Hot spot

[TyChowgirl]

Yesterday, I took Ty for a bath and noticed a giant sore at the base of his tail that hadn't been there the day before. Since I was at the resort, I was able to make a quick vet appointment. He had to be sedated and shaved by the spot. It's a little bigger than a quarter, maybe more like a fifty cents piece. Yesterday, after they did the procedure it looked like a red spot on his skin. Now it's scabbing over black. He's on antibiotics and animax cream. My question is, even if it looks kind of nasty, the scabbing is good right? Poor guy has been whining since yesterday and won't eat much. He has an e-collar on again. I can tell he's in pain Which you wouldn't know he had it before the clipping...Anyone have experience with these so I know what to look for and maybe have some tips to help the healing process along other than what I'm doing now?

[Cocoa]

Cocoa had a small hot spot at the base of her tail when I took her to the vet for her vaccinations and I asked about it at the time. My vet said it is important to remove any scabs and put on antibiotic cream. He said that people tend to make the mistake of thinking scabs are good for healing like they are in people but in dogs it just holds the bacteria underneath which causes infection (and bigger hot spots). So now if Cocoa gets a hot spot I use a warm cloth to soften the scab and remove it and put antibiotic cream on several times a day. Hope this helps you with Ty.

[chowpups]

My Vet said the same as Cocoa's ..Nikki had a nasty one last summer from gnat allergies and the Vet shaved the fur and scab right off and gave me an antibacterial spray and antibiotics..

[mayumiyumei27]

My Candace was 7 months old when she had this. Though we went to the vet and was recommended to give her a Dog spray (Antibacterial Etc) twice a day, my mom and I decided to apply betadine on the affected area instead. Works faster that way actually (For me. since spray sound scared my dog and I think it stings her skin that why she doesn't like it ).

Also, make sure that the area and around it is shaved so that it wouldn't iritate your dog's skin further. I have to do the cutting myself because I don't want to go over the trouble of dragging her on our car just to get her a minor haircut (it's up to you! ). Daily use of E-collar would be necessary for your dog to stop scratching and nipping the wound and avoid it from getting worst.

Overall, You just really have to be persistent, patient and firm with your dog to avoid touching his hot spot and It will be worth it. I had to work with Candace and correct her when she attempts to reach her hot spot, and after over month, I was relieved that it didn't turn into mange. Her hair grew back eventually when the area was fully healed. I'm sure you can do it too! Goodluck!

[Ursa's daddy]

Mayumiyumei27, thanks for the tip about betadine. This also reminded me that gentian violet can be used successfully against some fungus. Malachi will get hot spots, probably from gnawing on a insect bite. We usually will spray the spot with a steroid itch suppressor, then top coat it with some bitter apple to keep him from licking on it, which then makes it worse.

[TyChowgirl]

I think next time I will try and handle it myself if possible. I was already there and it was my first hot spot experience. It looked so nasty! But...the 200 dollar bill...ugh. Most of it was sedation. If I could get him used them and used to the sound and sensation of clippers, it may be cheaper...but I'm not going to practice shaving my poor boy! The neighbor around the block offered her help and advice next time as she has four chows and three out of four have that issue. I think I may order a fabric e-collar though. We're not having any luck with the plastic ones. The fabric ones they had a petco were not quite big enough. It needed to be a tad bit bigger in the neck and in general. He's just so pathetic, I feel so bad!

[Cam Atis]

Why does Ty wears an e-collar. Is it the e-collar as in electric collar?

[chowpups]

The E collar They speak of is called an Elizabethan collar , or also known as a cone collar. it's usually a large plastic cone shape to keep a pet from biting at a area that needs healing.

[mayumiyumei27]

I think next time I will try and handle it myself if possible. I was already there and it was my first hot spot experience. It looked so nasty! But...the 200 dollar bill...ugh. Most of it was sedation. If I could get him used them and used to the sound and sensation of clippers, it may be cheaper...but I'm not going to practice shaving my poor boy! The neighbor around the block offered her help and advice next time as she has four chows and three out of four have that issue. I think I may order a fabric e-collar though. We're not having any luck with the plastic ones. The fabric ones they had a petco were not quite big enough. It needed to be a tad bit bigger in the neck and in general. He's just so pathetic, I feel so bad!

Sorry got the term wrong. I mean just cut the fur the area and around it. Hehehe. anyway I hope your dog feels better soon...

Yea having E-collar sometimes initiates deppression for a dog. What I did back then was practice sometime with candace having her E-collar off, with supervision that she doesn't nip, scratch her hot spot of course., just so i could raise a bit of her ego. Goodluck! keep us posted!

[TyChowgirl]

It doesn't seem too much better and he's bothering with it more today while yesterday we were able to go for a long walk and the park for a bit with no biting! I know they may not be that huge of a deal, but it really bugs me that he has to be kept collared up and that it hurts him so much. I found another one that I must have missed, but I think it's healed on its own. I'm going to have to ask the vet about it on wednesday. It's got skin over the area but it feels sunken in a bit and the ring around the skin is darker and you can feel its a ring. Brian, my fiance seems to think its the food. Mia, my sister in law to be who is a vet tech said to keep him on what I have him on because now we can also rule out any grains and glutens whereas he was on nutro before when we first switched and it seemed to stop. Though that's about the time it got cold, which is what I was telling Brian. I can't be sure. Now he's on Blue freedom. The protein never seemed to be an issue so he's still on chicken. I tried to find the betadine, I'm going to have to go to CVS because they didn't have it at Weis. I've been putting hydrogen peroxide on it in between because that's what Mia said to do. I think it may be environmental...and I don't know that if it is, there's much we can do. He already spends most of his time in the apartment. We go out for our walks and we go to the dog park which is mostly mulch. He LOVES his outside time. I was told test of thyroid, I dunno if they can do allergy tests too and what they run expense wise. I think I'm going to get a credit card for this type of stuff. Normally I'd fetch it outta my savings, but I'm saving for my wedding in July. What a nightmare!

[Sarahloo]

Yes, an allergy test is expensive. Not horrendously expensive, but still. They made me cough up about 100 €, and that was just for the basic food allergies.
It's horrible to be in a situation where you don't know what on earth am I going to feed my dog, nothing agrees with him?! I've been there for quite a while now, and I hate it!
Hot spots are usually connected to heat, I think, when they are connected to temperature, and not to cold. I guess that's why they're called "hot" spots!
I don't really understand why you are self-medicating Ty? Is your vet no good? A hot spot should not be beyond your vet's power to heal! If he/she can't give you the right things to make it go away, maybe it's time for a new vet. Have you already shopped around a bit to see what is out there, vet-wise?

[TyChowgirl]

He's not being self medicated entirely lol. It's just things I was told addition to what they gave me to help the process along or at least make him feel a little less irritated. He's on antibiotics which will finish the day we go in for his check up. They also gave me animax cream...but it's slooow going. Maybe dogs heal slower? And no, I'm not saying my vet is bad. They're more accepting of Ty than the last place I had him which is where I take my cats. They gave me crap about chows the moment I walked in with him as a puppy. It didn't help this was when he was EXTREMELY shy either. He's gotten a lot better, just not at the vets because we're not there for those kind of visits enough which I guess is my fault for not working that into my desensization training. I just don't have a great vet, you know, the ones you know on a personal level and care more about your dog than the average vet. Where I live now, I don't have that close knit relationship like I did in my small town back home. I miss that, but then again I have a chow and not a lab now...which apparently makes all the difference in the world. But I do go to my vet friends who live far away for advice so I don't have to pay out the ears for an appointment. That's how we knew how to switch the food the first time around. That's why we're thinking it's not food. The itchiness went away in the winter. There was not scratching and biting until the pollen started to fly. A little scratching when he was blowing his coat, but not tearing into himself. So now, he's on one protein, no glutens, no grains. He's biting his tail, legs, and lower private areas which is where he sits down, basically. So I'm really starting to believe its outside that's bugging him. I give him an omega 3-6-9 pill to help with the skin and I've been giving him benedryl to help with the itchiness. He's flea protected and I've not found one on him this year yet, I made that a priority as soon as it started to get warm. His flea bites from last summer looked a lot different. These are actually spots...I don't want to shave him...Yes. This is very frustrating. I hate it too.

[Rory's Dad]

Just a thought, but has the flea protection been year round? If you just recently restarted the flea drops, that can be an issue. While effective, the active ingredients can very much mimic an allergic reaction or hot spots.

[Sarahloo]

Poor Ty! God, Chows are so sensitive! Maybe shaving him would help though! Maybe his fur is too thick and his skin can't breathe properly when it gets warmer. He would still look cute minus some of the hair, like a Ty-smoothie!
Is Ty your first dog? Thankfully, we don't have that Chow prejudice here, or I would probably get in a lot of fights with people!
EDIT: they took 200 $ from you for cleaning up a hot spot??? Gollum would call them "filthy thievses"!

[TyChowgirl]

Rory- if believe it if it was his back or shoulders. Didn't have issues with it before. Had him on it previously but thanks for the thought.
Sarah- I don't wanna shave him I'm afraid it won't grow back right. And he is my first as an adult. As a kid I had a lab and a lab husky mix. Lab adopted and husky well he was special and I wasn't as knowledgable then as I am now. I did so much wrong with him. My mom gave him away.

[TyChowgirl]

Lol it was mostly the sedation that cost that much and they're a pet resort. I may switch to banfield..,

[Judy Fox]

A nasty hot spot can be very painful for the dog as I am sure you have noticed and expensive to treat.
In future, keep a good eye on your dog and if he starts to worry some part take a look and try and catch it at the beginning.
Get wome warm water and put some salt in it - just enough so that if you dip your finger in and taste it you can taste the salt. Then gently watch the patch with some cotton wool and the salt solution. Then pat it dry and put some antiseptic ointment on.
This tip was given to me by a vet and it works but best if the developing hot spot is caught early.

[TyChowgirl]

Thanks Judy. I had been checking him over a lot since he started become itchy, especially in the places I saw him trying to nibble at, which at the time was not near his tail! I also checked him while brushing daily and at the time there was either nothing or not noticeable enough to catch my eye. It is in an odd spot. The base of the tail, which I might have missed with the brushing anyways. I actually didn't notice it till I was blow drying his fur and the fur separated. I saw a thing online that said it could develop as quickly as a few hours, I can believe it now! Once it heals I'm hoping I don't have to keep the poor boy in a bubble or in this case cone to prevent it. I'm going to ask the vet about an allergy shot. He was fine all winter. It seems when the pollen flies he's itchy. Thinking back he was sort of like this last year, but it was never this bad and some of it I can attribute to a few fleas. Both flea and pollen season were terrible last summer (especially when they didn't treat our grass outside the apartment >.< every dog in the building had them even with flea treatments) but if it's seasonal, maybe there's some way we can avoid most of this happening. I simply can't watch the poor guy 24/7 to keep him from chewing on himself :/

[Pig]

My four year old Chow has a recurring problem with hot spots. He gets them every four to six months. We visited the vet and changed his diet several times, but nothing is stopping the hot spots from coming back. The last time was particularly bad. Benadryl did little for him, and the vet was recommending prednisone. I have read about the many side effects of prednisone and I am not too keen to put him on that.

I was looking up hot spots on the Internet, and I found a supplement called HardyPet Complete, which claims to work on hot spots. Has anyone tried it before? If you have, did it work for your dogs?

[wokman]

The best cure I found for hot spots is a bath before the on set of the warm weather here in the northern states; followed by increased brushing during the winter coat shedding period. More baths in warm weather to remove excess dirt attracted by skin oils, good breeding environment for bacteria. Two years ago I read a post that said
my Chows never had a hot spot and I hardly ever gave my Chows a bath because I brush, brush, brush all the time.
I do not agree with the limited bathing, though you could wipe the grime off the outer coat with a warm towel.
The areas on the back where the tail lies is a hot spot, so before an infection starts pay more attention to that trouble spot. When a hot spot has occurred I was told to shave the area so it would dry out and use an antibiotic spray; you can spray it on a cotton ball to apply. The alcohol in the spray may sting but it has a drying effect.
My experience has been my Chows have mostly been under treated and sometimes over treated, it is a business you are dealing with and your best defense is common sense for basic care. My female has recovered and is walking again thanks to the skilled neurologist who did the operation; I thank these people for being there when we need them.
Time again for the ear cleaning, must keep one step ahead of the yeast and bacteria infections since Chows have small ear canals.

[TyChowgirl]

Thanks for the advice. We frequent the dog park in town, which is mostly dirt and mulch as it was a kids playground beforehand. Because of that, he gets a bath about once a month. The hot spot has pretty much healed now. There's a tiny thin scab left. He's still itching the back of his legs though. You bet I'm keeping an eye on that! And I've been brushing him more daily now than every other day so I can check him over. He needs a bath, definitely, but we're supposed to be meeting up with his brother tomorrow...so we'll wait! they slobber all over each other.

[Ursa's daddy]

It is possible to condition your dog to the sound of clippers. We had to do this with Ursa. What we did was start out with a hair dryer placed about 10 ft away from where she was fed. We would turn it on about 5 minutes before placing her food bowl. Every few days, we would move it closer. Finally, she would eat with it running just two feet from her. We then repeated the process with the clippers, first starting about 10 ft away and slowly moving closer. I think that recently my wife decided to use the vacuum directly on the dogs, and that went rather well. If so, they are better than I am, because I leave the room when she turns it on.