Skin Problems and Fleas - Please Help
 

Hello!


This is our dog Bodhi

https://imgur.com/Zf9RSmP


Bodhi has a skin problem and it makes her miserable. She scratches a lot, licks her paws, and is unhappy. We've taken her to vets and dog dermatologists but nothing has helped so far. We're reaching out to yorkie owners on the internet in case anyone can help. None of our other yorkies have had this problem, we don't know what else to do.


The problem: Her skin flakes(on her back, not her stomach) and she smells awful year round, bathing only helps for a few days. Sometimes she gets pustules and dark or red spots on her stomach, on the inside of her hips, and around her genitals. The spots sometimes look scabby.


Picture of her belly:

https://imgur.com/PRMiR1H



The the dermatologist said she might be allergic to fleas, they later said her skin is producing a bacteria which would account for the smell. They haven't been able to fix the problem but they've certainly charged us a lot of money. We'd pay more if we thought they would ever figure it out but it's been a year now.



What we have tried: The first vet said it was a food allergy and recommended a grain free diet. We tried several grain free diets and they didn't work. We tried raw dog food too.


We also stopped using shampoo and just used Dr. Bronner's soap.


She has had flea problems before, whatever we're giving her now seems to be helping with that.

We originally were using topical Revolution to control fleas but the dog dermatologist said Revolution doesn't really work. They put her on 1.3 ML of Vectra(topical) and 140 mg Comfortis(oral). We alternate between the two of them, every two weeks she gets one, then two weeks later she gets a different one.

In the beginning we think the meds might have helped. The pustules seemed lessened at least, but now it's back to normal.


If anyone can help us, we(especially Bodhi) would be so grateful. Thank you.

Hi and WELCOME to YT. That picture looks like pyoderma to me, which is common in dogs w/ allergies.

Since you say you've been to a vet derm, why isn't she on Atopica, Apoquel, Steroids, Temaril-P, or even and OTC antihistamine?? What was discussed about allergy testing?

She sounds miserable :(. There are so very many options to try, so I'm kind of confused as to why she's not on meds that actually address her specific issues if she's actually been to a Derm. I guess I'd recommend seeing a different derm then...?

Btw, pyoderma is a bacterial infection and needs prescription antibiotics in order to address it.

All derms generally recommend a fish oil for allergy dogs, I assume she is on one?

Has she been tested for yeast on her skin...has a culture been done?

I agree, a board certified dermatologist should have been able to get to the bottom of the problem and provide an effective treatment. The skin should have been cultured for yeast and bacteria. The bad smell is a clue that something bad is growing there. You might want to find another dermatologist. I would definitely recommend getting the fleas and mosquitoes under complete control. That would mean no extended yard time, and pottying either indoors, or only briefly outdoors, preferably on a porch and not on tall grass.

Thank you both for your replies!

I'm looking over the records now and I've got a call in to the dermatologist so I can ask some questions.

Here's what I see

Cytology - Skin Impression
Skin Scraping
Fungal Culture
Convenia Injection

The convenia injections were given on at least 1 other occasion, possibly 2, and another skin impression was taken for "re-evaluation".

Wylie's Mom, thank you for your reply! They haven't put her on any of those, haven' told us to give her an antihistamine, and haven't had us give her fish oil pills.

When the vet derm calls me I will ask them about all of that, if you can think of anything else to ask, please tell me. Thank you so much.

Pstinard, we take her for walks but otherwise she doesn't like to be outdoors much. We don't have many mosquitos here and the fleas seem to be under much better control. Thank you so much for your help.

Thanks everyone. I'll be better informed once I speak with the vet and I'll post what she says here if you all don't mind.

Just an update:

I spoke with one of the assistants at the vet derm and made an appointment for Thursday afternoon. I should have more info on Thursday. So happy to be able to bounce stuff off all of you. Thanks!

Keep us posted on how it turns out! Wishing you the best!

My 4 month old puppy was just diagnosed with pyoderma a couple days ago. It is very mild right now but looks just like your second picture. She was prescribed an oral antibiotic. This is only the second day on it and she is still biting and itchy, but I'm hoping it works. She has not had the other symptoms you described though.

WONDERFUL :)! So glad you're going back in bc there are so many things you can try.

Here is a good thread to read before your appointment too: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...tart-here.html

OK, so we saw a new doggie derm today. She said the fleas look like they're really under control so we can probably rule out a flea allergy. There is a bacterial infection but she said that, unfortunately, the symptoms of most kinds of doggie allergies are identical, so we can't know which one it is.

First we're going to rule out food allergies. They want us to put her on a diet of nothing but pork, couscous, and canola oil(with a vitamin and mineral supplement mixed in to make sure she gets all the essentials). For 10 weeks she can't eat anything but that, which I think she'll like quite a bit(the pork at least).

Next she's getting an antibiotic to take away the bacterial infection right away, but it will keep coming back until we can find the root cause.

After we rule out food allergies I guess we then would have to rule out the others. They also gave us the list of antihistamines she can take but they didn't recommend omega oils.

Thanks for the help everyone. We'll update you all when we either find a cure or hit a brick wall. Hopefully it's the former! Best to you and your families. Thanks!

I'm glad they're working on it! I'm glad Bodhi likes her new diet--I wouldn't last for two days on it, LOL! Keep us posted on her progress!

It sounds like you're headed in the right direction. I am just going to throw this out there because I have to consider the source, but just by chance there is something to it, maybe.

My MIL has a dog with similar skin issues. Turns out her dog has been suffering from a low grade chronic UTI. She didn't really show signs of pain so it was never tested. She did scratch and lick frequently though so they thought allergies too. Anyways, it seems they got the UTI under control and the skin issues are better too. So I don't know how the two can be related, unless the scratching from maybe itching of the urinary track, led to a chronic skin infection.

Sounds like a fantastic plan! Please keep us posted on how the food trial goes.

Hi omg when I saw your pics esp of the belly it looked exactly like my benny. I have more pics of him in my other thread if you care to see them the flaky skin on the back.

Ok now for my benny I think it was not just one thing. He did have fleas during the summer when playing on grass. I gave him & our maltese Trifexis during the summer months and that helped tremendously. I know folks here think it's too dangerous/harsh but so are the other flea meds so he's still alive and happy.

Another is def keep you dog on a good grain free. Pedigree & Royal canine also attributed to the skin prob & bad odor even though I would bath him. Something like Solid gold, PureVita, Taste of the Wild, etc.

Lastly use med anti itch & skin spray like this EQyss Micro-Tek Medicated Pet Spray or their line of shampoos. You'll notice the skin will mellow out and the odor less & less. Oh if care to do what I did by grooming him to the skin & let him soak bath in epsom salt with the EQyss med shampoo for like 15-20 min that also helped a great deal to sooth his skin. YOu see my pics just after one soak, all that massive flakiness all over his back were all gone with one soak. Good luck and hope Boldhi gets well.

Amazon.com : EQyss Micro-Tek Medicated Pet Spray,...

good luck chester has very sensitive skin andhe gets temaril p for his itchies and he gets fish oil on his wet food every day