Staph Infection going on 2.5 months - Need Advice
 

I just don't know what to do :confused:

On March 27, I noticed Roxy had a about 3 little red pimples by her pee area. I thought it was b/c I had't wash her privates in a few days and/or she was sleeping all wrapped up in a fleece blanket and it was just too warm for her. I gave it 2 weeks and it cleared, but then when I groomed her (shaved her belly) they started to come back, so I started to wash her belly and privates every morning and every night. The pimples would clear for a few days and then another would appear. All this while and even before over the winter Roxy has started to itch. I have them on a Raw food diet, so I don't believe this is a food allergy.

On May 19, I took her to the Vet, for shots and to talk about these pimples. He said she has a mild staph infection, he said it is probably a result of her itching over the winter probably from allergies of some sort, maybe around the house. Gave me clavomox (2x a day) for 10 days and hydroxyzine (antihistamine) 2x a day for 10 days.

Day 8 of Clavomox - Roxy develops pure mucus poop. I continued the antibiotics 2 more days, and Roxy had mucus water poop for the next 2 weeks.

Her pimples sort of clear, not gone all the way, but looking better. But she is starting to itch alot again. June 11 I picked up some more hydroxyzine to give for another 10 days.

I bathed her on Saturday 6/16 with Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo, and I made sure to really scrub her skin and rinse her really well too. But I also shaved her belly again. Her skin looked really good until tonight. Since all this happened, I have started to really inspect Roxy's skin, I checked every inch of her skin tonight and I have found alot of the little red spots, some pimple (pus) like and a handful that the pus must of opened and dried and is orangish dry flakes.

She is sleeping now, I gave her the antihistamine around 7 pm. She will still scratch here and there, but her skin broke out alot, not just on her belly, but her right front arm, down both sides of her back, by her back legs, her butt, her neck.

I just don't know what to do for her. I don't want to keep putting her on antibiotics, especially if they give her mucus poop for a long time.

I went searching online and read to keep her skin clean. And I found this:
http://petsbestrx.com/ingredients.htm

Should I bring her back to the Vet :confused: :confused: :confused:

Can anyone relate? The Vet did tell me that this may come and go her whole entire life :eek: :eek: :eek:

I just want her to be better, the itching has got to be beyond aggravating for her!

What to do - What to do???

I bought this shampoo for my atopic dermatitis dog dee dee and it is a good shampoo - i have the orange one for staph - honestly though do not wash too much as it will aggravate - for bacteria infections which is staph u may need to use keta chlor from vet as my dermatologist said it has best results as opposed to malaseb. Keta chlor is an antiseptic and anti bacterial hypoallergenic shampoo for skin infections. What you are describing is the probs i have with dee dee - how old is your pup? as allergies happen from 6 mos -3 years - go to a dermatologist as they are far more educated than a vet and save your money but getting to a specialist as it sounds like your pup may have allergies such as atopic dermatitis. Dee Dee just had crusties all over her skin and she was on simplecef and they have to be on an antibiotic for 21 days to kill an infection or it will come back. Simplecef is expensive but it worked and easier on stomach than clavamox.

I just remembered that the dermatologist said to put neosporin on the pimples when you see them as well

don't know too much about it TLC but I just had a thought. When you bring her to the surgeon make sure you point them out to her and perhaps there's a dermatologist in the group. Good way to sneak in a visit while you're there!

I also know if there's any kind of skin lesions they usually won't operate. Make sure Dr. Hinton is aware of where they are on Roxy so she can check.

Hugs.....

Poor baby - that's really strange. Could there be something outside or in the house that she's coming into contact with ? Laundry soap maybe ? Do you treat your yard ? Rugs ??? I'd be going nuts trying to figure out how to solve that kind of problem and I hope you find answers....What about some Cortizone cream ??? that's susposed to be really good for the itchies.

Thanks everyone for your responses. Roxy is 2.5 years old. Over the winter she had dry skin. She also had really really bad red tearing. I bought Eqyess Med. Shampoo cause I read it on here. I bathed her a few times with it (every 2 weeks) and I would use it to try to get those red tear stains to go away. Well, it wasn't working, in fact it seemed to make her dry skin worse, and now she has started to itch a lot.

So that's when I started with the Raw Food. And I bought a sensitive skin shampoo from Espree. Then the pimples began, and more itching.

I started to give her 1/2 of a fish oil capsule. I bought Organic Virgin Unrefined Coconut oil. Then to the Vet and got the Clavomox. And all that I wrote from above.

So, I did a little searching last night online and I think that the Eqyess shampoo was really bad. It has Sodium Laurel Sulfate, which I read can cause more skin problems.

I am going to get some Grapefruit Seed Extract today which I have been reading is an excellent anti-bacterial soultion, and I am going to add a drop to another all natural shampoo I bought Wholistic Heavenly Herbal Pet Shampoo (contains no Sodium Laurel Sulfate).

Lastnight, I dipped a q-tip in Tea Tree Oil and then I let in sit in a small cup of water. I dabbed this soultion on every single red spot or pimple I could find on Roxy. This morning, the spots were a lot better. I had to put a tiny bit more on only 2 - they seemed to have been more at a pus pimple stage. She was still itching this morning, so I did give her the hydrozyzine pill.

Yorkiemalt, I was thinking the same thing. I do have Roxy scheduled for surgery next Weds., but I want Dr. Hinton to examine Roxy and I want to show her the pimples and explain that the Clavomox didn't work, and it made her sick as well. I want to see if a Derm. can see her and I will suggest the Simplecef that dwerten recommended in her posts.

And than lastly, I think I will suggest we postpone her LP surgery. I don't want to take any changes, and being that she had a big flare up lastnight when I got home worries me. I'd rather try to keep her cleaned up and to try another round of antibiotics and see if we can get her immune system to a better place than it is right now and then do surgery. :)

I will let you all know what happens tonight. I have a 4 pm appt. I probably won't be able to get back on here until about 7 or 8 pm.

Just got home from seeing Dr. Hinton. We both felt that it was best to postpone her re-LP surgery until Labor Day Weekend. She doesn't want this 'mild' case of skin infection to turn into a 'major' knee infection.

She felt it is seasonal allergies and it should clear up and in the fall she will be better suited for major sugery. So, yes it is confirmed that Roxy's left leg is now luxating again. Not big time, but her knee cap 'can' slip out from time to time. Dr. Hinton said it probably doesn't do it often, but from time to time if she happens to be in a certain postion it can.

As far as the skin infection, she gave me Cephalexin for 2 weeks. She had the Simplecef but the pill would have to be cut into 8 pieces :eek: So the Cephalexin is liquid and easier for me to give.

Keep your :xfingers: for us ;)

I hope the new medication works! That poor girl is having a tough time of it lately....:hug:

Sorry about the knee TLC....:hug:

Thanks Kim...Do you remember what I said yesterday???

"Part of me wishes Dr. Hinton would say she doesn't need surgery"

I wish it were completely true, but since she still needs it, I want Roxy to be 100% healthy for it :) The time was just not now :rolleyes:

I remember TLC....I was hoping against all hope that she'd be fine.

sorry Roxy is having bad skin problems. It was best for her to postpone her surgery so that a huge infection won't occur. The surgeon i work for would have done the same thing. Whenever we find a bad skin infection we hold off on surgery until it clears up a lot.

i do think seeing a dermatologist would help if the cepha doesn't clear up the staph infection. It could be that Roxy has just developed allergies and your vet is right, it could keep showing up for the rest of her life.

Good luck with the new ABs and hopefully her infection will clear up by labor day weekend and she can have her LP surgery.

I know with tea tree oil it helped a golden I had a few years back, he would get hot spots all the time and I bought some plain tea tree oil at walmart and put it in his shampoo and he never had another hot spot at all...they say tea tree oil will cure anything...I hope she gets better soon, bless her little heart...:)

Aww, I hope things get better for Roxy soon. You are being a great mommy, looking into ways to help her. Hopefully you'll find a solution soon. Could she have any food alergies that are making her itch? :confused:

Get well wishes for Roxy, hope it all clears up and fast. I noticed you mentioned Staph infection...was a culture done, with a sensitivity, to show which antibiotic will fight this particular germ? And my other thought was you mentioned after grooming/shaving it may seem worse...have you tried to sterilize your grooming equipment? With Staph they need only a small opening or wound to cause an outbreak, such as razor burn...and then of course if she itches...it spreads. I don't know if this will help at all, but it may be worth a try. I truly do wish Roxy well, but not all infections respond to the same antibiotics...a culture will tell the vet a lot. Good luck!!!

Thanks for the suggestion to sterilize, I am going to do that from now on.
I do have to say that this new antib. Cephalexin is working. Also today I will bath her and I am going to add a drop of Grapefruit Seed Extract to the bottle. ;)

Keflex
 

The holistic doctor put dd on 25mg of keflex (cephalexin) when she had a fungal infection but read about it on petmeds - I had a friend that her dog was real sick on that drug. the derm recommended simplecef as easier on the stomach - dd would throw up on keflex - just a thought

always read petmeds.com for each drug,etc as seems vets rush you in and out and do not explain a lot about the drugs they give - that has been my experience - however once you leave you own it :( in my experience as well i always do pill form no liquid if i can help it as that wrap in a towel does not work with my tazmanian dd - amazing how a 5lb dog can fight - yikes

Thanks for the info. So far Roxy is doing good on the Ceph. She is on day 6 and has to go until day 14. I don't see any side effects so far from this antib.

But I will watch her like a hawk. ;)

that is great :) ok another thing the derm said is antibiotics have to go for 21 days to completely kill infection any sooner the infection can come back as it seems it is gone but not completely internally - signs are gone but infection is not so double check with vet as dd was on clavamox for 10 days before which was not long enough and infection came back :(

Oh ok. Her Ortho Specialist (that's who I saw last) gave me the Ceph. and it says for 14 days. It is liquid, so I don't know if I'll have more than 14 days.
She said to follow up with my general Vet. Should I make the follow up on the last day of what I have now and ask him to give me 7 day supply?

Antibiotics work differently for different ailments. After your 14 days are up i'd go back to your RDVM and have them check her out and possibly do another skin scraping to make sure the infection is gone before just putting her on more ABs. She may not need the extra dose.

hopefully it will all be cleared up soon so she can have her 2nd surgery

I am not a vet or anything...had many dogs...variety, not a yorkie, but my experience recently was with a border collie...
My Angel was on meds for infection, then on meds for an infected tooth...tooth removed...then meds for afterwards...
All of a sudden she went crazy....running around...itching...has raw infection on her bottom...and some growth dried...in areas....

WE QUIT THE ANTIBIOTICS! She settled down within a couple hours,
she quit going crazy...no more meds...
Spraying the area with "Bactine" spray and doing much better...clearing up the raw infection and the dried whatever....
By the way...the vet had no idea what the dried clumps were...NO IDEA!

Dogs are not used to all the chemicals...in medications....the antibiotics actually strip their bodies...of the immunity they need...go back to the old school basics...with our furry friends...!

Hope this helps your yorkie...!
Angel is much happier not on any meds...no antibiotics...
Antibiotics do have their place and can do some good...but the more we gave her the worse she got, one thing led to another and ....2 months is too much in my opinion....that is what we found out anyway..!

Have a great day! Just passing through surfing....probably wont be back...but i read this and felt compelled to offer what we learned...

We've battled with staph infections w/ Barney.
Ceph. never worked, neither did amox.
What works best for us is what the vet derm recommends.

simplecef x 3 weeks
Mupirocin ointment on the open crusties 2x a day
baths with Maleseb

Also - one time my former vet gave B a shot of the steroid vetalog -- totally complicated matters!!

good luck, try the simplecef, it is great for the skin. As for mucous in the poops, we have success with probiotics and avoid wet poops!

This is a very old post, but Max has the same symptoms. Has gone through the same at the vet. I have over 500.00 in the vet right now. His skin is so dry, is there any thing I should do different?

We did 3 weeks of Simplecef for Barney and he's all clear now. I'd go to a dermatologist vet if you haven't already.

staph is tough to get rid of and can keep coming back if not killed

We used simplicef and you have to do 25 days of antibiotics for skin or it will come back. They usually try simplicef first but my dd got hives on it which is very rare. So we did skin culture and used clindamyacin this last time but it took two rounds of 25 days to kill it.

Also a good topical shampoo to help kill it is duoxo chlorhexedine or benzoyl - chlorhexedine is much more mild than benzoyl and not as drying so it is the first choice by our dermatologist.

It adds up quick and why when skin related i go straight to a derm now - ends up costing less than dealing with regular vet as they can figure it out much quicker and know how to kill it faster as many vets do not treat on antibiotics long enough and it comes back if you do not do 25 days.

When my dog was on probiotics and raw coconut oil she never had these staph infections but i took her off like an idiot a year ago and it was not fun she ended up getting clostridium and staph. The clostridium cleared up fast with the probiotics but the staph was a battle. I have her back on probiotics and once blood work done she is going back on coconut oil as coconut is a natural antifungal and antibacterial healing the dog from the inside out and it worked for years and probiotics are not enough so i now see the coconut oil helped as well.