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hot spots
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13-02-2012 8:50pm#1
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Did she just get these since changing over the food? If so get her off that food asap, because if its the food thats causing it, it will never heal up so try getting her off the food for a start.
Can she scratch it? If so again it wont heal because she keeps scratching it and breaking the skin and its not getting a chance to dry up, thats what kept happening Cooper's one on his face. Think he was wearing the buster collar for nearly two weeks, was a bloody nightmare.
Have they given her a steroid injection? If not id def suggest that as that will put a stop to it getting worse. I had to insist on it for Cooper because if its not caught in time it just gets worse, can nearly double over night
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Our Jack Russell had an awful problem with hotspots. She was on Royal Canine Mini.
We changed her to Royal Canine dermacomfort and since we changed her to that she has had no hot spots.
However, I have heard that royal canine isn't considered to be one of the best foods nutrition wise. To be honest I was just so relieved that it cleared up the hot spot problem that I'm afraid to fiddle around with her food again!
(Any suggestions welcome!).
Someone told me it was too much rich protein that caused hotspots and food with more refined proteins is better for them to digest. However I'm by no means an expert when it comes to dog nutrition!
We also only use sulpher based soap on her. It comes in a large block and doesn't seem to irritate her skin as much as regular dog shampoo and soothed the hotspots when she had them.0 -
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Holy fuckarooney.
Sorry, there's not really anything else I can say to describe the flare-up that's just happened in this house. Gus has come down with a massive allergic reaction to something and has allergic dermatitis and hotspots. He has a breakout of hives that goes from the back of his ears down his chest and across his shoulder blades, and has two hotspots on his neck. Given the severity of this reaction, he's on corticosteroids, an antibiotic for secondary infection (which set on from the scratching almost immediately), plus a topical cream.
The good news (for this thread) is I've just been given a heap of best practice information from lots of excellent dog people that I can pass on to anyone who's interested here.
Hot Spots / Hives / Itching generally
As others have said it can be caused by food, or flea bites (flea allergy dermatitis), or pollens or grasses. It may also come on as a reaction to midge bites, sandfly bites or mosquito bites. The reaction can start with itching and irritation and hives and then hotspots can develop, or it can just come up as hotspots. If your dog has hotspots be aware that there may be hives under the fur too - you may be able to detect them in a short to medium haired dog by running your hands over their coat. Where they were previously smooth, they may feel lumpy and bumpy.
Prevention
If you changed their food, change it back!
If you can't pinpoint the allergen and you're sure it's not the food, it may be fleas or pollens. You can do the following:
There's a monthly all-wormer, flea and tick preventative called Panoramis. It's expensive but it's even better than Milbemax. If you have a dog that reacts badly with flea allergy dermatitis, it's worth a go. It'll replace any other wormer or spot-on you use on your dog, so it's just the one product for everything. In the US it's called Trifexis. Active ingredients are spinosad and milbemycin oxime. (Milbemax is milbemycin oxime plus praziquantel and isn't as effective at dealing with flea allergy dermatitis).
Antihistamines can help to prevent breakouts. You can use old-style human antihistamines on dogs, but check with your vet for dosage. I use generic loratadine on Gus, at a rate of one 10mg tablet per day (he's 28kgs). It's a 0.5mg/kg dosage up to one tablet, but again check with your vet over the phone. I've a friend who uses phenergan (but I know that makes me drowsy so I don't use it on the dog).
For high risk insect exposure, you can get a product called permoxin. You dilute it with water and spray the dog, wetting the fur to the skin. It's an effective repellant for flying and biting insects including ticks. It's a concentrated permethrin-based insecticidal spray. I've got some mates who've used it to good effect and bring it out daily in the hot weather here.
Treatment
While I'm treating with corticosteroids because of severity, you can treat a breakout with antihistamines and Neocort cream, which is a cream that contains lignocaine, neomycin and hydrocortisone. You can buy it without prescription and it's great for treating cuts and abrasions as well as hotspots, rashes, scratches and so on.
Clip or snip the hair around the hotspot to leave it clear and breathing (and don't be shy when you're clipping - I'm not talking a half inch around the spot - in medium to long haired dogs consider clipping the area to inches around the spot so it's completely open to the air) and apply the cream twice a day with very clean hands or preferably gloves. Don't be picking at or washing the hotspot. The neocort cream helps to numb the irritation and remove the itch, so if you start treatment early hopefully your dog won't scratch and you won't end up with the common secondary infection that requires antibiotics.
If the breakout smells sweet or coppery at all, like raw meat or blood or sweet-doggyness, take your dog to the vet because he most probably has a secondary infection and will need an antibiotic to clear it.
Other things folks have sworn by to treat hotspots include bathing the spot in cold calendula tea and applying a dilute witch hazel solution. I'd steer clear of tea tree (because it's usually misapplied and misused).
Hope some of this is helpful - I'm battling through it myself at the moment and I hope to bejesus it clears up. Going to the vet if you're remotely unsure should always be your first course of action, but I've apparently moved to (according to the vet) the 'skin reaction capital of Australia' with my dog so I need to stack up the preventatives and effective home treatments to try and ward off another attack or we'll be living at the vet. 0
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