bald patch on the butt (close-up)

[Coco Chow]

Coco is not on heat anymore, it's been a few days now.
When I was brushing Coco earlier today, I noticed she has a bald patch on her butt, close to where she was bleeding during the heat. The skin is all dark and looks like leather.

Has any of your chow got this before?
Should I be worried about it?
Is it possible the blood "burned" the hair or can it be something else??

[bubba]

whats the vet say .. pehaps wash with iodine theraputic soap never a bad idea ,, i am unsure of the intricacies of being female , what a shot, Cream Chow booty in the morning ,, you should send that pic to Herold Stern

[kiwani]

It may be a malassezia yeast infection. That can darken and thicken the skin. If she's been licking the area during estrus, that would contribute to creating an hospitable environment for the yeast.

Another factor to consider is whether the urine and vaginal-flora are acidic enough to keep yeasts in check. Are you feeding a lot of fatty/starch treats or cheeses? Those would feed yeasts. Are you supplementing with probiotic capsules?

In the meantime, you might try wiping that area with a yeast-fighting diluted vinegar/water solution and use a drying agent such as the powders we discussed recently.

[Coco Chow]

Yes she's been licking the area when on heat but I thought it was to keep it clean...

I give her less cheese now that I have those dried natural treats, but she eats cheese everyday for sure. She loves a Laughing Cow after her daily grooming... I didn't know it would cause a problem... Should I stop cheese??

For the probiotic capsules, I want to give her some but I still haven't find the right pills because I've been lazy. Would they help? I thought they were for intestinal comfort no?

you might try wiping that area with a yeast-fighting diluted vinegar/water solution and use a drying agent

Thank you so much.

I'm affraid we might be on our way to the vet tomorrow morning, just to be on the safe side.
My BF joked a few days ago. He said now that she turned 8 months old, what will we bring her to the vet for? (Never for something serious, but we bring her every month).

[Red Dragon]

Actually I have seen alot of females like that. When they go in heat that whole area swells up and gets puffy, even flopping around on some. If they sit on concrete or another abrasive surface it wears the fur off and they get little bald spots. My take on the dark color is that they then get sunburn, but that part is only a theory. It happens all the time, nothing to worry about and it should be back to normal in a couple of months.

[Coco Chow]

Ok, we're back from the vet.
Like Red Dragon says, he thinks because of the heat, the area had swollen and caused problems.
He gave her a shot of something and she now has a cream for the area and pills to take for a week.
He told me those breeds, like the chow chows, they are great fun but they always have skin problems.
I was like, tell me about it.

[kiwani]

Yes she's been licking the area when on heat but I thought it was to keep it clean...

Yes, she was licking to keep it clean, but the food particles in saliva also create an hospitable environment for the yeast to flourish on the
skin. Those streaks in the fur are yeast colonies.

The malassezia yeast also lives in the vaginal-tract, and can grow out of balance. If you do a search on malassezia you'll find that some of the symptoms include darkening skin, and leathery thickening of skin, as you described.

I give her less cheese now that I have those dried natural treats, but she eats cheese everyday for sure. She loves a Laughing Cow after her daily grooming... I didn't know it would cause a problem... Should I stop cheese??

Cheese would feed the yeasts, and starchy/fatty treats would feed the yeast.

For the probiotic capsules, I want to give her some but I still haven't find the right pills because I've been lazy. Would they help? I thought they were for intestinal comfort no?

Probiotics are the 'friendly bacteria' which create an inhospitable environment for the yeast in the gut and also in the vaginal-tract.

[Coco Chow]

Yes thank you Kiwani I did the research on Malassezia, it's true the symptoms looks like what she has...
I'm hoping the treatment the vet gave her will heal her bald butt, whatever caused it. By precaution, I will not put her pills in cheese. I hope a piece of fish will do.
Also, I found a store selling organic food and pills close to me, I'll go with Coco this afternoon and we'll buy her some probiotics. I wish I could call you from the store and you tell me which one I buy! I feel like I'm going to a wizardry shop and feel a bit lost.

At the vet, I found out that the brown bald spot you see on the picture on the left, has a little brother on the right too.
The Nationals is Saturday, I'll be the only one with a bald butt chow!!

[kiwani]

I wish I could call you from the store and you tell me which one I buy! I feel like I'm going to a wizardry shop and feel a bit lost.

I'm sure the 'wizardry' shop will have the probiotics capsules. The label will mention something like 'acidophilus/bifidus' or 'bifidobacteria/lactobacilli' and the potency is around 5 billion CFU. These capsules are usually kept refrigerated in the 'wizardry' shops

During estrus 'heat', the hormones change and that also contributes to changing the yeast balance in the vaginal-tract. The probiotics help keep things in balance.

[Coco Chow]

Well, I found "Lactobacillus Acidophilus" pills in the shop, between the soy milks bottles and the weird fruits.

I don't know what CFU is?
It says on the box that 1 pill has 10g of Lactobacillus acidophilius, with 40 millions of living cells in each at the time of the product fabrication.

You say it should have 5 billions? Did I buy the wrong product?
The 90 pill bottle was expensive...

How many should I give per day then?
Will it still make Coco some good? ?

[bubba]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_acidophilus

[Coco Chow]

Thank you Bubba.
They say Lactobacillus Acidophilus is very good for a number of thing because it provides health benefits, and in the end they say there's no proof taking it as a nutritional supplement is doing any good? Grrr...

[kiwani]

I don't know what CFU is? It says on the box that 1 pill has 10g of Lactobacillus acidophilius, with 40 millions of living cells in each at the time of the product fabrication.

CFU is the unit of measurement and that's usually how the potency is labeled here. I'm not sure if you're saying that there are 40 million units *total* in each pill. Are you sure it's a 10g pill? Here's an excerpt from the probiotics thread concerning dosage for pets:


"Dosages of acidophilus and other probiotics are expressed not in grams or milligrams, but in billions of organisms. A typical daily dose in people should supply about 3 to 5 billion live organisms. One popular pet supplement provides 500 million viable cells to be given per 50 pounds of body weight. The suggested dosage range of probiotics for pets is approximately 20-500 million microorganisms. Because probiotics are not drugs but a living organisms, the precise dosage is not so important. They should be taken regularly to reinforce the beneficial bacterial colonies in the intestinal tract, especially in dogs under regular stress, which may gradually push out harmful bacteria and yeasts growing there."

[Coco Chow]

Ooops, sorry I made a mistake, it's not 10g...

I'm trying to translate from French:
"Ingredients (for one pill):
lemon pectin .....................100mg
lactobacillus acidophilus ............10mg
(40 millions living cells*)

Other ingredients: microcristallin cellulose, silice, vegetal cellulose and purified water.

* = At the moment of the fabrication."


Does it make more sense?
Do you think it's ok to give her and if yes, 1 per day or more??
Thank you Kiwani.

[kiwani]

Does it make more sense?

Yes, because 10g would be more like a horse pill


I suppose you could try giving her one with breakfast and dinner...

[Coco Chow]

We'll try the magic pill tonight. As she's on medication right now for that bald spot, it's probably a good moment to start.
Thanks!

[Coco Chow]

It's a US product, I just found the link online! That's the bottle of pills I bought for Coco: http://www.naturesplus.com/products/pro ... umber=4480

Well, sorry for my previous approximative translation.

[chow fancier]

Actually, I am always impressed with your command of the English language. Our U.S. culture is so ethnocentric most of us speak only English and not necessarily very well. Europeans have a much more reasonable outlook. When I was in high school (way back in the 70's) I had a friend who was an exchange student from Finland and spoke 5 languages fluently. I was so impressed but she told me that was normal in her country.