Allergies???
 

My little boy has been itching and biting himself for the last couple of days. I didn't really pay much attention to it as the last few weeks have been heck with one thing after another.
Anyway, I looked at my white comforter earlier today, I noticed chunks of black hair. I decided to shave my boy down so I could see what was going on as he has a lot of hair. As soon as I did I notice all these red splotches. Almost looked like big spot of blood right under the surface of the skin. They were all over his body.
Called my vet (which I thought would be closed, after 4 on a Saturday). They said they couldn't get him in today, so I asked if I could give him benadryl for the night.
They transferred me to the vets assistant, who talked to the vet and they asked why I couldn't just come in tonight...ok, sure :cool:
So I went, and first off Sachi has lost a whole pound since last being seen for his physical in March. They said it was fine as he is otherwise healthy. Vet said what he had was hotspots all over his body, basically allergies, and gave him an allergy shot. *He did say other possibility is mites, but how would they get that? No exposure to other dogs and I am clean and wash bedding at least once a week:confused: He also put him on an antibiotic as he said all of the hotspots would turn to sores. Poor baby.
He is passed out now, I think it made him tired, but the spots are dramatically reduced. That cost $125 I didn't have. They said I was lucky and made it just in time to not be charged the emergency fee:eek:

Not a question, just sharing my fun afternoon.

Hot spots are from allergies - go get some nutiva raw coconut from whole foods and put it on the hot spots it will heal them up really fast. Coconut is a natural anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. IT works way better than neosporine did for my dd. IT is going to be a bad allergy season this year our dermatologist said.

Did vet give dexamothesone shot? If so that is a steroid. What antibiotic was it simplicef?

Also did he do a skin scraping to see if mites?

here is some info I wrote on allergies and maybe it will help with your baby

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...y-what-do.html

how old is your baby as allergies start from 6 mos to 3 years

He gave him a Vetalog shot ? and put him on clavamox drops. Sachi is like 5 - 5 1/2 ish - never had any allergy problem before :confused: He did not do a scraping - told me to keep in touch (I go to a vet hospital and my regular vet who works there does not work weekends). Said he doubted it was mites because my other two would be itching like crazy. Plus, I really don't know, but wouldn't I have to be living in squalor for my babies to be getting mites out of the blue? That's what I imagine anyway.
Wondering if something could have bitten him (we have huge red ants here) and caused an allergic reaction. Have no idea.

You can do a Chamomile tea rinse. It soothes the itching and kills skin infection.

Word of caution about fire ants: they can actually kill a dog. If you have them in your yard, I suggest you get rid of them. I walk my yard all of the time checking for those nasty things.
I treat my yard yearly but still have to watch for single mounds to appear.

I don't know that they are fire ants. I just know they are big and red. Have them every year, I just hate them. I don't know that Nevada has fire ants like Texas. I will have to google that.

Thanks everyone. It just breaks my heart to see him so miserable.

And I have never seen a mound. They come out at night and are all over my patio. I did spray last night a little around my patio and front door, but then ran out of spray.

They may not be fire ants. If they are, I don't know of a spray that will get rid of them. There are a couple of ways, but you have to be careful with dogs. The best to use is the one that is granules that you put a TON of water on. The other ones have granules that stay out...those are dangerous to pets.

If they persist, maybe you should call an exterminator. Any ant bite can be irritating. I only mentioned the fire ants because you said they are red. Those things do kill small dogs...they are just awful pests. :(

could be the red ants

They can get demodex which is not contagious to other dogs - but they usually get demodex if immune system is poor

5 hmmm did you change food recently?

At that age on next blood draw I would do 6 panel thyroid add on to make sure not hypothyroid as low thyroid can lead to skin conditions

wow I do not think we have those in california do we? Is that more of a texas thing? Scary never knew about this so thanks for sharing this

Red Imported Fire Ant Management Guidelines--UC IPM

wth first you guys send us mosquitos with heartworm now fire ants what is up with that lolll We use to be free of that stuff - I am trying to come up with reasons to stay here and pay the high cost of living but now not so sure loll. Luckily I do not live in those areas -whew

coyotes are our biggest scare and they are taking dogs out of backyards in broad day light in front of owners :( thank goodness mine are wee wee pad trained. They have told us to put our dogs on leashes if we let them out to go potty now as they are laying in wait knowing from urine and stool in grass where dogs are living and they said to clear all bushes in backyards as they wait in the bushes and when little dogs go out to go potty they jump out of bushes grab them and jump over the fence. They even took a 30lb dog in front of an owner :( 8 dogs have been taken in a month a few blocks from us :(

Great, didn't even think about that. The only thing different with the food is I did give him a little peanut butter in a kong, but that was weeks ago.

Love the new avatar - cute!

maybe hold off on the peanut butter until you figure out what is going on

thanks I had that taken of my demi at a rescue event. She is my petfinder.com pup lol