Hotspot on puppy during Colorado blizzard...great..

[baggins]

Murphy is 9 months old and two nights ago he would not stop biting/scratching himself..and my wife found a silver dollar-sized hotspot developing on near his front shoulder.  Of course, we freaked and took him to the vet...$200 later they bathed him in medicated shampoo and gave us some pills and drops for the area.  Now, I know this breed gets hotspots a little more than others, but there is about 3 feet of snow in our backyark and it's really dry here.  But, he loves laying in the snow and I think he was just wet all day and then the sun is so intense here that I think it was ripe for making him itch.  Thoughts?

The good news is he didn't scratch at all last night and we are buying some shampoo/spray-stuff from foster's and smith so we don't have to pay the ridiculous vet fees.  I've read pages and pages about people's recommendation for hotspots so I figure I will just try stuff and see what works.  He's never itched before and then all of a sudden--BOOM!  Poor guy was trying to get on our bed all night (and succeeding) because he couldn't stop itching. Anyone else have itching/hotspot issues in the winter?

[baggins]

Hi Julie-

I never thought about boredom as causing him to scratch.  But, I doubt that's it as we have another dog and they play outside all day while we are at work.  I'm happy to report that he has not scratched at all since coming home from the vet two days ago.  Yes, the doctor did say to give him 50mg of benadryl twice a day but I haven't yet since he hasn't been scratching.  The prescriptions the doctor gave us are cefpodoxime tablets (kills bacteria like staph) and the drops for the wound are dimethylsulfox ide.  I think he'll be ok and we'll probably bath him in anti-itch shampoo in the future just to be safe.  Like i said, i really think it was the snow and then the sun that triggered it.  Oh, and I have begun to give him the fish oil caps..he'll eat anything.

I agree about the cold..it's crazy.  We live in Castle Rock, have a nice fenced yard, and built an insulated dog house, but I don't think our dogs use it.  My wife and I decided it's too cold for them outside today so we are going to try our first attempt at letting him have free reign of the house while we are gone.  We've been really lucky because he hasn't chewed anything in the house and think he'll probably just sleep most of the day anyway.  He hasn't given us any reason to not trust him, so all we can do is see what happens I guess. 

What's your philosophy on dogs and staying out in the cold weather? 

[sc.trojans]

Go to "Treatment, Preventatives" Forum here and look at the other poster who posted about Berner hotspots. I have a response there as well, so I will try not to repeat it.

Berners get hotspots more regularly than many other breeds because they are immune-deficient and highly prone to auto immune disease.  This is an immune issue, not an external issue (weather, activity etc.).  Focusing on the various potential "triggers" for hotspots or allergies will not solve the problem.  Focus on improving the immune system and you will see the greatest change for improvement here.

All skin issues are coming from the inside of the body. It works inside out, not outside in.  A primary function of the skin is to expel toxins from the body, just like the liver and kidney, and hotspots are just one of many signs of this.  Itching is one more sign as well.

Take a good look at everything you have put "into" or "on to" him and focus less on everything outside of him or around him.  Health comes from within.