Neighbor's little Missy's Skin Problems
Missy is a rescue dog. She's a Westie/Bischon mix. She and Harlene (my neighbor) are on their 2 week trial....and it is a match made in heaven! Missy has welt type spots on her body. Quite a few. At first Harlene thought they were sores from when Missy was shaved (she had been in very bad shape). But they started getting redder. Then we thought maybe they were bug bites. Harlene took her to the vet who thought they were staph (spelling?) infections, and gave her medicine. Well, they started crusting over. So Harlene took her back to another vet. The vet gave her a medicated bath, and some topical medicine for the sores. She said she's afraid this might be some sort of cancer if this treatment doesn't help. Harlene has to take Missy back to the vet next week. This is terrible! Missy is only 3. What type of cancer would that be? What else could be causing this. I'm trying to calm Harlene down, but she's so upset. She and Missy bonded immediately. Any thoughts? |
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| No thoughts on the cancer. But they really need to scrape those spots and check the scrapings under a microscope. Next thing to do would be a stain and culture of the spots. See if anything grows and then treat it with the appropriate med.
Good luck, I hope Missy is OK. Westie/Bichon sounds cute. I know the Westie half is very prone to skin allergies. |
| Just my opinion here... I'm NOT a vet.
Has the vet done any skin scrapings or a biopsy to get a definitive diagnosis? They may not be able to treat the condition effectively it if the don't know what it is they're treating. A board certified dermatologist might be a good next step. If it is staph, some strains can be very difficult to treat if it's a drug resistant variety. This is a picture said to be of a dog with staph- http://www.vetinfo.com/staph.jpg Just a quick story... My sister's vet believed her young spaniel with a serious condition and recommended she euthanize the dog because her life would be horrible. It turned out the dog was allergic to the carpet deodorizing powder they had used. They stopped using it and the condition disappeared. It would have been a very big mistake had they put this dog down. With rescues, they sometimes have several things that need to be addressed... it usually begins with making sure they're now eating a high quality food. God knows what the poor little thing was eating before being rescue. I hope Missy will be better soon. Please let us know how she does? |
Well... Dawn said it first! 
I type too slow.  |
| LOL - but at least we both agree! |
| Thanks for this info. Harlene was in tears when she called me yesterday. The picture looks EXACTLY like Missy's "sores" before she started treatment. Now they appear to be scabbing over, which may be the healing process. The vet is doing a scrapping/biopsy next Thursday. They wanted to give the meds and bath time to work. Missy is so sweet. I don't know how she became a rescue. She was a stray.  You can tell she lived with a family and loved them. She loves everyone. She is adjusting to her new home beautifully. And yes, she is adorable. She "hops" when she walks, and lifts her little leg when she pees!I will let Harlene read this next time I see her. Thanks! |
Quote: LOL - but at least we both agree!
Absolutely 
We might have been neck and neck in our posting time had I not been so long winded! |
| IF it turns out to be staph and it keeps coming back, your neighbor might look into this treatment option. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about it... just passing it along so she can talk to her vet about it.
http://www.pet-care-experts.com/archive.php?43686 Quote: Some dogs, due to having a weak auto-immune system can develop chronic staph infections. Staph lives on a dogs body as well as a humans naturally and when a dog has a weak immune system, their body can't fight it off and they break out in staph and it's basically what is refered to as a staph allergy. They do make a serum called Staph-lysate which boosts a dogs immune system and desensitizes them to the staph. This is something you may want to talk over with your vet. My lab suffered from chronic staph for years. They'd put her on the Cephalexin and it would clear up, only to return a short time later. I started giving her the shots of Staph-lysate and it was a miracle. Her staph cleared up and she remained staph free for years! It took about 3 months. You start the shots at a certain dose so many times a week for so many weeks, then decrease how often it's given, then decrease the dose. The vile of Staph-lysate last a month and back when I used it, cost about $100. Giving the shots are a piece of cake too. |
| Update! Missy scrappings came back, and they have confirmed that she has ring worm. They have her on skin meds and she should be fine. Can't wait, cuz she can't play with Pirate and Keira til she's all clear! |
Glad to hear it's nothing very serious and she can play again soon.  |
| Don't know if this is of any help, but I grew up with a purebred bichon, and he had skin "issues". His skin was always on the dry side, and he would lick at it constantly, especially in the winter, to the point of having hot spots. Eventually we had to buy a little doggy polar fleece to keep him from getting at his fur (we didn't want to keep the cone on him any more, it was such a bother to him). I adopted an adult bichon that had similar licking problems, but not as severe. Just something to watch out for while and after the ringworm is/has healed. |
| Ringworm can take awhile to clear up. It can be seen under a black light - if she has access to one she can stay on top of the progress, and where the "active " spots are. Glad to hear they have it figured out though. |
| Ok...Harlene asked me to ask you this... Do any of you know of a jock itch creme that heals ring worm? No really, she asked me to ask that. Honest....  |
| Actually, that is a good question. Ringworm and jock itch are both fungi and belong to the tinea family. Any of the topical creams and shampoos that treat jock itch or yeast infections can be used. There are oral meds to treat it systemically too.
Here is a good web site: http://www.medicineonline.com/encyclopedia/R/Ringworm |
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