What The Heck Is Going On With Ollie

[RobinM]

We had some fleas about a month ago. 5 dogs, 3 cats. They all had capstar and advantage. about a week later, I had posted a couple of pictures of Ollie who had some round marks on him with hair missing. I was told he could be allergic to the flea bites/saliva. My vet agreed and said we should do 3 days @ 20mg of pred. 3 days @ 10mg 3 days @ 5 and every other day etc. We did. The scatching stopped for the most part but now, lookat this. This is worse than ever. I took his tag bag off which looks like it;s too tight but it;s not.

 

This is crazy. I am going to bring him in tomorrow. Any guess as to what is going on? He is on a raw diet of only duck and beef which he has been on for a year. He is not scatching too much but once in a while scatches his neck.

 

 

 

Check out his neck here with the hair missing.

 

 

 

His body full of spots.

 

 

His leg is now missing all this hair.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2010 by RobinM

[Wonder]

When you find out, let me know. Sparks has some spots, not as many.

I always thought it was staph but in your pic, doesn't look like theres pus or redness.

[RobinM]

Kari- no, abolutely no pus or redness, just the circles and lack of hair. He had a beautiful lush coat. I can't begin to imagine what is going on.

[Wonder]

And they appeared after the pred was started or stopped?

 

edited: just read again and looks like it was before pred

Edited November 26, 2010 by Wonder

[OwnedBySummer]

I assume you've already closely looked at it and ruled out a ringworm infection?

[RobinM]

I assume you've already closely looked at it and ruled out a ringworm infection?

 

 

nah, I don't think it looks like ringworm. We had a case of that a few years back. Didn't look like this. This started after the fleas which may be coincidental... or not...

[oldrunners]

I recently adopted a little girl, who subsequently developed mange. It is caused by the demodectic mite, which is ubiquitous, but when the dog's immune system is weak, the mange takes hold. The vet felt that Sasha's immune system was compromised by the stress of a haul, then 2 foster homes, then my home, all in the course of 9 weeks. She isn't even two yet. Doesn't pred reduce the immune system? Sasha's first spot was on her shoulder---the hair fell out in a spot about the size of a dime. By the next day, another spot developed, and the first one was the size of two dimes. Day 3 she was at the vet, and she had pencil-eraser-sized spots on her other side. The bald spots were either plain white skin, or very slightly pink. They didn't itch. She is being treated with liquid Ivermec, which she was introduced to VERY slowly, just a couple of mls/day increase, with the dosage calculated for her specifically. She goes in for her first recheck on Monday, but, to be honest, I believe she still has active mites, because I believe I found a new, very small spot on her snout. I believe it can take months to get rid of. As long as the other animals in the house, and humans, have strong immune systems, they can't catch it. As much of a pain in the neck as it is, I hope Ollie has something as simple as this, and nothing more serious. I have had dogs all my life, and never met up with mange, and I'm kinda embarrassed when someone asks about her bald spots, but I'll see her thru this. Best wishes for Ollie!

[RobinM]

I recently adopted a little girl, who subsequently developed mange. It is caused by the demodectic mite, which is ubiquitous, but when the dog's immune system is weak, the mange takes hold. The vet felt that Sasha's immune system was compromised by the stress of a haul, then 2 foster homes, then my home, all in the course of 9 weeks. She isn't even two yet. Doesn't pred reduce the immune system? Sasha's first spot was on her shoulder---the hair fell out in a spot about the size of a dime. By the next day, another spot developed, and the first one was the size of two dimes. Day 3 she was at the vet, and she had pencil-eraser-sized spots on her other side. The bald spots were either plain white skin, or very slightly pink. They didn't itch. She is being treated with liquid Ivermec, which she was introduced to VERY slowly, just a couple of mls/day increase, with the dosage calculated for her specifically. She goes in for her first recheck on Monday, but, to be honest, I believe she still has active mites, because I believe I found a new, very small spot on her snout. I believe it can take months to get rid of. As long as the other animals in the house, and humans, have strong immune systems, they can't catch it. As much of a pain in the neck as it is, I hope Ollie has something as simple as this, and nothing more serious. I have had dogs all my life, and never met up with mange, and I'm kinda embarrassed when someone asks about her bald spots, but I'll see her thru this. Best wishes for Ollie!

 

 

Yeesh, I hope not. I have Beau who is severly immune compromised. Ollie was only on pred for about 10 days if that and he had this before the pred.

 

 

I just realized that the vet i want to see is not in tomorrow so i will go in on Sat.

[Wonder]

I just realized after reading oldrunners post that Sparks currently has 2 spots on his ears where the fur came out.

[tbhounds]

Doubt it's mange --usually they are beyond itchy with that. I wonder if it pyoderma left over from fleabite dermatitis? If that's the case he'll need a medicated shampoo and ab's.

Let's hope that's all it is!

[Guest PhillyPups]

When you treated for fleas did you treat just the pets or the whole house and yard too?

 

I ask because fleas get one blood meal from the animals and can lay eggs in fabric (i.e., carpets, furniture, dog beds, etc.). Could it be a recurrence of the fleas? Did you use a flea comb on him now?

[RobinM]

I have been running the flea comb through ALL of them because I have become obsessed with fleas. I did not treat the house or yard, but did vaccum and change all the linen, dog beds etc. All recommendations from vet.

 

I DID flind 3 fleas yesterday and flea dirt on Zoobie, my litte birman cat, I put another advantage on her. No one else has any. No flea dirt, no nothing. Interestlingly enough, it was only Teddy and Ollie who had the few fleas to begin with and the cats had more. They are ALL indoor cats except for Belle who escapes for 30 seconds at a time.

 

Beau, Chloe & Else- I found none at ever. Weird.

 

I AM going to bring him in today.

[Guest Vers]

Poor Ollie! I am not a vet, but the spots look somewhat similar to Simba's when his staph infection first started to show last spring. A healthy course of Cephalexin cleared it up, and it has not come back, knock on wood. We think that skin irritation from a food sensitivity gave the staph a foothold; perhaps the flea bites did the same to Ollie? I hope you get good direction from the vet today, and that Ollie's all better rightawayquick.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Those hairless spots do not look like flea bites...I have never seen hair fall out like that with flea bites.

 

Doesn't look like ringworm to me either...I have seen ringworm on horses, and it's a lot more 'crusty' than that.

 

And mange makes them REALLY itchy.

My GSD rolled in the carcass of a dead fox and got mange mites from it. Man Oh Man...that poor girl! Her poor 'stand-up' ears puffed up like ballons in less than 24 hours and she had to have then drained....now one of them doesn't stand up anymore.

Luckiy we caught it before it spread to the other critters.

 

Horses get something that looks similar to Ollies spots.....we call it 'rain rot'.... Easily treated by scrubing with with antibacterial soap.

 

I would suspect some kind of allergy with Ollie's 'spots'....

[RobinM]

Vet had no clue. Could be this or that or the other thing. Put him on Clavamoxx to rule out underlying infection. Wish my vet was back from maternity.

[Guest greytloves]

They did not do a skin scrape? I think that would be my next thing to do.

 

Did they test for intestinal worms? I know that some dogs that have worms also tend to have sparse/bad coats.

[Guest MyCody]

Anything new used in the house to clean==floors, carpeting, do laundry? bathe, spray? I'm assuming these are on his skin, not darkened patches of fur. Can't tell.

 

Terry

[Guest TeddysMom]

Robin, it really doesn't look like mange. You don't say if the vet did a skin scrape or not but it looks more like some kind of an infection than anything else. I hope the antibiotic takes care of it. Have you had his thyroid levels checked lately? I know some dogs get a little motheaten looking when their thyroid is messed up. I will be watching for an update. Give Ollie a hug for me, he is such a big cutie.

[Guest BleuDog]

Looks just like my Wendell had----DX of Staph...but with many shampoos & courses of Cephelexin, they never really completely disappeared.....Spots started with very bad teeth, and a $2000.00 dental which he was never right from.......both vets said poor immune system......

 

and, then I lost my boy....chest filled with fluid & He was Gone......

 

Please keep after it........I had 2 different vets watching over Wendell......

[Guest IrskasMom]

Robin just seeing this. I can't even imagen what it could be.Hugs for you and would you give Ollie some extra Hugs to

[RobinM]

In answer to a few questions, this vet did nothin but look at him. I will let him finish his clavamox and if there is no difference I think I need to find a dermatologist. My vet does not come back from maternity till January, I am not waiting that long. Although, I could bring Ollie to see the senior partner on a Tuesday morning.

[Guest PhillyPups]

I have seen flea allergies (on a GUR) where the patches were so bad it looked like ringworm. Once fleas were taken care of and after many baths, he again became his shiny self.

 

Good luck with it.

[greyhounds1234]

Could it be something as simple as an allergy to laundry soap? Sometimes it doesn't have to be something you've changed to recently.

[RobinM]

Could it be something as simple as an allergy to laundry soap? Sometimes it doesn't have to be something you've changed to recently.

 

 

I use senstive / fragrance free, etc. I have since my son was born 19 years ago.

[fsugrad]

Just seeing this. Poor Ollie!

I know how frustrating diagnosing and treating skin problems can be.

Hugs to you and Ollie, and hope you guys figure it out soon.