Skin problem all Summer

[Sully]

Hi everyone,
We are struggling with Beau's skin this Summer.. Here is a run down of what's happened..
Beginning of Summer was all good through June. In July he went swimming for the first time, and after the swim they all came home for a bath and grooming. We bathe the newfs with medicated shampoo in the Summer bc both Sully and Beau often get skin problems over the summer. Its antifungal/antibacterial etc. After his bath he was blown out skin looked perfect. About two or three days after his swim and bath, he became very itchy and had pimple like bumps all over his front legs, chest and in some parts on his belly and back legs. He had an issue last Summer ( tho not as severe) and frequent medicated bathes took care of the problem - we like to try to do things as natural as possible - so I started to give him baths a few times a week with the medicated shampoo - it did nothing this time. All his undercoat fell out and he was getting bald patches from where he was scratching and chewing - he really wasn't pretty. I have NO idea if swimming set this off, or it was just a coincidence in timing ?? He was bathed and fully dried after swimming so it doesn't make sense to me.

Took him to the vet, vet prescribed antibiotics and steroids to help calm his skin as it was starting to get really bad. Steroids definitely calmed down the irritation, was on them for about a week and a half. Vet said hard to say what could cause the skin problem, most likely allergies.

After the course of antibiotics and steroids, he was okay for a few days then he started itching again and bumps pussing again. Back to the vet, he prescribed a longer course of antibioics, and longer course of steroids. When he is on the steroids he is all good!! He was on them for about 3-4 weeks, his hair was growing back in, he was not itchy or anything. Well the steriods finished about a week ago, and of course hes right back to getting bumps and itching and scratching.

The last couple of days i thought I would try giving him allergy pills to see if that helped, I really dont like steroids and don't want him back on those as he was already on them for such a long time..
The allergy pills are helping him in the sense that he is not itchy and so he is no longer scratching, but when i look at his skin he STILL has little red pustule bumps on his front legs and chest... and back of his back legs. These are the only areas affected.

Beau is three and a half now, and we have never had this issue before. Like I said last Summer he had a staph infection but with two weeks of medicated baths he was all healed up, it was NOTHING like this. Stumped as to what could be causing these bumps and itchies. Wanted to see thoughts and opinions on here before we contact the Vet to bring him back again.... I really dont wan't him on steroids/antibiotics. sorry this was so long, and thanks in advance!!

 

[Cutiemus Maximus]

Oh man, this sounds like an ordeal for both of you! Admiral has occasional skin problems, and usually a couple days of applying Remicin ointment will clear her up. It was originally prescribed for an ear infection, but it's antifungal/antibiotic/anti-inflammatory so it always worked great on her skin. She's had both fungal and bacterial skin infections so far, and so have a lot of other Newfs I know, so maybe it's just an unlucky year for skin

 

[nowhavethreebears]

Gabriel was on Simplicef for six weeks then Amoxi for two more. He got Melaseb baths twice a week. His also started as little pus filled pimples that opened into sores.
He is mostly healed in this picture. He had the sore all over his back and both flanks. This started in April and the hair is just now growing back in.
He has never ever had a skin problem before either and he is nine.
He was never on steroids because he never scratched...Didn't seem to bother him at all. I thought he got it because the groomer used a dirty clipper blade on him, but I guess we will never really know.

I know it was frustrating trying to get rid of it and it seemed to take weeks to see any real improvement.
I hope poor Beau feels better soon!

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Have you changed any foods in the last 6 months? Can you get pictures? Last year Myra had what I would say were pus clusters (pyroderma) all over her body. I believe it was due to the fact she's allergic to lamb and I fed her lamb. I had changed her food a few months earlier because of a recall.

p.s. if you search her name, look for last years thread, sometime I think around July it started...take a look at the picture, see if it's similar.

 

[chumleysma]

I truly believe there is a bad allergen that becomes airborne in the fall which is when my dog is at his worst. At present, he has slight red bumps on the belly which was shaved so we can spray an over the counter topical steroid (I don't want steroids taken internally). I also learned that he cannot swim in the local creek in the fall as he gets VERY itchy with red bumps even though I shampoo and blow dry, makes no difference. He can swim in the local creek in mid summer with no reaction. This makes me think something that blooms or peaks in the fall (leaves, ragweed?) is getting into the creek. Interestingly, my mixed breed now 8 yrs., healthy his whole life, is itching now too. Just to be sure they're given their monthly frontline for one advantix for the other. Vet told us to get that allergen off their coat before bedtime. So, they get showers and blowdry once a week and a dry coat blow with the ever powerful K-9III blower three times a day then back into the house with windows closed and a/c on.

 

[DAWNMERIE]

So what do you make him start the dryer himself, Stacy?

(and yes, I do believe he could if you taught him!)

I do believe it's ragweed that's so bad this year, also think that cause we had the August weather in July, it came on faster this year. But we've actually had luck with raw, with Miss Myra this year. We've had a few spots but nothing....NOTHING like what we've been dealing with for years. Knock on wood, throwing salt over my shoulder and saying a prayer I'm not jinxing myself by talking about it

 

[Sully]

Thanks Dawn, I searched for the thread and found it. The picture of what she had looked so painful!!
Beau's isn't that bad, its more a red bump, and some of them may have a bit of a pustule in the middle. I looked him over this morning, the red bumps seemed to be faded red spots now, they seem to come and go in cycles, and in some spots I guess where they burst, his skin looks yellow and just really flakey and crusty, it's just yellow flakey skin coming off. He never bothers with the flakey spots, he only chews and is itchy when the bumps are fresh and just starting their new cycle. Cycle seems to be, red bumps with pustules, pustules pop, red bump turns into faded red spot, some spots get flakey as it peels away the pus that came out, and then it starts over. Once this yellow flakey skin flakes off, his skin is normal underneath but then it starts over. Even when he was on steroids and antibiotics, it never went away completely, the bumps were still there just really faded and didn't form any pustules, they didn't bother him at all. I took pics of his flakey patches this morning:




His food was changed back in May, but it wasn't so much a change as it was just a regular rotation. We switch their food twice a year, over the Summer they get a salmon based food, and over the winter they get a turkey based food. The foods are both grain free and by the same company, the only ingredient different between the two is that the first ingredient is either Salmon, or Turkey. The rest of fruit/veggie ingredients are all the same. And he was on this food last Summer and Summer before with no problems..... Perhaps he just developed a allergy this time?? Is that possible? but to SALMON?? We can switch them back sooner to see if it makes a difference. We just switch their food to get different protein sources in their diets and give them some variety.

If it were an environmental allergy, wouldn't the allergy pills stop the bumps from coming?? He is on allergy pills right now, and although he is not itchy he is still getting the same bumps.

Edited to add: I know food allergies can cause ear infections/problems as well, his ears have no no problems at all!

 

[charlieinnj]

Emily,
If it were an environmental allergy, the allergy pills wouldn't necessarily stop the bumps from coming...they'd simply lessen the bodies reaction to the allergen.

What brand of food is he eating? Any other treats?

 

[BlackLightning]

The way you described it Em sounds exactly like what we went through with Boum this Summer. His skin is STILL flaking off.... but in our case, I think they were fire ant bites. They looked exactly like pimples, then burst, yellow crusties, and then dry flakey skin that he is still fighting.

Difference is that they didn't ever come back. Since Beau's keep coming back, I'm not sure..... just hope he feels better soon!!

 

[chumleysma]

...All his undercoat fell out and he was getting bald patches from where he was scratching and chewing -

I think the vet should have done a skin scrape with a scalpel to check for mange: demodex, chyletiella, or sarcoptes. Demodex in particular can have red bumps and yellow scabs as you've shown. The scrape will come back negative if the vet does not scrape deep enough to get where they reside below the skin surface. Therefore, the scrape should have a few RBCs in it before looking under the microscope.

How can they jump right to allergies with this if they didn't rule out the mites first? They should check for a yeast skin infection too. I've been seeing some fecal specimens with rare to occasional mites, but not all mites are mange mites, i.e. grain mites and "chiggers" which I've had...very itchy.

 

[Sully]

Well the vet didn't completely rule out mange. He actually mentioned it first and asked if our other two dogs were having the same symptoms. Since Sully and Tux are both fine with no skin problems, he thought it would be something else, like maybe allergies, bc mange is supposed to be contagious. The other two still have had no symptoms

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Sorry for the book, and if you use Revolution, I think that takes care of mites. We thought that one year. The allergy pill will just calm the itchiness and relieve some of the symptoms. Myra's would start out as pimples, she'd scratch, then pop and she'd itch some more and then we'd have infection if I could not control the itch. The healing of some of hers looked very similar. Her pink skin right under her mouth and on her chest would also go bright red (being a Landseer you could see the redness of her skin easily) I've kept logs on her since it began, both Vin and I have discussed all the realms of possibilities. Did you see the year prior's pictures? Pictures in that one are different also and that year we did have a flea issue but last years issues were a combo (IMO) of both food & environmental allergies.

You mentioned that it also happened last year, roughly the same month? How long of a time frame did it last? Myra's allergies did not come on until after she was a year old and it has progressively gotten worse, she's 5 now. I think Dr. Dodds has a saliva swab allergy test for foods if you might suspect that. We did the blood allergy test, which is both food and environmental triggers (around $600 here) We also did the antibiotic & steroid roller coaster numerous times and if things didn't change this year that would be our route...lowest dose possible to make her comfortable from Aug through Nov but it started early again this year, late June, she had spots...so we have been messing around with raw and so far so good. I do say that I currently suspect it's the ragweed or the grass that our lawn consists of. After it started this year, for about a month she refused to go to the bathroom on our lawn, only went on the rock and ivy....and her spots cleared up, no real walks cause it's been to hot. She does still have a funky smell, so I know it's still there but it's so much better. We bathed her about 2 or 3 weeks ago and when blowing her I noticed 3 spots close together, I cut the hair, dried them and then she connected the dots anyways and made it one huge hot spot about the size of two fists length wise, right where her rear leg meets the body, another very tough spot. We decided more raw and other than that one, what she has this year has been for the most part easily managed and her itching is what I would say is normal and not excessive. I guess what I'm trying to say is to keep track of dates start a notebook with dates & issues and a picture diary isn't a bad idea either. I hope it's not allergies and just a persistant fungal or bacterial infection that can be taken care of with the proper antibiotics. If you'd like more info on what we have been through pm me, anytime.

 

[chumleysma]

The vet ruled it out because the other dogs didn't get it? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but dogs with healthy immune systems can usually fight off demodex mange. Those with weakened immune systems show the symptoms. Chyletiella and Sarcoptes would fall under the contagious label. Is he waiting for your other two dogs to get the mange, before he tests Beau? If the vet won't test the skin for mites, bacteria, and/ or yeast overgrowth, then you could ask him politely to do so. If those are true negatives, then go in the direction of allergies. Just last month I brought my dog to the vet for the second time in 3 weeks because he was getting sicker and sicker. I was initially told he was getting older and perhaps allergies and sent home. I went back 3 weeks later and TOLD the vet I wanted him checked for lyme. The vet was rambling on about allergies. The test came back positive.
I truly wish I knew what it was causing Beau's problem skin. I'm just trying to think of skin issues you and your vet can rule out before advancing to allergies which are a puzzle in and of themselves i.e. environmental vs. food. Have you thought of dipping him, just as an experiment? It might help if being bitten is the cause of the bumps/scabs. Or how about Revolution as Dawn mentioned? Good Luck.