Dog Skin Allergies keep our pets scratching and itching.

Many canines  are susceptible to dog skin allergies, called Dermatitis, and there are different kinds of dermatitis within this group. 

 

• Dermatitis

Condition of the skin in which it becomes red, swollen, and sore, sometimes with  small blisters, resulting from direct irritation of the skin by an allergen or food.

• Atopy

An immune response by the dog's body to a substance, like mold, pollen, fleas, food, or dust, to which it has become hypersensitive

• Skin infection

Meaning "inflammation of the skin". there are several  different types of dermatitis.

• Allergic dermatitis

An inflammatory, chronically relapsing, non-contagious and pruritic skin  disease.  Also known as a staph infection

• Mange

A skin disease of canines caused by parasitic mites.

Infectious Dermatitis.

You might think these scabby lesions are hot spots but they are in fact a more stubborn type of skin dermatitis.  They present with moist, scabby areas that the dog will not stop licking, chewing or biting.  Sometimes it is just a yeast infection that does well with a drug called Panalog (a topical antibiotic).Dog skin allergies make your dog itch and can drive you crazy with their scratching Dog skin allergies may not always be an allergy - I found out what I thought was an allergy was in fact a bacteria that can be spread.

Sometimes though, this condition is so serious that it just won't go away and although you are treating each spot, another one soon appears on the dogs body.  Usually found on the underside of the dog, it likes moist dark areas.  The yeast loves this environment and is hard to or even impossible to control.

When my dog did not respond to this treatment I took her to the vet.  He said that the Dermatitis was so serious that I could not treat it with Panalog cream alone and he prescribed an antibiotic.   The drug took effect almost immediately.  No new outbreaks were seen and the infected areas were drying up and getting smaller.

Along with this treatment the vet also told me to bathe her in a medicated shampoo called Malaseb.

Malaseb is a shampoo available in pet shops or on line. This product was recommended to me by both my Vet and Groomer.   It will help the skin heal and get back to normal faster. It is very effective for yeast, but will not treat bacterial infection, or underlying allergies. It also has the benefit of making your dog feel a lot better and that's what we want for out pets.

Things that may help you are:

• Medicated Shampoos such as Malaseb, Micro-Tek
• Wiping the dog down with Malaseb wipes
• Healthy food with no wheat (poisoned) or corn (genetically modified)
• Wash bedding at least every other day in dye free/ perfume free detergent
• Adding a good source of omega fatty acids like fish oils
• Use of prozyme or other similar product
• Immune boosting supplements

 

Dog skin problems continued,  staph infections

Allergies or Staph/Bacterial Infection?

My doctor has always said they were allergies but they are not.

They look like a red spot then  turn into a larger area and a scab forms. My doctor put my dog on antibiotics and that helps short term but they always come back. I  feed  my dog homemade dog food so I know she is getting good wholesome  food. 

After a lot of time,  money and effort I demanded a skin scraping done on my dog.  I was  shocked at the result.  My vet had mis-diagnosed my dog's problem.  It  wasn't food allergies.  It was a staph infection and a bad one.  This  staph infection was resistant to all antibiotics.  I saw the report and took my dog and the report and found another vet. 

My new vet told me it was going to be hard to cure this problem but we agreed that we could at  least try to help my girl get better.  Right now she is on a anti-biotic and Prednisone (steroid).

This is how I take care of staph and bacterial skin problems.

• I wash the areas with a  medicated soap from the vet
• I wait until the scabs are softened and then I scrape them off gently
• I put regular hydrogen  peroxide on the spot because these spot will multiply
• I then put Panalog or Dermatitis on each sore until it  heals.

Most of the time if I am  vigilant I can control dog skin problems but  yesterday I found more than 20 scabs all over her body and started her  on the antibiotics and  cleaned out the scabs every day with my method  above.

I think it's mange and my vet  doesn't know what it is. It keeps coming  back usually around the tail  area and then spreads onto her belly and  eventually on the back starting at the tail and migrating to the neck.

She has never had these sores  on her head or eyes.  But she does have dog  skin problems around her  mouth on the right side only. 

Scratching is a certain indicator of skin allergies caused by fleas in dogs.

Many dogs are itchy and scratch because they are allergic to fleas. The flea bites your dog and injects histamines at the bite site.  This will cause the dog  to scratch for many days afterwards.

Fleas or food can cause skin allergies in dogs which causes your dog to scratch constantly.

How many times have you asked yourself, why is my dog scratching? What is making my dog itch? I bet you have treated him with the favorite flea medications on the market but even though the fleas are gone, your dog continues to scratch.

skin allergies continued

 

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Please Read

Any information contained on this site relating to various medical, health, and fitness conditions of Westies and their treatment is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own veterinarian. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing dog allergies - you should always consult your own veterinarian.