My dog's lip is pink, swollen, and wounded. Is it fungus or allergy?

This presentation could be due to a trauma or localized spot of skin infection (likely to be caused by bacteria). A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are needed to solve the problem. Disinfection may be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any scratching. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be infection or mites.

First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.

 If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy.

 Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollins, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello. Without a clear picture, it is impossible to assess what might be the problem. Since cleaning the area has not helped ( have you been using a mild skin cleanser such as one with chlorhexidine? ), this might be some kind of allergic irritation. These can especially show up if the feed &/or water bowels are made of any type of plastic. Always use stainless steel or ceramic dishes. If this does not seem to be the case, then the best thing is to have your veterinarian take a good look at the skin. Your vet can assess the area, do some rather simple skin scrapes or hair analysis to see if this is an allergic, inflammatory or infectious process. Good luck & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern! Based on the photos you provided, I would suspect this to be an allergy or dermatitis from some type or irritant. Lip fold dermatitis can occur where there is excess skin causing saliva to become trapped leading to inflammation / irritation of the skin. I would recommend using the below products, which can be found online quite easily. I hope this helps! If there is no improvement or the condition worsens, I would recommend having a veterinarian examine Annie so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. 1. Douxo PS Chlorhexidine combination shampoo and bathe twice weekly until resolved 2. Malacetic conditioning spray and apply to the affected area twice daily until resolved 3. Zymox topical ointment and apply twice daily until resolved.

From the picture it actually looks more like a deep skin infection to me. This could be bacterial or fungal, or even a hypersensitivity reaction (less likely). I would recommend that she be examined by your veterinarian soon. They may look at a sample under the microscope to help determine what therapies might be most helpful. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. From the pictures I can see that the skin has darkened in the area around the mouth. It is common to have some hair loss at the elbow since this is a pressure point and bigger dogs lay down on this part of the leg quite a bit. Many times I will see callus formation near the elbow as well. As for the mouth and the crusted discharge you saw, it could be a bacterial skin infection or fungal as well. I typically recommend using malacetic conditioning spray and apply this 2-3 times per day until resolved. If there is no improvement then I would recommend having a veterinarian take a look at this for further testing and treatment recommendations.

Poor guy! Your can try this: It won’t hurt him if he licks it off. However, if it’s not improving in 5 days or so, I would recommend that you schedule a recheck with your vet. I’m worried he may need antibiotics, as he may have a deep skin infection. If it continues to be a problem , a skin biopsy may be recommended. Thanks for asking PetCoach!