HELP - Hot spot problem that no veterinary solves

[ldiniz]

Hello,

Blue has 11 months and is suffering from hot spots for the last three months, she gets better after antibiotics but after a while, they came back again in same or different places.

The first time occured when she was around 8 months, I went to a vet, he applied antibiotics and she was fine next day. This happend about 4 times already. The vet said this problem has no solution, only control. But seriously, what kind of control is this? I don't want she taking antibiotics every month...

I think I already tried everything, from different shampoos to less baths or Omega 3 suplements and nothing solves the problem. I think she is changing her fur, maybe this is making the problem worst, i'm brushing a lot to help a little bit.

She always eated Royal Canin Medium Puppy, and it does have cereals and corn, I think this might be the problem. The situation is, there is no cereal free dog food in Brazil, should I swith to natural food or there is anything to try before?

I would really appreciate any imput or sugestion

[Rory's Dad]

Not sure how updated the puppy pic is, but trim the nails down. She may be cutting the skin when she scratches and if not causing spots, certainly will not help them.

[Merlin]

Hot spots are almost ALWAYS food related.
Royal Canin is not considered a quality food and most likely has ingredients that is bothering the dog.
Large dogs as a rule should be weaned off of puppy food very early in their life, because they should be encouraged to mature slowly, and over-stuffed puppy foods impedes that process.

[Rory's Dad]

What about good quality foods that are geared towards large breed pups?

[Andrea]

My chow used to always get hot spots. I did several things, it appeared that she was allergic to fleas but no one was sure about it. So I put her on advantix, and treated my home for fleas big time!. I usually put her bet in the washing machine to make sure any remaining fleas die and used the evaporating flea treatment for the living room. So do that. Also, I changed her food from PEDIGREE to Nature Balance. She is on the duck and sweet potato kibbles and I use the soft food too.

Additionally, whenever I bathe her, I use a medicated shampoo for dry skin.

Do all that! Once the hot spots start put her on antibiotics immediately.

I hope this helps!
Andrea

[ldiniz]

Hello, I´m sorry for the late feedback, I was having issues with my notebook but i'm back now.

Blue is slowly getting better without antibiotics, she is not having baths for about two months to not dry out the skin and she is learning that scratching wont help at all. I'm brushing a lot to keep her as clean as possible and i'm keeping her away of any dirty place. Right now the skin is more "oily" and the soft baby fur is almost all gone, she is loosing way less fur now.

The hot spots are not red, bleeding or anything anymore, right now they are just light pink spots in scratch/bite areas and they are slowly decreasing in size and intensity due to less scratches. There is no blood spots or red/mustard spots anymore. Anyway, these little pink spots are still around and i hope they are gone soon, they look like a small mosquiito bites.

I think the major problems were: Too much bathes (every week) and with the wrong soap, fur change and lots of hurt caused by scratches. I'm not sure if this reasoning is correct, but maybe these hot spots are not 100% caused by food, because in areas were she cannot scratch or bite, there are no hot spots at all, the skin is 100% normal.

Not sure if all I stated above is positive or good, if there is anything wrong please let me know.

Not sure how updated the puppy pic is, but trim the nails down. She may be cutting the skin when she scratches and if not causing spots, certainly will not help them.

Yes, quite old, the nails are trimmed but I will buff them to ensure she wont hurt herself.

Thank you for your help!

Hot spots are almost ALWAYS food related.
Royal Canin is not considered a quality food and most likely has ingredients that is bothering the dog.
Large dogs as a rule should be weaned off of puppy food very early in their life, because they should be encouraged to mature slowly, and over-stuffed puppy foods impedes that process.

As she will be 1yo this month, probably will be a good idea to already start to switch to adult food right? The issue is, here in Brazil we have no better brands, the "Premium" here is Eukanuba, Royal Canin and Hills. I'm not abble to find a cereal free food here.

Thank you for your help!

What about good quality foods that are geared towards large breed pups?

It is ok to feed a chow with large breed food? If it is ok, I will start to look at them. But she will be 1yo now, is it time to start to move to adult food?

The best brands available here in Brazil are Hills, Eukanuba and Royal Canin and they are quite expensive (~100usd/bag) and sold as "Premium". I'm reading every pet food composition and I just can't find one without corn, they all have lots of corn.

Thank you for your help!

My chow used to always get hot spots. I did several things, it appeared that she was allergic to fleas but no one was sure about it. So I put her on advantix, and treated my home for fleas big time!. I usually put her bet in the washing machine to make sure any remaining fleas die and used the evaporating flea treatment for the living room. So do that. Also, I changed her food from PEDIGREE to Nature Balance. She is on the duck and sweet potato kibbles and I use the soft food too.

Additionally, whenever I bathe her, I use a medicated shampoo for dry skin.

Do all that! Once the hot spots start put her on antibiotics immediately.

I hope this helps!
Andrea

Accordingly to vet, she is not in contact with fleas so lukly this might not be the cause. About the the shampoo, this was a great imput, yesterday I gave her a bath after two months. I used an hypoallergenic Brazilian baby soap as the vet recomendadion. I think she was ok with this soap, the bath was quite quick in order to not dry out too much the skin.

I really wish I had Natural Balance available here, it would be great. Anyway I will try to add soft food too, as it's quite oily, might help with skin.

Thank you for your help!

[ldiniz]

Searching more, I found two other options of dog food, they are both Brazilian brands and are sold as super premium. Since Brazilian Royal Canin Medium Puppy is Poultry by-product meal and corn grain based, seems like both of the options bellow are way better options.

The first option is corn free and made to sensitive dogs, the second option seems to have better protein sources, but contain corn gluten. I would really appreciate if someone have any imput in the composition of these, and maybe an opinion of which one is the best option. I translated all the above, so i'm sorry if there is any mistake:


OPTION 1

Equilibrio - Adult Sensitive Dogs - Medium Breeds

Indication

Complete food for adult dogs from 12 months of age of all breeds.

Composition

Broken rice (35%), hydrolyzed soy protein, lamb (11%), brewer's dried yeast, dried beet pulp, chicken fat, refined fish oil, evening primrose oil, calcium phosphate, flaxseed (1.4%), inulin, mannan-oligosaccharides, antioxidant additive (tocopherol and essence of rosemary), potassium chloride, yucca schidigera extract (0.1%), sodium hexametaphosphate, vitamin premix, premix micromineral transquelatado.
Multiple feeding trials with dogs using procedures established by the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) show that Balance ensures a complete and balanced nutrition.
 
Enrichment per kg of product
 
Vitamin A (18,000 IU), vitamin B12 (230 mcg), vitamin C (200 mg), Vitamin D (2100 IU), Folic acid (1.7 mg), Pantothenic Acid (23 mg), copper (17.35 mg ), Choline (1300 mg), cobalt (0.5 mg), iron (200 mg), iodine (3 mg), manganese (80 mg), vitamin B1 (20 mg), vitamin B2 (20 mg), vitamin B6 (15 mg), vitamin H (1.5 mg), vitamin K (1.7 mg), vitamin PP (70 mg), Zinc (230 mg).

Nutritional levels

Moisture (max.) 100g/kg (10%)
Ether Extract (min.) 170g/kg (17%)
Crude Protein (min.) 260g/kg (26%)
Fibrous matter (max.) 35g/kg (3.5%)
Mineral matter (max.) 70g/kg (7%)
Calcium (max.) 10g/kg (1%)
Calcium (min.) 7500 mg / kg (0.75%)
Phosphorus (min.) 7000 mg / kg (0.7%)
Potassium (min.) 6500 mg / kg (0.65%)
Magnesium (min.) 1200 mg / kg (0.12%)
Vitamin E (min.) 600 I.U. / Kg
Selenium (min.) 0.43 mg / kg
L-Carnitine (min.) 200 mg / kg (0.02%)

OPTION 2

Guabi Natural - Adult Midsize Dogs

Indication

Dog food for adult midsize breeds

Composition

Chicken meal, brown rice, chicken liver, chicken viscera flour, chicken fat, broken rice, beet pulp, brewer's dried yeast, canola oil, flaxseed oil, corn gluten*, flavor agent, sodium hexametaphosphate , potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sodium chloride, citric acid, taurine, tocopherol, rosemary essence, prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides, inulin), glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, yucca extract, l-carnitine, beta carotene , chelated manganese, chelated selenium, zinc chelated, mineral vitamin premix.

* species gene donor: Agrobacterium spp, Bacillus thuringiensis and ssp _ streptomyces

Enrichment per kilogram of product

Vitamin A 2100UI, Vitamin D3 1650UI, Vitamin E 500mg, Vitamin K 1.1 mg, 1.6 mg Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2 11mg, Vitamin C 100mg, 16mg pantothenic acid, propionic acid 300mg, 22mg niacin, vitamin B6 1.6 mg, Biotin 0.2 mg, 0.4 mg folic acid, vitamin B12 33mcg, glucan 90mg, 7mg manganese, zinc 165mg, 90mg iron, copper 9mg, Iodine 1.7 mg selenium 0.4 mg

Nutritional levels

Gross Protein (min) 26%
Ether extract (min) 16%
Uminade (max) 10%
Fibrous material (max) 3%
Mineral Materia (max) 8%
Calcium (max) 1.3%
Phosphorus (min) 0.7%
Linoleic Acid (min) 1.6%
Linolenic acid (min) 0.6%
Mannan-oligosaccharides (min) 0.17%
Essence of Rosemary (min) 0.09%
Citric acid (min) 0.002%
Beta Carotene (min) 50mg/kg
Chondroitin (min) 100mg/kg
Glucosamine (min) 350mg/kg



Sorry for the long text, I will really appreciate any imput on these.

[chow4life]

Matilda just got over a hot spot. Vet recommended Vetericyn, gel spray. I put it on a cotton ball and then gently put it on. It will not burn there raw skin. Within 24 hours it was amazing how much better it looked. It's non-toxic so if they lick it it's ok. Kills 99.99% of bacteria. This stuff is amazing. I also gave her Benedryl to help with the itching.

[Pinoy51]

Simba had hot spots with 4 month. He was treated with antibiotics and I got him off cereals containing food, specially wheat containing treats.
He is getting "pedigree" wet food and "holistics" kibbles, plus fish oil with vitamines and minerals once a day.
He is now 13 month and no issue with skin at all.
I bath him once a week with "head and shoulder" shampoo and rinse a lot, really a lot, so no soap residues at all.
Nails are cut and he gets once a month "spot on" to keep flees and ticks away.

Nala follows the same diet and life style . she never developed any skin problems in her 7month of life.

[ldiniz]

Hello everyone,

Matilda just got over a hot spot. Vet recommended Vetericyn, gel spray. I put it on a cotton ball and then gently put it on. It will not burn there raw skin. Within 24 hours it was amazing how much better it looked. It's non-toxic so if they lick it it's ok. Kills 99.99% of bacteria. This stuff is amazing. I also gave her Benedryl to help with the itching.

Unfortunatelly I have no Vetericyn available here, I wish i could use something, but the vet told me to not use anything. Only change the food and wait.

Simba had hot spots with 4 month. He was treated with antibiotics and I got him off cereals containing food, specially wheat containing treats.
He is getting "pedigree" wet food and "holistics" kibbles, plus fish oil with vitamines and minerals once a day.
He is now 13 month and no issue with skin at all.
I bath him once a week with "head and shoulder" shampoo and rinse a lot, really a lot, so no soap residues at all.
Nails are cut and he gets once a month "spot on" to keep flees and ticks away.

Nala follows the same diet and life style . she never developed any skin problems in her 7month of life.

I choose Equilibrio Total because, it seems to be better quality than Guabi Natural. Protein is sourced from lamb and this food got a lot of fish oil, omega 3 and 6 helping a lot with skin. Lets see how she will respond, maybe i will try some vitamin too.

I'm using johnson's baby soap, rising a lot too. Wondering if I should use the shampoo instead. The soap is doing well, not drying too much the skin and the smell is trully cute.

I also noticed blue is very allergic to bones, not natural bones (never tried), but the clean white ones sold for dogs.

What kind of treat chows tolerate well? I suspended all because they all contain too much gluten.

Hope she gets better soon, i will update this post with the results.

[Pinoy51]

I'm giving pedigree denta sticks and nylabone grainfree dog biscuits.
they're made from peas, potatoes,pumpkin, turkey, chicken fat and some berries.

[ldiniz]

I'm giving pedigree denta sticks and nylabone grainfree dog biscuits.
they're made from peas, potatoes,pumpkin, turkey, chicken fat and some berries.

Grain free biscuits, very good, I will try find these here.

Good and bad news, the bad news is that the allergy was the same or even worst with Equilibrio Total.

The good news is, Farmina N&D Natural & Delicious 100% grain free finally arrived in Brazil! Just in time, I purchased yesterday, her belly is a lot better and i think this grain free food will solve the problem. Great news to blue, it's very expensive but if this food get the problem solved it will worth every penny.

[ldiniz]

Hello,

I'm really happy because Blue finally is getting better.

It was definitely food allergy, i'm giving her Farmina Natural&Delicious Lamb and 100% grain free and her skin is improving a lot, right now it's about 90% healed.

She was having small problems with fleas too, and she is for sure allergic to this too, but i found only one in her body and after vet bat, he found another one, so only two, no, major problem. I treated her with Frontline and the house to prevent flea eggs etc.

I really appreciate everyone's help, researching here I found chows do not tolerate grains very well and this was not told me by any vet before.

[Jdcell100]

Blu buffalo back to basic solved my boo boos itching

[Boogie and Linda]

Grains and/or corn in their food and fleas tend to be the biggest triggers of hotspots in my Chows. The flea issue around where I live got so bad last year that Frontline wasn't doing anything. I actually had to switch to Trifexis for my dogs and Comfortis for my cat. We finally got rid of the fleas.

[Pinoy51]

I'm very happy that we could help.
Nala and Simba are also going to minor skin issues right now due to new flea season in the Philippines.
but as long as you know what's going on it is not a big issue.
Surprised that the vet doesn't know about grain allergy, indeed the most common issue in Chows besides flea and tick rushes.

[ldiniz]

I just found my old thread from 11 years ago by searching for "Chow Chow Farmina" on Google—how time flies!

Thank you all so much for your help. I’m happy to report that Blue is doing very well! She still looks and acts like a lovely puppy, and her fur is in great condition.

For the past 11 years, she’s been eating Farmina N&D Prime Lamb and Blueberry, grain-free. It’s still the best dry food I can find in Brazil, although it’s quite expensive here—over $100 USD—crazy country, lol. Recently, Blue was a bit overweight (57 pounds), so I switched her to N&D Quinoa Lamb Weight Management about 1 year ago, and she’s now back to 50 pounds.

However, I’ve noticed a few issues: she seems hungrier than before, has started eating her own feces (which she never did before), and her ears are quite bad. Additionally, she has some small spots on her skin and smells quite bad even a week after her bath. I’m feeding her 2.5 cups a day, and she weighs 51 pounds.

Fleas are not an issue since I give her NexGard every month or Bravecto every 3 months, and she’s flea-free. I’m wondering if these new skin issues and her ear problems could be related to her diet and whether she might not be getting all the nutrients she needs from this diet food.

I’m considering switching to N&D Skin & Coat, but right now only the duck flavor is available. Blue has been eating lamb her whole life. There is another lamb option, N&D Pumpkin, but it contains eggs, which I’ve heard aren’t ideal for Chow Chows’ skin. Another option is N&D Spirulina Lamb, but that contains pork and eggs, which I’ve also heard are not great for Chows.

N&D Skin & Coat has 23% protein, while the Weight Management food had 28%. Considering Blue is 12 years old, is this a significant difference? Should I go back to N&D Prime Lamb, which has 35% protein, or stick with trying N&D Skin & Coat Duck? What’s the best option for her—returning to N&D Prime Lamb or trying N&D Quinoa Duck?

Here are some recent pictures of her. She hasn’t changed much in these 12 years! (The little guy with her is her new best friend, a rescued Snowshoe who now lives with us.)

[Venice B]

Hi, we have 3 Chow Chows. Black one is perfectly fine but red one and blue one is suffering from hotspots.
There isn’t much you can do it can be environmental or trapped moist…
Vets put our dogs on monthly cytopoint but we always shave affected area, clean up with hibiscrub and apply canker powder which is only effective treatment. Hotspot dries up and goes after couple of days. You need to put donut around the neck - hotspots easily spreads.
We are using Cosmo Canker Powder www.canker.co.uk which comes with handy application brush. I think you can find them on ebay too. We’ve tried another brands before but so far this is the best one.