Hot Spots

[greek4]

Rocco has been constantly chewing his arms, feet, legs, crotch, and sides for 2 days now.  Everytime i catch him chewing a spot I make him stop and wipe it with a warm wet cloth.  Last night, he must of chewed one of his appendages until it bleed.  I woke up this am and saw blood spots all over my comforter.  I couldn't find a bloody or raw spot when I gave him a once over this am.  Do you think he is getting itches from the heat?

Here is what I know...
no fleas, whatever it is Maia doesn't have it, it must be all over because he is not particular on what spot he focuses.

Do you think a nice bath would help or hurt him?

[lins_saving_grace]

Did you call the vet?  Maybe he has allergies.  Lady licks and chews when she's bored...and dogs do get mange. 
Call the vet and get their opinion on the phone before you take him in and before you treat it yourself.  You'd see fleas. 

[greek4]

I thought about calling the vet but everytime I do they say bring em in and it always turns out I caught the beginning of something that could of gone bad.  I get the visit cost, the antibiotics, the shots and end up paying out my butt for their weirdness. 

Rocco's List of Weird Illnesses
-his little red rocket was crusted and stuck causing infection after infection
-he ate a pig's foot whole and blocked off his intestines
-he ate a sock and tied up his intestines
-he ripped his toenail off
-he carpet burned his chin and go a nasty infection
-butt blister

Maia's List (a lot shorter only because she is younger)
-nasty UTI
-Hot spots with infection of face.

I feel I should try anything and everything I can before taking him in.  Then I think he is probably miserable with whatever is making him itch so I should just go a head and take hiim in. 

Maybe it is doggie chicken pox!?

[lins_saving_grace]

Do you like your vet enough to keep going there?  My vet insists I try this or try that before I bring the girls in.  That way I have more money to spend on real care for them. 
Call another vet that will do that for you. 
I've never had itches all the time. 
Change your doggie shampoo.  Lady itches if I don't rinse her well enough.  Lady has a broken nail.  Grace swallows EVERYTHING and they both love their pig ears. Grace had a UTI.

[Scootergirl]

try giving him some benadryl. I'm not sure of the dosage, but you can probably find it online. I give my dog chlortrimeton for his allergies - he licks and chews himself raw sometimes. It really seems to help.

[greek4]

I can call the vet place up the street at around 5:30 tonight, I used to go to them but stopped because they aren't that good.  The vet techs are all young and would do anything to keep me from making them have to stay late.

I love my vet, I will be getting a new one soon since I will be moving to Chicago.  My vet is very thorough and has been right about me bringing them in everytime.  It is possible I didn't get all the soap off of him but that was two weeks ago.  He has been spending more time in the shed when he goes outside, he likes it in there, there is gravel on the floor in there.  Plus they have both been going under the deck since they found (and killed) some birds who were under there.  

I have some oatmeal shampoo I can try.  I have some benadryl, that might work. 

Thank you for letting me know it is not just my dogs who eat just about anything.

[lins_saving_grace]

Birds!!  Lice??? Mites??? Does he scratch his ears a lot too?  Ear mites can be treated with stuff you can get at the pet store. 
It shouldn't matter about how long ago the bath was.  It would still irritate him and give him doggie dandriff. 
Oh Grace runs off with hair scrunchies, nylons, socks, underwear, towells, rags, fabric I'm sewing with, string, weeds, grass, sticks...etc.  and it all comes out the next day.  I can't get everything out of there.  She swallows pretty fast.

[greek4]

I swear, it just helps to 'talk these things out'.
His ears might be itching because he has a couple scratches by his face.  It is beauty night for Rocco, bath, ear cleaning, nail clipping, and a nice brushing.

[lins_saving_grace]

Don't forget to brush his teeth.  I need to do that tonight too.  Bad to let them go uncleaned too. 
It does help to air it out.  helps you think clearly. 
But watch him around those birds...such messy creatures.  BLUCHK!

[jabear]

Hot spots stink! Bear has gotten them sooooooooooooo oooooooooooooo oooooooooooooo o many times and it is a guarentee after a bath! It doesn't even matter what kind of shampoo we use, how much we use or how much we rinse. We even towel dry him and then blow dry him with the dog air dryer thing that blows cold air. It is so frustrating. We give him Benadryll too but he still gets them so after a thorough vet visit (new vets that we LOVE) we are going to take him to a dermetologist to correctly identify what he is allergic to.

And to make you feel better, here is a list of things he has had to go to the ER vet for:
1. Eating weed whacker mixture causing uncontrollable vomiting and huge vet bill
2. Swimming in a lake and getting a butt infection causing him to get shaved and get medicine that was awful to give
3. Many yeast infections in the ears
4. Mange as a pup on the forehead and nose
5. Yeast infection on his groin area...nasty
6. Somehow injuring his tail which caused a lot of bleeding and ruining the tip of it which had to be bandaged for a while
7. Spraining his ankle from his legs stopping and his body continuing to move
8. Getting bitten in the tongue (completely by surprise) by a dog who punctured in the entire way through and almost cut it in half
9. A few ticks on the top of his head that were NASTY to remove
10. Most currently eating some snail bait and immediately vomiting it all up (thank goodness) then going to the vet to make sure he was alright

So as you see, you are not the only one with a laundry list of dog injuries...heh eheheh

[greek4]

I can't do the teethbrushing on my dogs.  I can brush my own teeth and the kids I babysits teeth but I gage when I try to brush the dog's teeth.  It's a mental thing I'm sure but I just can't do it.

Wow, Bear is a big eater.  I still would love to know how he hurt his tail!?

[lins_saving_grace]

Again...I am feeling sorry for myself.  First the shedding ... now the eating or miscellaneous household items.  Bear really is the man.  :/

[jabear]

We have no idea how he hurt his tail. We think he had to slam it in something or get it stuck in something becasue he came inside after playing alone in the backyard and when his tail hit the wall there was blood everywhere! The very tip was missing so we cleaned it with peroxide and put medicine on it then bandaged it with gauze all over. I wish I had pictures cuz he looked soo silly. He almost looked like he was part mummy. The tail tip was also very sensitive for a few months after the wound closed and healed up. Now he is fine and it doesn't hurt but if you move all of the hair away and inspect it, it looks funny. My poor boy....who knows what he did. I am just thankful that nothing he has ever eaten or injured has seriously hurt him permanently.

[Angela C]

My girl has been experiencing the same thing right now, her condidtion  also comes & goes. I did finally take to her to the vet & was told to give her Benadryll (a childrens' dose) She's been on it for 5 days & it's really seems to help. Her under belly was quite hot to touch with small red bumps. I was applying a cold, wet face cloths. Hope this will help & maybe save you a few $$$. The vet asked if she was laying in any type of surface, ie. sawdust, coarse grass etc. anything that may have irritated it. You may want to start a list of surfaces your dog layes on. Our strange thing is that she lives mostly inside, so we are stiil trying to find something inside the house that may have caused this flare up. I have switched to a dye free, fragrence free, bio-degradable degerent, with hopes that this may be the source, Have you maybe shampoo'd your carpets recently.

Angela C

[Jaimie]

You mentioned that recently he likes to lay on the shed floor, is it possible that there is something on the floor that may be irritating him?  Something under the deck?