Hot spot/rash on side

[junebuggy]

Let me preface this by saying I'm trying to find a vet, but none of the offices I've called thus far have any openings.

We've had Juno for a bit over a month now, and she's always had a small spot of matted fur on her side. I assumed she rolled in something at the kennels and decided it could wait until she was calm enough to be given a bath. In the weeks since, I've been brushing her a few times a week with her hound glove and haven't noticed anything new. Yesterday, we were playing in the yard and she leaned against me for attention, and I noticed that the matted fur looked different. The skin under it was red and looked tender, and while it's not weeping profusely, it did seem as though there was a bit of fluid. I looked at the area around the spot, and there was more matted fur and more tender, red areas. It's almost like there's some substance at the root of the hair clumping it together. Even more concerningly, some of the hair is falling out. The rescue said it could be a reaction to her vaccinations, and some of my (non-greyhound-owning) friends have said it might be a hot spot. She's not off her food, she's as energetic and affectionate as always, she doesn't even seem to be too worried about the spot, herself. I can't think of anything new that she's eating, either.

Until we can get her to the vet, how can I make her more comfortable? I've been gently dabbing it with cool water (she doesn't like it, but she'll let me) and a gentle homemade saline solution. I tried to trim the hair, but she was not wild about that. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?

[1Moregrey]

If you adopted her locally can you get an appointment with the vet the adoption group uses.  They may even be able to advise you what to do until you can get her in.  Just a though. 

[KF_in_Georgia]

You might have better luck trying to get an appointment with a veterinary dermatologist. (Yes, they exist.) Try Googling "veterinary dermatologist" and add your zip code. Google should give you the address of the one nearest to you.

I had a greyhound rescue who arrived (from the pound) with a chronic rash on one front leg. A year later--after three different vets (one a greyhound expert) and multiple skin scrapings and tests--her vet gave me a referral to a dermatologist. After a punch biopsy, it turned out to be a bacterial infection on the outside of her leg (she'd been taking cephalexin and other antibiotics but they didn't fix it) and ringworm below the surface of the skin (being below the surface is what kept it from registering as a fungal infection in the skin scrapings). Dermatologist prescribed cephalexin for the bacteria part and ketoconazole pills for the fungal part. The itching stopped within days, and the rash was gone in a couple of weeks. It never came back, and her hair grew back completely.

I wanted to kick myself for having put her through a year of cephalexin and other antibiotics, lots of expensive vet visits, and constant itching. (She chewed her leg constantly. When I muzzled her, she learned to scratch her front leg with her back leg.) The dermatologist was not cheap, but it would have cost less than I spent on treatments that didn't work in that first year.

 

[cleptogrey]

15 hours ago, 1Moregrey said:

If you adopted her locally can you get an appointment with the vet the adoption group uses.  They may even be able to advise you what to do until you can get her in.  Just a though. 

Excellent suggestion! Speak with the adoption group.

[junebuggy]

Update: we took her to a vet and she lit up green for ringworm, poor baby. She’s on a treatment plan now and getting much attention. Thanks, everyone!