Hello Everyone. This is my first post, as I am a new member. Thank you in advance for any help. I appreciate it very much, as my lab in all sense of the words, "part of my family." I was just putting on some paw balm on tonight, and her paw pads have been a bit dry and sore. While doing this (I put her literally belly up on the couch to moisturize her paws), I notice a crusty red rash on her belly about the size of a quarter, were she does have much fur. The crust was relatively loose, and I easily peeled it off after I took a picture of it. It must be very new, with a day or 2 at most, since I've been moisturizing her paws almost daily and at the same time I've been vigilantly looking for any signs of "ticks" on her since she is not on any tick medications right now. In 10.5 years, she has rarely been on any preventative medications, since she has had bad reactions to them. However, we test her regularly for everything. We have only once had a tick on her almost 2 years ago, so I'm more vigilante now (even though we live in the city/suburbs). She had surgery 10 days ago, so she has been confined to the house and occasionally the backyard (since it's been raining a lot lately). I looked her all over for any critter. Nothing. I also checked her bed/crate, couches (pretty much everywhere she goes) for critters. Again I found nothing. I'm just wondering if anyone has any input on what it could be? It's a holiday weekend her in Canada, so I can't get any input from the vet until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Again, any input would be most greatly appreciated! - Bob
Hi Bob, sorry to hear that you're dealing with an issue with your dog. To upload photos you need to use a photo sharing site, then choose the 'share' option to get the code to put into your post (I think, it's a while since I've done it). Or you need to upgrade your membership of this site, so you can upload pics directly (they must be no more than 1000 pixels wide). To be honest though, it is pretty much impossible to diagnose a skin condition over the internet, and we are not vets. The good thing is that a skin condition, while being something that a vet does need to see, is not an emergency situation. So I think it is best just to call the vet as soon as they are open during the week and make an appointment to have it looked at. Take along the pics on your phone. I would also leave the rash/sore/scabs alone now, as disturbing it might make it tricker for the vet to diagnose what's going on (so it's good that you have the 'before' pics). Try not to worry in the meantime as usually skin issues are easily treated or managed.
Hi Rachel. Thank you for the reply. It's funny, I tried viewing this thread from a another place (ipad - and not signed in), and I can see the images perfectly. Either way, upon inspecting the "lesion" tonight, I noticed another one about 1.5 inches beside it. This one was must smaller, at about the size of a dime and still fully covered in a crusty shell. Upon some further research/googling.....I'm 95% sure it's "Ringworm." She is almost 11, but looks not a day over 7, and acts like a 2 year old. She has never has ringworm, but it's been the most rainy/damp spring in Southern Ontario. Plus she had a really weird nail growth excised via laser about 10 days ago, that may IMO have had some weird fungal properties to it which could have opportunistically spread.
Ella had ringworm last year. It looked like this It took about 4 weeks of medication to clear up and we had to retest to confirm it was gone. Our dog club also required confirmation before we could go back to training.
Our dog Obi had ringworm (I've replied in your other thread) and it appeared as round areas on his inner thigh, inner ear and outer thigh. The spots were scaly (I wouldn't say crusty exactly) and the fur fell out at those spots. Kinda looked like Ella's eye above but in a circle, about the size of a...um...I don't know how big Canadian money is but about 1-1.5cm in diameter.
Happy Canada Day. I'm putting black tea solution on a few spots Oban has on his groin. I think they may have started as bug bites and didn't heal up. It's humid in his groin and we have had very humid weather. This is per my Holistic/Integrative Vet. I don't think this can hurt and it may help. I like a vinegar/witch hazel 50/50 solution too but NOT on open sores, vinegar stings.
I think you'll have to re-post them using the "upload file" button. Make sure they're max 1000 pixels wide or high.
Update #2: Went to the Vet today. She thinks it's a "Staph" infection. She checked under the ultraviolet light which shows like 50% of fungal strains, but none showed. So it could still technically be "ringworm." We did a "DNA sample" test to be on the safe side to rule out "ringworm" (as I have a major surgery myself coming up, and need things to be as "sterile" as possible to avoid my own complications). She gave me some "4% Chlorhexidine Gluconate" to cleanse the area with daily for 5 days. - Bob PS. Can you see my pic above now?
