Sajan's Skin Sores

[spoteet]

Sajan has had these skin sores appear on him over the past few weeks. He has one on his back thigh and one on his side. Both are on the same side of his body. These sores are perfectly round and about the size of a quarter, hairless and scalely. I am posting a picture of one but it's not very clear. He also has scalely skin on his chest and similiar round scaley sores on his inner thighs but the hair did not come out of those. He does not scratch hardly at all nor lick his feet or any other area overly much.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

Thanks

[Judi W]

Well, sounds like ringworm. You vet can check that with a black light.

[spoteet]

Originally Posted by Judi W

Well, sounds like ringworm. You vet can check that with a black light.

I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure if it spread around like that. I guess it's time to call the vet:(

[Cassandra]

Sounds alot like Ring worm which is a fungus infection. Here's a link that explains it more fully: http://www.ask-the-vet.com/ring-worm-symptoms.htm

Also, it's contagious to humans too. So, you want to get him to the vet if this is what he has.

I had a horse with this condition. It cleared up with a medical bath pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I had already contracted the nasty condition before we found it on him. eeee...

[spoteet]

We are off to the vet at 2:00 today.

[jakesfostermom]

Spoteet, I agree that it sounds like ringworm and good you are off to the vet - Jake battled those about 2 months ago, mainly on his hocks, armpits and chest area, the vet couldn't get them to test positive under the blacklight, but she treated him accordingly - 10 days of Cephalixin (sp?) and 3 weekly dips in a Lyme Sulfur dip cleared him up quickly! Thank goodness no one else got them....that lyme sulfur dip is some nasty stuff!!! I bet Sajan responds quickly to whatever the vet prescribes!!

[LORHEL]

Well I rule out the stuff Makita has since it is spreading?? She has that darn staph dermatitis thing... it has the white patches which are very rough and raised, they don't itch but are usually found right on the skin, you have to part the fur to see it.... hope you find a relief for Sajan, we're thinking of you.

[spoteet]

We are back from the vet. No ringworm. The sores are a bacteria infection from his allergies. We are back on antibiotics for another 4 weeks. I am really getting tired of putting bandaids on his unknown allergies. I am really thinking about having the blood test done to see exactly what he IS allergic to. The only drawback is he has to be off pred for 6 weeks. I hate to think what his poor skin will look like.

He did tell me about this newly dog approved drug for allergies that has far less side effects than pred but is VERY VERY expensive. The first month they have to have 2 pills 2x day at a cost of $676 Then the maintence is once a day or if your lucky 2x a week, still lots of money. The drug is called Atopica by Novartis. It is used in humans for cancer.

I just don't know what to do. I hate him being on pred and so many antibiotics aren't good for him either. Oh what to do, what to do????

[jakesfostermom]

Oh, Spoteet, ringworm is the pits, but at least you know what you are dealing with! $676 for the first month....wheh.....it better be good, right?!! Wow, good thoughts to you and Sajan as you try to get a good defense against his allergies.....

[MontanaRott]

Well good luck Sharon I know you must be frustrated. I just saw this and allergies is what I thought. Our frenchie gets those spots in the summer and they are round and quarter sized. Sometimes they can be a bit weepy too. His problem is grass. So now we own stock in Benedryl! LOL Good luck in nailing down what Sajans trigger is. And like you we are sick of the pred. Sort of a double edged sword, that stuff.

[Ilovemypuppy]

Hi Sharon,

Does Sajan get ANY dairy products..I mean ANY...even the smallest amount ? For some odd reason some people don't think of cheese as dairy..it's concentrated dairy and often a culprit in allergies. Feeding weiners, if you are, is a real liver toxin also.

The first thing I did when the puppy got skin itchies and dry patches was to bathe her in Betadine Surgical Scrub and leave it on a rub it in for a few minutes before rinsing. Next I gave her liquid Milk Thistle to cleanse her liver. Adult dose for recommended time for adult humans for Sajan.

Our vet says beef is highly allergenic to some dogs...so we switched to chicken or turkey and also feed Canidae. I add fish oil and flax oil to the girls' meals twice a day every day.

If Sajan is on Pred...his liver could sure use a cleansing.

Hope this helps,

[spoteet]

Sajan gets cheese a lot. I use it for giving him his pills and for training. He is on a raw diet and eats very little beef. Maybe it is the cheese. I may try avoiding it for a while and see. Right now I just need to get him to eat. He has been picking at his food for a week now.

[Ilovemypuppy]

If Sajan is on raw and not beef...but eating cheese...cheese could very well be the culprit..it's loaded with colorants and preservatives and the milk protein isn't digestible by a lot of animals or people. Milk proteins are culprits in eczema and psoriasis in humans.

You might want to think about doing a liver cleanse on him to help flush the toxins from his system...milk thistle..liquid is best, but you can use capsule form. It's going to take 20 to 30 days to flush his system and stop the cheese for that long to see if that is what is causing the problem.

Maybe adding some Canidae to his diet would help improve his appetite (or whatever quality kibble you like)...as adding some fish oil liquid and acidolphilus (health food store) should help him as well.

Good luck, hugs to Sajan :)

Just out of curiosity....when Sajan was dock jumping, was it into a pool where chlorine was used ?

[spoteet]

Thanks Jory. I amy give the milk thistle a try. Sajan gets lots of fish oil in his diet but it doesn't seem to help. I would probably have to use the capsule form because he is so picky

The pools used for the dock jumping are set up on a temp basis so they don't treat the water with anything. Besides he has not been to one since fall.

Thanks again,

[Ilovemypuppy]

This might help...my girls will eat anything mixed in tuna :) You can break apart the milk thistle capsules and mix their contents in the tuna. If you do the liver cleanse (adult human dose for recommended time on the bottle), and this is what I think it might be ( sluggish liver)..you could see a difference in about 10 days, as long as you stop with any dairy products as well. I hope it works..I have seen it work before.