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Skin thing again



 
 
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Old February 2nd 05, 10:36 AM
White Monkey
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Default Skin thing again

Hello,

Please ignore any remaining typos--I'm typing this with the "help" of a four
month old monk--errr, baby.

Saskia, our 11-month-old Dane, came to us at 8 weeks old with what we
thought were a few flea bites on her belly. These didn't go away as quickly
as flea bites, and a couple of new ones appeared. We took her to the vet for
her new-puppy checkup and asked about it; the vet said it looked like a
puppy staph infection and we should ignore it for the time being. Well, over
the weeks it spread, and the little red dots began to look more like
pustules. We took her back in, and she also had mild vaginitis, which the
vet said to ignore as long as it wasn't bothering her and we'd see if it
resolved with age. So we were given a steroid cream and a deep-cleansing
antibacterial shampoo for the rash.

At first it seemed to be working--but the rash came back just before
disappearing completely, so the vet said to repeat the course of cream and
baths. It happened again, and we were leery of giving her any more steroid
treatments, even topical. The rash did gradually recede again and was only a
few red bumps that didn't bother her--no licking or scratching, etc. Then
when she was around 6 months old it started appearing on her body, along the
spine. We weren't sure at first it was the same thing, but the belly rash
and the back one fluctuate together. The vet prescribed amoxicillin, which
seemed at first to be doing the trick but the rash came back before we
finished the course, and appeared on her face as well. Still no itching.
We'd also already done a culture and a mite investigation and neither turned
anything up. She has no generalized dandruff or anything, and we cannot
isolate a soap or so forth that she might be sensitive to--so far, nothing
seems to be the culprit.

So we went on to Cefa-cure, and that really seemed to be working, but every
time we'd finish a course, there would still be one or two bumps so we'd
continue. The spots on her back start as lumps, up to 1/2 cm across but
usually more like 3 mm, and the hair on them becomes very loose and pulls
out very easily. These bumps turn into pustules and ooze bloody pus for part
of a day and then immediately heal up, leaving a dark-colored hairless area
that gradually grows the hair back. After a long time with the Cefa-cure,
the problem sure looked gone, and we discontinued it.

There was no further recurrence until a few weeks later when we bought her a
large smoked cow bone. Then the problem reappeared on her face, concentrated
on her lips right where there had been greatest contact with that bone, her
favorite toy/activity for a solid week. So we blame the fake smoking for the
resurge--obviously she's sensitive to some chemical there. We feel, as does
the vet, that this is less likely to be caused so much as triggered by
things like that and stress (she's having another bout of it right now, and
we moved three weeks ago to a completely new environment--from spread-out
suburbs to city with very narrow streets and lots of bustle--and she's on
restricted activity for her strained elbow, which always winds her up, as we
learned from her spay/pexi recovery time and the stepped-on-glass incident).
Since then she does seem to experience (not-so-severe, nor constant)
itching, mostly on the sides of her face where I do not see a rash of any
sort.

The vet's next course of action was to be hypoallergenic food, given the
persistent and fluctuating vaginitis and her oft-dirty right ear as
well--but we have studied this a lot now and spoken with a Dane vet online,
and the hypoallergenic food may be going too far just yet, especially given
the expense and the warning on the bag not to give it to growing puppies. I
started looking into foods. I'd thought she was on a good food, but it
failed that kibble-grading system miserably. I think most likely we're
dealing with an inadequate food as opposed to an allergy or sensitivity--IF
the problem does turn out to be food related. I have ordered Solid Gold
bison and salmon; lots and lots of research and asking around make this look
like a good choice out of what is available here in the Netherlands, and it
has the bonus of having no proteins or grains that are in her current food,
which she has eaten since she was 8 weeks old. Saskia already gets, with her
vet's approval, a daily for-humans yoghurt-cultures drink.

So--any further insights or suggestions on how to pursue this, and how long
should we wait to see if the food is working before asking for a referral to
a dermatologist?

Thanks,
Katrina



 




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