skin problems( Need help in South Florida)

[vannessr]

I have a 14yr old Chow Chow, Lexi, who has developed chronic skin problems within the last year or so. She is on thyroid medication. I have tried everything, special food, medicated shampoo, etc. She developed yeast type, scally sores on certain parts of her body. They sores smell . She does not scratch at all. I have an appt with a dermatologist soon. Any suggestions?

[Swerve]

Has her household enviroment changed ? ie, new carpet, grass, fleas, other bugs etc etc etc .

Does she go to a new park ? have you moved house, have you changed her diet ? and so on ?

Good luck but it could be a process of elimenation

[Mia]

And, some chows are allergic to certain kinds of meats and grains. (I even knew one that was allergic to carrots.)
Sometimes allergies appear that were never there before. (It happens with humans too.)
Definately go through the process of elimination.
CoCo chow, who is on this board, also had many allergies and it took her mommy Elodie a while to figure out what is was. That meant going to the simplest of foods and eliminating things one by one.
Also, it could be household cleaners, plants outside, a medical issue.

[Coco Chow]

Yes Coco is allergic too, but now it is under control and she's fine, it was a strong food + strong acarids + a little of flea bite allergies.... I hope a dermatologist will be able to help you as well, please keep us posted when you see one. Because her sores smell, I'd think Lexi's sores needs a treatment badly. I wonder if it could be related to her thyroid problems? Sorry I'm not much help though...

[Mika&Suki]

My cream girl is currently being treated for skin problems. It turns out she's actually allergic to fleas. The fleas (although she doesn't have them anymore) cause her to scratch. When she scratches she irritates her skin and causes juvenile impetigo. Impetigo causes her to scratch, so it becomes a bit of a viscious circle for her. She only has sores on her tummy and under her armpits, but she is bald in these areas as she's scratched all of the fur away.

Treatment is currently Frontline Combo once a month (which treats the dog and the environment), and a course of antibiotics whenever the rash flares up again. I have always used the Johnsons Spot On flea treatment, but this only kills any fleas that are on the dog and doesn't prevent them from actually getting them again (I didn't know this as it's not advertised that way!)

She is now 16 months old but has suffered from an itchy tummy since she was about 4 months old. I, like you, tried everything that I could think of. Changed her diet, stopped her having any kind of human titbits like dairy, wheat, meat etc. Used various allergy sprays and creams, used antibacterial shampoos......nothing worked. It was driving me mad as I just couldn't seem to help her. She went to see the dermatologist for the first time a month ago and she's doing much, much better now. I'm so pleased as it was just awful to see her so uncomfortable and she used to get exhausted from all the scratching.

Please let us know how Lexi gets on with the dermatologist, as I would definitely be interested to see what they say.

Nicki

[vannessr]

Yes Coco is allergic too, but now it is under control and she's fine, it was a strong food + strong acarids + a little of flea bite allergies.... I hope a dermatologist will be able to help you as well, please keep us posted when you see one. Because her sores smell, I'd think Lexi's sores needs a treatment badly. I wonder if it could be related to her thyroid problems? Sorry I'm not much help though...

Thanks for your suggestions, the dermotologist seems to think it may be thyroid related. He has increased her meds slightly for the thyroid for 30 days and took some skin samples to submit to lab. It will take about 10 days for the results. I will let you know the outcome.

[Swerve]

Good luck !!!