Mona
Well-Known Member
Shimmer(my Boxer that will turn one year on Saturday) has had some skin problems recently. She has off and on, has "sores" on her muzzle, under her chin and on the top of her head. They are itchy. Then late this Fall, she got a huge "rash", like little red bumps all over her belly, inside of her back legs etc. It cleared on it's own over time. She also gets a rash like thing on her legs. Also had a couple spots that almost looked like ringworm on her back legs.
Had her to the vet. He did not know exactly what it was, so tried a few simple things to start with. He said it was NOT ringworm, which I didn't think it was, because Molly, our Boston is not showing any signs of anything Shimmer has. He did a skin scaping to check for mange. She doesn't have the one type that is highly contagious, nor fleas/lice, because again, Molly is fine and those are all transmissable from one do to another. They did a skin scraping for the type of mange they can pick up from their dam, and it can come back from time time up until they are a year old, and nothing showed in that. They have also been on the heartworm stuff that is supposed to take care of fleas, lice, etc., so it shouldn't have been those either.
The vet put her on 10 days of antibiotics as he feels some of the skin issues are a fungal bacterial thing, and also I was giving a no name Benadryl med to help control the itching and allergy symptoms. She had sores as I mentioned/described above, and and was losing hair in a patchy pattern along her sides. You could not see the missign hair when looking in the direction of the hair growth, but if the light shone against the lay of her hair, you could see it then. It too was itchy. Sores on her head, legs, belly and under chin...was MAJORLY itchy, and she stunk too, no matter how often she was bathed and the bedding changed. He gave me a medicated shampoo to bath her with twice a week for 2 weeks, and another product that you put between the shoulder blades...it is a heartworm thing too, but it also covers mange, in case she did have that from her dam. So hopefully, between all of that, something will help her. I hope it is not going to be some sort of skin allergies she will have to be battling with for life!
She is done with the baths, and had the first of the 3 heartworm stuff to oput between her shoulder blades, and has completed all her pills. Now that I have stopped giving the allergy pills, her eyes seem "goopy" again, which she normally alway has, but it did seem to be lessened with the meds). She is starting to itch a little again too.
I asked the breeder about this, and she now informs me the sire has allergies, but since she switched feeds to a lamb/rice/chicken/rice forumula, he has not shown it in 2 years. Wish I had known about his allergies BEFORE I bought the dog. Are allergies somewhat hereditary? I am going to try switching her food too, hopefully that will work, but wondering if any of you can offer any expeience or knowledge with this type of thing??
Had her to the vet. He did not know exactly what it was, so tried a few simple things to start with. He said it was NOT ringworm, which I didn't think it was, because Molly, our Boston is not showing any signs of anything Shimmer has. He did a skin scaping to check for mange. She doesn't have the one type that is highly contagious, nor fleas/lice, because again, Molly is fine and those are all transmissable from one do to another. They did a skin scraping for the type of mange they can pick up from their dam, and it can come back from time time up until they are a year old, and nothing showed in that. They have also been on the heartworm stuff that is supposed to take care of fleas, lice, etc., so it shouldn't have been those either.
The vet put her on 10 days of antibiotics as he feels some of the skin issues are a fungal bacterial thing, and also I was giving a no name Benadryl med to help control the itching and allergy symptoms. She had sores as I mentioned/described above, and and was losing hair in a patchy pattern along her sides. You could not see the missign hair when looking in the direction of the hair growth, but if the light shone against the lay of her hair, you could see it then. It too was itchy. Sores on her head, legs, belly and under chin...was MAJORLY itchy, and she stunk too, no matter how often she was bathed and the bedding changed. He gave me a medicated shampoo to bath her with twice a week for 2 weeks, and another product that you put between the shoulder blades...it is a heartworm thing too, but it also covers mange, in case she did have that from her dam. So hopefully, between all of that, something will help her. I hope it is not going to be some sort of skin allergies she will have to be battling with for life!
She is done with the baths, and had the first of the 3 heartworm stuff to oput between her shoulder blades, and has completed all her pills. Now that I have stopped giving the allergy pills, her eyes seem "goopy" again, which she normally alway has, but it did seem to be lessened with the meds). She is starting to itch a little again too.
I asked the breeder about this, and she now informs me the sire has allergies, but since she switched feeds to a lamb/rice/chicken/rice forumula, he has not shown it in 2 years. Wish I had known about his allergies BEFORE I bought the dog. Are allergies somewhat hereditary? I am going to try switching her food too, hopefully that will work, but wondering if any of you can offer any expeience or knowledge with this type of thing??