Help With Hot Spots (Licking Inner Legs)

[Guest KayGreat]

Over the last month or two, our 4 yr old male greyhound has been licking spots on the inside of his back legs until they bleed and become raw and infected. We've been to the vet 3 times and treated with Quadritop ointment and a course of oral antibiotics, which helped some; a ringworm test was done about 3 weeks ago and was evaluated as probably negative. Vet did not think a food allergy was a likely cause since he focused on one location. We have another follow up scheduled in a week.

 

Some of them have healed up because we've been having him wear long johns for the last 3 weeks; without the pants, he'll lick until he bleeds.

 

Any advice to help us get him healed up? Thanks!!

[Riverhound]

Has the vet had you try putting a drop of atropine on the hot spots? Tastes truly foul -- even to dogs!

[tbhounds]

Sounds like pyoderma secondary to allergies. Have you tried medicated bathes, antihistamines, corticosteroids (or temaril P)???

Dogs can have food, contact, flea or environmental allergies--it's very hard to distinguish symptoms. My boy had ulcerated himself so badly we finally made an appointment to have intradermal testing done. Turns out he's allergic to a zillion allergens (molds,dust mites, certain trees, weeds, grasses, black flies, house flies, dust......) He was started on high doses of allergra and gabapentin to help relieve the itching. We are to contiune frequent bathing to reduce the topical allergens.

He was prescribed the allergy vaccine (we are giving the oral drops). The vaccine can take up to a year to be effective-in the meantime we are treated him symptomatically. You may want to consult with a dermatologist as most GP vets find allergies a very challenging condition.

Here's a sampling of what he did to himself...

[Guest KayGreat]

Thanks! tbhounds, that looks like what our guy has been doing. We have suspected seasonal allergies before (plants bloom this time of year in the desert southwest) - we'll pursue this line of inquiry with the vet. Will definitely try bathing - we hadn't wanted to start baths while he had raw spots, instead doing wet washcloth rundowns when he comes indoors. Do you use a dog shampoo or just water to bathe?

[tbhounds]

Initially I used a medicated shampoo (Ketachlor) but, have since transitioned to a soap free gentle shampoo once the infection was resolved. The idea now is simply to wash off he topical allergens. One thing I will tell you is to make sure your hound becomes throughly dry after bathing to avoid further hotspots. Have you tried antihistamines? Dog dosage is completely different than humans. For example my hound takes 360mgs allergra twice daily (dermatologist recommended)---Benadryl is 1mg/lb every 8 hours (that would knock me out for days). I would try and see a dermatologist if at all possible.