Newfoundland Issue

Mr. Manager

Hey Guys,

I have a 3 year old newfoundland that has fallen ill as of late. We brought her to get groomed recently and since she has developed some form of skin irritant.
We brought her to the vet to get looked at and received a very generic response. She was given some medication to ease the itch on her skin. It worked but not for very long. Since the medication ran out she has been right back at herself.

Will be bringing her to the vet (possibly a new one) to get looked at again tomorrow. She has started biting at herself so bad that she has gone right down to the bare skin and there is a bald patch that she has gotten at. She has even gone at herself so hard that she has made herself bleed.

The other problem that has since arose is that she has become quite disobedient. The only thing we seem to be able to get her to do is to sit down, even that is a struggle. She used to be very good, with and without treats as a reward.

Can anybody shed some light on this for me please?

Thanks!

The Sweeper

Could be acute moist dermatitis, or 'hot spots'?

From teh INTARWHEB:

Acute moist dermatitis, also known as hot spots, are localized, moist, reddened bacterial infections

of the skin. A hot spot starts because something irritates the skin. The body's response is either to itch or become inflamed. The itching then causes the dog to lick or chew the area, which further damages the skin, and creates a cycle of itching, scratching and chewing.

Hot spots can be caused by anything that irritates the skin and initiates an itch-scratch cycle, but the most common irritants are fleas. Other causes are allergies (flea, inhalant, food), parasitic disease (sarcoptic and demodectic mange), anal gland disease, poor grooming, tick and mosquito bites, burrs, and summer heat. They are most common in long-haired and heavy-coated breeds, and are more prevalent during the summer months.

Typical locations for "hot spots" are the side of the face and the flank areas.

You've got a heavy-coated dog, and you've had a hot spell...

Then again it could be any number of other irritations. I just thought 'hot spot' because of the heavy coat, the hot weather and what you've said about her chewing herself bald in one patch.

The disobedience could be linked directly to the discomfort. If you had a furious skin irritation you probably wouldn't feel like doing what you were told either. Has anything else recently changed in her environment? New food, new furniture, new carpet, new bedding, new washing powder, a different shampoo at the groomers, anything at all? Has she been checked and treated for fleas recently?

Just some ideas - you're best off going back to another vet if you're not happy with this one.

Mr. Manager

The Sweeper wrote: »

Could be acute moist dermatitis, or 'hot spots'?

From teh INTARWHEB:

You've got a heavy-coated dog, and you've had a hot spell...

Then again it could be any number of other irritations. I just thought 'hot spot' because of the heavy coat, the hot weather and what you've said about her chewing herself bald in one patch.

The disobedience could be linked directly to the discomfort. If you had a furious skin irritation you probably wouldn't feel like doing what you were told either. Has anything else recently changed in her environment? New food, new furniture, new carpet, new bedding, new washing powder, a different shampoo at the groomers, anything at all? Has she been checked and treated for fleas recently?

Just some ideas - you're best off going back to another vet if you're not happy with this one.

She had been groomed quite recently and it all started after that. As for new enviroment, we picked up a new puppy about 3 weeks ago, but they seem to get on like a house on fire. They play all day long.

She recently had a flea treatment from the vet but it's been of no good to her. Would like to bring her to a different vet to get the problem looked at properly as the last one seemed to overlook the constant scratching and biting.

Thanks for the reply, some useful information in there

belongtojazz

My Jack Russel gets these and I have spent an absolute fortune with the vet trying to help her and also find out what is causing them
She also gets very disobidient (spelling?) when she has an episode. It usually requires a course of steriods and antiboitics to reslove. Apparently they can be caused by pretty much anything which makes it even more difficult to help try and prevent the poor things ending up in such a state:mad:

Lizard Queen

it could a list of differnt things from dermatitis to ringworm the dog will prob need some steroids and a LARGE buster collar to stop her from itching it but i hope u get a diagnosis from the new vet most places will give ya a second opionion for free in the same clinic if ya request a new vet but good luck and try some aloe vera has great healing qualities

Outkast_IRE

What food are you feeding the dog?, my own dog was getting irritating spots on her skin and nothing the vet did helped for very long .

Changing the food did the trick within two weeks spots were gone and coat looked brilliant.

Mr. Manager

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

What food are you feeding the dog?, my own dog was getting irritating spots on her skin and nothing the vet did helped for very long .

Changing the food did the trick within two weeks spots were gone and coat looked brilliant.

She eats dry food. Usually Science Plan large breed. It's good for the joints and prevents hip dysplasia.

paultf

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

What food are you feeding the dog?, my own dog was getting irritating spots on her skin and nothing the vet did helped for very long .

Changing the food did the trick within two weeks spots were gone and coat looked brilliant.

Outkast might be right. I know some people don't agree with hollistic foods like Burns but........

Supposedly when John Burns was working as a vet he use to deal with skin problems regularly. Initially he tried fixing the problem with drugs but they never worked. He told his clients to stop feeding their dog commercial foods and cook their dog chicken & rice. The skin problems stopped. The only problem was his clients didn't have the time to be cooking meals every night for dogs. So he developed the Burns dog food....supposedly!

There is info. about skin conditions on www.burnspet.co.uk This is an excerpt:

"Many dogs suffer from skin and coat problems which take the form of persistent moulting, obsessive grooming, chewing the feet, balding patches or skin eruptions.

Excess moulting, balding and itchy skin all have a common cause, namely, the accumulation of toxic waste in the system which usually results from unsuitable diet. Shedding of hair and skin eruptions show that the body is attempting to expel this burden of toxic matter.
When a high quality natural diet is fed correctly (i.e. not overfed) this can provide the means whereby the body can rid itself of these toxins. This offers a long-term solution to these and other health problems, unlike drugs which temporarily suppress symptoms."

I don't know much about Hills Science Plan but the food you are giving your dog could be the cause of the problem.

tk123

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

She eats dry food. Usually Science Plan large breed. It's good for the joints and prevents hip dysplasia.

My dog got what you're describing from science plan - he was on it a few days (the stand-in vet's idea not mine) and broke out in a rash like you describe and had bald spots on his tummy from being so itchy. Back on his Burns and problem solved. Also science plan isn't going to prevent his dysplasia..

tazwaz

my dogs skin got very flakey and red and he was constantly eating and scratching himself, it was drving him crazy. for over 8 months my vet was treating him for mange, it hadnt cleared up so i went to a diff vet and she diagnosed seborrea and with special spot on and shampoo it was soon under control.

Outkast_IRE

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

She eats dry food. Usually Science Plan large breed. It's good for the joints and prevents hip dysplasia.

It might be worth trying another food for a month or so and see if theres any improvement, iv had great results with orjen , others find burns good,

If you do change over food change gradually over the space of a week or more slowly increasing the % of the new food , until your totally changed over .
Youd be very surprised what a difference a change in food has on some dogs.

andreac

Have you recently changed to Hills? This food has been known to cause a lot of skin problems in dogs so i suggest you take her off it for a start and see if its helps.

Also as someone else says, the food will not stop the dog from developing Hip dysplacia and whoever told you that is misinformed.

Wisco

I've heard skin problems called the 3 vet disease becuase you'll go to three vets before you're happy! Skin/itchiness problems can be caused by just about ANYTHING. Any chance one of the products your groomer used started it off? Diet is also a big one. I would advise you to go to another vet if you're not happy, but you may find yourself at back at square one. Just out of curiosity, where in the country are you and is it a small animal only vet? I'm not knocking mixed practice, but sometimes they have less time to do skin scrapes, etc, in those places (which is kind of a load of crap in itself as skin scrape takes few secs and few mins to look at under microscope)
Good luck.

Outkast_IRE

Iv just talked to someone who has newfoundlands for the last 30 years and described your problem and he says the first thing he would do is change the food , he said hes had this problem with a few newfoundlands and in the majority of cases a different food sorted it.