStoriesView.asp?testimonial_id=&testimonial_search=Savanna

 

 

[Guest Gert]

Sending prayers for Robin!

 

My first thought was a food allergy....but, it sounded like it progressed a little fast for that.

 

Hoping the vet can figure it out!

[silverfish]

My first gut reaction is to wonder if it's a severe form of pemphigus. Here's a link which explains the more severe symptoms and they do sound as if they could be what you're describing, starting with lesions around head, including ears, round eyes and nose. It could also explain why the steroids seem to work.

 

Does he have lesions in his mouth? Because that article suggests mouth lesions are pretty much diagnostic of this form.

 

Here's hoping you get whatever this is dxd quickly so he can begin to get better, poor boy.

[fsugrad]

My first gut reaction is to wonder if it's a severe form of pemphigus. Here's a link which explains the more severe symptoms and they do sound as if they could be what you're describing, starting with lesions around head, including ears, round eyes and nose. It could also explain why the steroids seem to work.

 

Does he have lesions in his mouth? Because that article suggests mouth lesions are pretty much diagnostic of this form.

 

Here's hoping you get whatever this is dxd quickly so he can begin to get better, poor boy.

I have not looked for lesions in his mouth, but I'll check tonight when he's home from the vet and I'm home from work.

[TheFullHouse]

Poor baby sounds miserable. Our Gee ended up with a food allergy that made her itch from head to toe, including her tail! She would chew her tail until she made it bleed and all the hair would come out. I tried eliminating things from her diet but it was a slow process and she kept getting worse and worse. You could rub your hands down her back and feel the little bumps on her skin. I finally gave up and just switched her cold turkey to Taste Of The Wild and the difference is unbelievable. She doesn't scratch any more at all! Her skin feels smooth and her hair is actually getting soft. It took about 8 weeks for us to really see a big improvement but it was worth every day. Our vet put Gee on pred when she was at her worse but the minute she was off of it she would start itching again. That's when I went grain free with her.

 

Hope you find out what the problem is soon and your baby feels better.

[Hubcitypam]

And she also said we should see if he's developed a food allergy along the way so we are going to start to transition him to a venison and potato food. She said that's all he's going to be able to eat for the next 3 months...no treats...I will have to give him pieces of the kibble as his treats.

Felicity (Heatdogs on GT) makes treats from kibble for her restricted diet dog but I forget the details --maybe PM her. Hope Robin feels better soon.

[Charlies_Dad]

Poor Robin. I hope you get to the bottom of whatever is causing this as he must be miserable.