Oliver's got the itchies!
 so, off to the vet we went. The vet looked at some scrapings and decided it must be allergy related. Oliver has NEVER had any allergies. She put him on Zicam. It's day 7 and he's still itchy. Not to the extent he was, but still itchy. Initially, the bumps look like mosquito bitess, but with scratching end up looking like the above picture. No fleas to be found, but he hasn't had a Frontline Plus treatment in about 2 months. Ears have also been a bit "gunkier" than normal with brown wax, but vet said they looked normal. Just wanted to get your guy's opinions on this. I've never dealt with skin problems before. I'm wondering if I should shave him down. |
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Wash him in "Malaseb" or just an oatmeal based shampoo to ease the itching, with scratching secondary things can happen to make the original itchies worse, malaseb covers bacterial, fungal a multitude of skin complaints or Oatmeal based shampoo soothes the skin when itchy and see what happens, regardless I would wash him all over in either one for a starter, also after wont hurt to put frontline on him too.  Flush the ears and make sure there well free from hair as well, from what you describe about the wax sounds like a yeast bloom in there. Did the vet take a swab of his ear discharge? If not then he should of so if it keeps on going you will need a certain type of drops to clear it up. With the yeast not usually inflammed just a gunky brown wax build up at the start that just does not go away without special drops to kill it off. See how it goes after an all over bath in either a medicated or oatmeal base shampoo before you think about shaving him. And frontline him after too. |
Thanks Lisa! I'll give that a go. I used oatmeal shampoo last week, so I'll move to a medicated shampoo today. The vet didn't take a swab, just took a big wif of his ears...very professional sounding now that I actually type that out  . He's never had a yeast infection in his ears. Are yeast infections generally itchy? His ears aren't itchy, just a little more brown gunk than normal.Thanks again!  |
I wonder if an allergic dog can sometimes produce more wax as they're body is reacting more to an allergen.  Though Bumble is said to be allergic to something, he's never had ear problems except when I over plucked one time, then they were irritated. But no itching ever... I don't understand it. I wipe out his ears when they need it but I seldom fill his ears with cleaner to clean them. They're just naturally balanced. Now Darby is a different story during allergy season. I have to stay on top of her ears with a purple cleaner to keep yeast at bay. Yes, yeast in the ears is itchy and has a distinct odor but ask Lisa says, a swab will tell the story! Darby gently sticks her toe nails in her ears to sooth the itch... it's my signal to start cleaning her ears every 2 days with that Liquid Health K9 Ear Solution. http://www.liquidhealthinc.com/backLabe ... IDBack=202 You'll likely see them start to shake their head too if they have yeasty ears. So it likely isn't yeast if you're not see this behavior.Hoping the Malaseb will do the trick!  It's an excellent product... my all time favorite for yeast. I like to do just what you've done... start with mild shampoos and if they don't work and there are open sores, try a medicated one. If the Malaseb doesn't do the trick, you might also try Universal Medicated Shampoo by Vet Solutions. Start with small bottles though until you find one that works best for Oliver!! Personally, I wouldn't shave him down yet. See if you can get it under control and keep his coat. But if it gets worse, ask the vet if you should shave him down so you can monitor/treat his skin. Dry him thoroughly after bathing. You might ask about a topical you can put on individual sores in between baths. An antibacterial cream or something. It sounds goofy but GOLD color Listerine in a spray bottle (or just a cotton ball if the area is limited) may help sooth the itch between baths. My vet said it was ok to use... you might check with yours. It contains alcohol so it may sting (don't use it on big open spots!) and dry the skin. We've used it for a few years now. Source: http://nzymes.com/pc/viewContent.asp?id ... wiceWeekly |
| Thanks so much Jaci! His spots are quite small and he HATES a spray bottle, so a cotton ball is what we'll have to use. No shaking of the head or scratching of the ears, but I'll keep a good eye on it. Happy to hear you say "wait" to the shave down, it's going to get cold out very soon, so I'd hate to do that to him! |
I see all the regular "skin" people have chimed in.  Hi guys! Great advice, of course.I would hold off on shaving Oliver as well. It might be something that can be handled topically. Here's what I would do. First, check Oliver's skin all over his body very carefully, looking for other bumps or lesions, and make sure this is localized and not systemic. (If it is more widespread, I would check with the vet about a skin swab, to see if this is a bacterial issue.) Then, monitor the area very closely, to see if it starts to spread. If the shampoo doesn't work, your vet will probably want to do a skin swab/scraping of the area, and culture it to see if there is an overgrowth of bacteria present. Try to keep Oliver from scratching the area, as he will create more problems than currently exist. My vet prescribes a great topical spray for Oscar called Betagen. It contains Gentamycin (antibiotic) as well a topical steroid to ease the itching/pain. It is a go-to product for us, whenever something starts on Oscar's skin, especially when it seems to be a localized problem. Laurie and Oscar |
| Our skin problems continue. I hated to do it, but I shaved him down so I can keep a good handle on his skin. I'm going to make a call to the vet tomorrow to set another appointment, but in the mean time, what do you guys think? They tend to start out as skin colored bumps. Oliver itches them:  If I don't catch them in time they turn into hot spots.  This is an odd little bump I found directly below his anal sphincter this evening. It is soft and appears to be filled. I dare not drain it myself. Just to note also, his other spots do NOT start out like this.  I definitely want to ask about a bacterial infection, but beyond that I have no idea. We do not have fleas. He seems to feel fine other than having the itchies...I just hate to see anything wrong with my kiddo though. |
| The bottom picture looks kind of like a sebaceous cyst but I'm NOT a doctor. Darby has two on her butt... they've been there for some time. We had them aspirated when I first found them just to be sure. Wondering if the middle one is seborrhea?? It's hard to tell from a picture. Dogs can develop seborrhea with allergies. (Bumble had it early on http://oesusa.com/BumblesSkin090909.jpg but that pretty much cleared up.) Hoping your vet can give you some answers and a good fix for Oliver's itchies. |
| No wonderful advice BUT, good luck! We have battled skin problems we have never had before this year! |
Sorry for the poor picture quality  . Jaci, that is exactly what it looks like! We have never had skin problems before either. I am really hoping we can get this cleared up and go back to that trend. |
This looks exactly like Nelson's bout with staph infection. It was originally diagnosed as an allergy. A course of Cephalexin took care of it quickly. Hope it's as easy as that with Oliver.  |
Maggie McGee IV wrote: This looks exactly like Nelson's bout with staph infection. It was originally diagnosed as an allergy. A course of Cephalexin took care of it quickly. Hope it's as easy as that with Oliver. Thanks Nita! I'll add that to my list. Oliver was originally diagnosed as an allergy too . We have an appointment on Monday. Hoping we can this solved. |
| Poor little man hope you can find what is causing the eruptions on his skin, also keep him from itching, licking or chewing those areas as that turns it into secondary problems then. Even if you have to sock and T-shirt him till you see the vet and get something hopefully to work to clear him up. Oliver never having allergies beforehand I am with Nita on this one so will be interesting to see what the vet thinks now. The lump looks exactly what jaci said "A Sebaceous Cyst" or even just a little dermal Cyst, fairly common and causes for it can be anything from an ingrown hair to who knows, while at the vet just get him/her to stick a needle into it and they can say then straight away what it is. Usually with sebaceous cysts and the dermal ones, they do tend to get larger over time and eventually need removing, they can pop too, but my experience with them they tend to fill up again and re-burst and the cycle just continues, so before they get too large quick and easy procedure to have them out. There messy buggars if they do enlarge and pop, hope no one is eating but the discharge that oozes from it is like " Cream Cheese mixed with blood."  So while there just get the vet to needle aspirate his bump so you know and also ask advice on it after he/she assesses it to either leave it alone till it enlarges or does he/she think it's better to remove the lumpy thingy out before it enlarges. Hugs for Oliver hoping its what nita said and it clears up soon with the right diagnosis & course of medication.  |
Sure Lisa, I was eating....my glass of wine and a chocolate chip cookie!  |
| ^^^^^^ He he he Dawn forgot to mention the big hole it leaves after the ooooozie seepage comes out after when it goes "BANG" Pssst how's the wine and cookie going down now  |
lisaoes wrote: ^^^^^^ He he he Dawn forgot to mention the big hole it leaves after the ooooozie seepage comes out after when it goes "BANG" Pssst how's the wine and cookie going down now Thank goodness I'm a nurse - that stuff is normal mealtime conversation for me ......and now off to change the dressing on Chewie's foot.... |
| Back from the vet. Staph infection. Oliver is on Cephalexin for 10 days and also got some Seba-Hex shampoo. You were right on Nita! |
Yay! Glad it is was that simple.  Our vet originally thought Nelson's problem was food allergies. We were all set to start him on the prescription diet but that meant either having to have different foods for both dogs (they like to steal from each other's bowls) as well as regulating the treats Nelson would get, etc.. If it wasn't food that was causing his skin to break out we would have proceeded to doing other tests. Before doing all this I asked our vet if there was anything else we could possibly try before starting the long-term diet plan. He was willing to go with one round of antibiotics first and all the blotches cleared up immediately.    |
 Woohoo!! Treat it and hopefully be done with it for good! |
Good luck with the antibiotics, and way better than allergies!  |
| Thanks for all your help Jaci, Nita, Lisa, and Dawn. I am so happy it's not allergies as well. Our vet originally said allergies too; something in the environment. Oliver went on Zicam while I eliminated everything I could think of from the house. Obviously it didn't work. I went yesterday with a list of potential suspects ...my vet knows me all too well! Now we are just hoping it clears up quickly! |
| Keeping fingers and paws crossed here the itchies go away. |
| Bella is on steroids and antihistimines. We just started the antihistimines again as she is reactive. She has environmental allergies and I am starting to wean her off the steroids for a month or two hopefully. She does need to be on them most of the time, but giving her body a break is the best thing for her if we can. Her allergies look and sound a lot like what you pictured. I hope Oliver is okay soon. |
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