My dog has an infected sore on his head with pus. What should I do?

Sorry to see what's going on with Marlee. The first thing that you need to do is shave all the hair on and around the affected area. After doing this, you can use an antiseptic solution like chlorhexidine or dilute betadine to clean the lesion and the surrounding tissue. This will give you a better idea of how it looks. Based on the picture alone, the lesion looks pretty infected. You can certainly try to treat with just the antiseptic and a topical antimicrobial / steroid, but this may not be enough. In cases like this, many times an oral antibiotic is required to help clear this up. You will also likely have to put a collar on Marlee to prevent her from causing further damage to the area her self. Hope this helps.

Poor little Marlow! This wound could have been caused by another animal or an injury, and it does appear there is a fair amount of pus from your picture. He has to see a vet for it, as he will need antibiotics to treat the infection. You can clean it tonight with warm water and antiseptic soap, but he has to see a vet in the morning for it. If you cannot afford a vet for Marlow, then I recommend giving him to the SPCA in the morning. They can get him the veterinary treatment he needs, as well as his shots, flea medications, deworming treatments, heartworm treatment, and neutered. After that, they can find him a home. Good luck, I hope this helps!

This looks very nasty. This likely is a bacterial dermatitis which needs to be seen urgently by a veterinarian. Unfortunately these tend to spread like wildfire, Maybe you could ask your vet to see you inbetween clients. If that is not possible, I suggest clipping as much hair off the wound and around it until you see healthy skin, You will be surprised that the sore is much bigger than it appears, Once you have done that, wash it with some chlorhexidine or wound wash available in your pharmacy or drugstore, Pat dry, and put some Neosporine ointment on the area, Unfortunately there are no OTC pain killers available for this kind of wound. Your dog will need to have another wound treatment at your vet and will need oral prescription antibiotics and possibly will be given an ointment. Do not put any ointment on the lesion tomorrow before you go to the vet so he can examine the skin properly. Do not let your puppy lick this wound. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

From the pictures, the skin appears red and inflamed. It does look like it is infected. While this may not be a true emergency, I would recommend getting in to see your veterinarian very soon. Pookie will need the area shaved and cleaned up. Your vet may prescribe an antibiotic for this as well depending. Until you can get to your vet, you can keep the area clean and dry and use a mild soap and water to clean the wound. If Pookie is licking it, you can put on ECollar on her to prevent licking.

The spot in the picture looks infected, it will need to be clipped and treated with antibiotics. he will also need to wear an e-collar in order to prevent him from licking the area and making it worse. i would recommend taking him to the vet in order to get it treated.

This sore could just be from an injury. I would gently clean it with warm water and antiseptic soap. To keep him from scratching at it, you can put an Ecollar on him. You can get one at a pet store or make one at home. Keep the wound clean and dry, and monitor it for signs of infection. If you see redness, swelling, warmth to the touch, or pus, then it is infected and he will need to see the vet for antibiotics to treat it. I'd also have him seen by a vet if the sore doesn't appear to be healing over the next week. I will put a link below on how to make an Ecollar at home. Best of luck, I hope this helps! http://dogsaholic.com/care/homemade-dog-cone.html

Based on your photos, it appears that Marley has a skin infection. I would recommend having a veterinarian take a look at this so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps! If you are unable to get to a veterinarian right away, I would recommend the below following products which can be found online quite easily. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. 1. Douxo PS Chlorhexidine combination and bathe twice weekly until resolved 2. Douxo PS Calm mousse and apply once daily until resolved 3. Welactin omega 3 fish oil capsules and give as directed on bottle 4. Malacetic conditioning spray and apply to affected area twice daily until resolved 5. Essential 6 spot on by Dermoscent