Best Treatment for Hot Spots??

[carolinagirl58]

I got these two new Anatolian pups a week ago. One had a healing hot spot when I got him (I knew about it before she shipped him). Since then, he has developed 3 more bad hot spots just in the last few days. One was bad enough that he got to go see the vet yesterday. They did a skin scraping and thank God it's not demodectic mange. The vet put him on antibiotics and an ointment and sent him home. I have changed his dog food to a lamb and rice based food that has no wheat or corn in the last 2 days, hoping that his hot spots are related to the food he was on (Diamond Puppy food). I am also starting them both on Comfortis for fleas, although I have seen no fleas on them. I am just praying that he either outgrows this or it's related to his diet because this dog was to be a show dog. I can't show a pup that is covered in huge bald healing hot spots. I am just sick over this. If this is allergys, it's pointless to even show him since I won't breed him and possibly pass that along to his offspring. And I can't afford to rush him off to the vet every time a new hot spot shows up. So please.....what has worked for your dog's hot spots? I have got to get a handle on this. Thanks.

 

[MustLoveHens]

Oh I am so sorry about your puppy's hot spots. There are a few things you can do. The best thing you can do, you did by taking him to the vet. Hot spots can become skin infections very easily and it sounds like he got just what he needed. The ointment will help a lot and the antibiotics are a great way to prevent the hot spots from developing into something worse.

Food could be a cause but it will take at least 3 months to really truely determine in the new food you switched to him to helps. It is common to see a change within 4-6 weeks of a switch but it takes 3 months to really see if that food is a fit for the dog.
At our feed store, we tended not to feed "food sensitive" dogs lamb. Lamb can be hard to digest for some dogs. We preferred a chicken and oatmeal type formula. However some skin sensitve dogs could eat lamb and do very well on it.

A grain free might be the way to go with him. I have no problems feeding a food with a grain source, but some dogs just can't handle the "extra heat" grains can provide and this can come out in a form of a hot spot.

My Aussie Ely, for example is very sensitive to corn. He is the only dog I've had in all my years of owning dogs that is. If dh is watching movies he is verboten to toss popcorn to the dogs. One popcorn nugget and Ely gets raging hot spots that a vet needs to treat. He eats all other grains just fine with no skin issues.
Ely can eat a chicken and rice or lamb and rice although he does not like lamb. After a particularly bad hot spot incident, my old country vet actually wanted to put him on a grain free diet. I was impressed the she spoke pet food speak so well. We elected to try either a bison or a salmon. We went with salmon for the oils and after out 3 month feeding trial he had not hot spots and his coat is amazing! Grain free foods tend to be expensive so you will need to research before you buy. I'm lucky in that my closest Costco carries Nature's Dominion grain free salmon for $32.99 for a 40# bag and the turkey is $28.99.

There are some great foods out there that have a grain source. For a large breed, I'd highly recommend Solid Gold Hund-n-floken. It is a lamb and barley based diet with limited ingredients. They do have a beef and barley and a grain free with bison, venison and salmon. That one is Wolf King and the puppy one is Wolf Cub. Those are definitely worth a look. Solid Gold was developed for giant breeds and I fed my deerhound SG. She did amazing on it. I had a customer with a rescued Malamute with horrible skin, he had been working with a vet and a groomer calming down the skin and when the food needed to be changed we went with Wolf King. After 3 months of hard work the dogs skin looked much better and her coat was getting a shine. It took another few months to finally get her in top shape but she did look very good.

Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance is also another big favorite of mine. They have grain frees and grain based diets. The Duck and Sweet Potato is grain free and great for sensitive dogs and they also have a venison and sweet potato as well as a bison and sweet potato and a ocean white fish formula. I have fed Natural balance for years and love the results. Ely was on the venison or years but suddenly seemed to develop some skin/digestive issues with it for some reason, so I switched to the bison that he loved. He did extremely well on it.

Another good food to look into is Diamond's Taste of The Wild. They have some really great grain free formulas like Pacific Stream Salmon and High Prairie that is a red meat based diet and are not to costly.
Evanger's also makes and interesting formula pheasant and brown rice and but depending on where you live that can be tricky to find. Your local independent pet shop might be able to get it for you.

Along these lines, I also highly recommend adding in Solid Gold Sea Meal to his diet regardless of what you end up feeding. I supplement by dogs with sea meal and it gives them extra vitality and they just seem to" shine" more. It also seems to me to help Ely's skin be a little more durable to the little "oppses" and"darns" of accidentally dropping some food item on the floor that he was not supposed to get.

Anyway, If fleas and flea bite dermatitis are involved, it will take a little while to get the skin back to normal. It sounds like you got right on top of getting rid of them then so now it is just a matter if time to let the skin heal. Some dogs are very sensitive to flea spit and he might be one of those, hopefully keeping fleas off of him will help.

I treat my dogs few hot spots with a good hot spot gel or spray and if that does not cut the heat to help lessen the spot in a few days or if the spot get s worse, then they go to the vet. I also have used a cone or e-collar to prevent the dogs from biting the area to help prevent further damage to the skin.

I hope that your dogs hot spots are just a bump in the road and that you can do all the things you want to with him. I will send him some well wishes!
HTH

 

[carolinagirl58]

Wow! Thanks SO much! That's some great information about food. I live in a rural area and there are no Costos here, although there is a costco 2 hours away. We do have a Tractor supply and they sell Taste of the Wild. I put the pups on 4Health puppy food yesterday, which seems to be a really good food, although it's not grain-free. Here's a list of the ingredients.

Lamb, lamb meal, egg product, ground rice, cracked pearled barley, millet, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potato protein, potatoes, oatmeal, tomato pomace, natural flavor, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, salmon oil (source of DHA), potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-Carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.


It's priced well at $29 for 35 pounds too. So you think I could begin to see a difference in a month if it's food related? Seems like I might see an almost immediate difference if it's flea related. So I'll dose them with comfortis this evening and see if he slows down on the scratching and biting. I am reluctant to put the E Collar on him since he and his brother are kenneled together with no way to separate them.

How about benadryl? I know it's safe for dogs. If this is allergy, shouldn't that help reduce the itching?

 

[MustLoveHens]

Yes, TSC's 4Health is a good decent food for the cost. I think Diamond co packs it but I might be wrong. I like the way the label reads especially the barley and oatmeal along with the pre and pro biotics. I have a TSC 40 miles away from me so I forget about what they carry! That is good they carry TOTW.
Yes, I would except to see an improvement in about a month. If you see an improvement and the pup seems to be doing well, continue on it. If you see after 3 months that the pup is doing well and going in the direction you want him too, that is terrific! You might find as he gets older or his "work" demands more from his body then his food can keep up with, then you may need to switch. TOTW is good to have in your back pocket of tricks so to speak!

If you decide to try sea meal you can get it off Amazon at really good prices. I forgot to mention where to get it in my last post!!

With the fleas you will see an immediate difference in comfort level from the pups. You might still see him go at his skin but he is reacting to the issues that he already has but with the vets medicines and ab's I would think you will see a great difference in 2-3 or 3-4 days from the day you started treatment. If you run the course prescribed by your vet and the pup still has issues, I would invest in another trip to see him. Sometimes, animals don't (or the infection doesn't) respond to one antibiotic but will another type. Same with some bacteria's. One ab that should work for some reason might not and another ab will get rid of it. While not super common, it can be common. I would call your vet should this occur. He or she may or may not want to see the pup, and if they are comfortable with dispensing another ab or prolonging the pups current treatment without seeing the pup, then that saves you a call. Your vet might want to see him and that's ok and a good investment to prevent further vet bills down the road.

Benadryl is a great way to combat allergy itchienss in dogs. I have had vets prescribe it. It is a type of steroid however and steroids inhibit healing. I would recommend a call into your vet before you dose your dogs to get his "prescription" of the amount to use. Depending on how things turn out with your pup, if he ends up being just a sensitive guy, then at one point, on his wellness check ups you might discuss with your vet having appropriate medications on had to nip sensitive reactions in the bud and stop those reactions from getting out of control right at the onset of the reaction.
My vet and I have talked about it for my dogs and every year I have written down the amount she wants me to give each of my dogs should I ever need it. I also have a "stronger" steroid that she had dispensed for my dog Toostie who is highly allergic to bee stings. I update my "med" dosage list every year since the weights of the dogs change.

eta: spelling fix

 

[carolinagirl58]

My other option is to ship this pup back to the breeder. I have only had him a week and although I do love him, I am not that attached yet. The breeder has given me that option. I think with his issues, he may be best living in an air conditioned environment, not in a working livestock guardian environment where I may not be as attentive to his every itch. I read on flea allergies and from what I read, he is very young to be having this severe of a reaction to fleas or even food for that matter. I am beginning to think that this condition may worsen as he ages and if it does, keeping him comfortable as an outside dog may be a real challange. I just don't know what to do at this point. SO frustrating!

I am going to order some of the solid gold today though. It looks like a great product for all of my dogs, not just this guy!