My dog has recurring hot spots. How can I heal and prevent them?

HI, it is possible that Rem is allergic to something and these secondary bacterial infections are just a consequence. Have you tried an hypoallergenic diet for him ? You could do a trial with an hypoallergenic diet for 2 months and see of this makes any difference. You would need to be very strict with you, just feeding this diet only for the time being. Initially the change will be gradual by mixing the new food to his old diet. Another possibility is to have some blood test done to try to find out to which substances he is allergic to. Hope this helps !

I recommend to have her examined by the veterinarian again. When pets do not respond to treatment as normal, it can mean the correction condition has been diagnosed. Those spots on Lexy could be several things including allergies to fleas, allergies to something in the environment, food allergy or endocrine disease. Each one of these problems is detected and addressed differently and I recommend to discuss with your veterinarian which one to start hunting down first. Parasites are often ruled out with an oral medication like Simparica. Food allergy is best ruled out with a diet trial using a hydrolyzed protein. Endocrine diseases are detected with blood work. Environmental allergies are a little more difficult to detect but a response to therapy or a blood test can give an indication. Once you figure out and address the underlying cause, the lesions should not come back. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they are unlikely to address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing her diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having Lexy wear an elizabethan collar at all times. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello, and thank you for your question. A recurring hot spot may be caused by a stubborn bacterial infection, or underlying allergies, or both. Did you keep Dewey on the new diet for a minimum of 8 weeks, with no other treats or table scraps, and did the spot come back after you stopped the food? If so, he may have a food allergy and need to stay on a hypoallergenic diet for life. It is also possible he may need something stronger than a topical antibiotic. I would take Dewey back the vet within the next 2-3 days and discuss if he should be on an oral antibiotic for a longer time period, if they suspect a stubborn bacterial infection. They may also want to conduct other tests such as a skin scraping or fungal culture, to rule out other causes of itchy red skin (e.g. mites, ringworm). In the meantime, I would put an e-collar (cone) on Dewey to ensure he does not further damage the skin. I hope this helps, and that your pup is feeling better soon!

Reoccurring skin infections could be several things including allergies to fleas, allergies to something in the environment, food allergy or endocrine disease. Secondary infections from yeast or bacteria are common. Each one of these problems is detected and addressed differently and I recommend to discuss with your veterinarian which one to start hunting down first. Parasites are often ruled out with an oral medication like Simparica. Food allergy is best ruled out with a diet trial using a hydrolyzed protein. Endocrine diseases are detected with blood work. Environmental allergies are a little more difficult to detect but a response to therapy or a blood test can give an indication. Once you figure out and address the underlying cause, the lesions should not come back. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having Sonny wear an elizabethan collar at all times. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat Rover with a high quality flea treatment (e.g. advantage), then get him to 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 discovering the cause of the allergy. Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). simultaneously you should start him on a prescription hypoallergenic diet for at least 2 months. Hopefully you will see some results after all this, if not you and your vet should consider putting him on a long term allergy treatment (Atopica or Apoquel).

Poor guy. Hot spots in an older dog that are continuous is concerning for a few reasons. We worry about the pet having an underlying condition that is causing his immune system to weaken and create these areas of infection, such as Cushing's Disease (an adrenal gland problem), an immune mediated skin disorder, a vitamin deficiency, liver disease, or even cancer. If we don't investigate (i.e. bloodwork, skin testing) what the underlying problem is and treat that directly, then the hot spots will continue. Therefore, at this point I would highly recommend taking George to your vet for an overall health assessment to hopefully get to the bottom of this chronic problem and resolve the hot spots for good. I hope that George's skin condition resolves soon! Best of luck moving forward and take care.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Cooper. I recommend that he sees his veterinarian to discuss longterm management strategies. He could have an allergy to something in his diet, environment or even fleas that is continuing to keep his leg inflamed. He may benefit from a prescription diet trial, an allergy medication such as Apoquel or Cytopoint or prescription flea control. I hope this information helps!