My dog has red bumps. Can I use Dermalone and Cephalexin together?

It does look like a bacterial skin infection which could have started from a bite. Cephalexin is a very good skin antibiotic. I suggest you take Echo back to the vet tomorrow for a recheck. The vet may want to do a little biopsy to send to a lab to determine what is causing this lesion.

Ceohalexin once per day is not recommended. It needs to be given 2-3 times daily. That is likely why the infection keeps returning- it is probably never completely gone because the medication is not given correctly. A normal course of antibiotics is not likely to damage the liver or kidneys. You are making more of this possibility than you need to. That may happen 0.0001% of the time. I have never seen antibiotics, when used correctly, cause this problem in 25 years of my experience. Antibiotics are very useful drugs and needed in some cases like this. If you want a once a day antibiotic you can ask your vet for cefpodoxime. It is made for once daily dosing. He probably keeps getting these hot spots due to an underlying allergy. You can’t completely avoid this until you identify the underlying allergy. He needs allergy testing. You can try this topical medicated spray to see if it will help treat the spots. ( https://www.entirelypets.com/douxomicro200.html ) You can bathe him with the same product shampoo once a week to see if you help prevent the spots once they are healed. USE AS DIRECTED. ( https://www.entirelypets.com/duoxoc16.html )

Cephalexin should always be given every 12 hrs due to the half-life of the medication, and sometimes even every 6-8 hrs depending on the severity of the infection. There can be a build up of resistance to frequent use of antibiotics, so I would try to have a more in depth conversation with your vet about long term treatment options that can keep Bruno's skin barrier at optimal levels, such as daily fish oils, prescription diets, and medicated shampoo's. Bruno getting Cephalexin at the frequency that he has been getting it should no affect his liver in a negative way or reduce his lifespan, the main concern here is resistance to the antibiotics over time. Best of luck with your furry friend Bruno moving forward and managing his apparent skin allergies and skin infections. Take care!

The Cephalexin bottle should have an expiration date on it. Also it is not recommended to give antibiotics if you cannot give them continuously for at least 7-10 days duration. So if you don't have enough or if they are expired, then I would not proceed with giving Nike the Cephalexin. Also it is good to get Nike re-evaluated because he may not even have an infection if there is no pus or bumps on the skin. The antibiotics in this case would be unnecessary and would not help with his itching. Instead he needs allergy medications +/- topical medicated shampoo's sprays available through your vet. Until you can get Nike in to the vet, you can try over the counter pet formulated fish oils, which helps to provide a natural anti-inflammatory property to the skin. You can also try an oatmeal based or aloe based shampoo topically if you want to try an over the counter approach. Just keep in mind however that most pets with true allergies require stronger meds at the vet. I would also recommend ensuring that Nike is on a high quality flea preventative such as Nexgard, Comforitis, Trifexis (flea and heartworm prevention), Bravecto, Seresto collar or Simparica. This may be a flea allergy that he is having. I hope that you get his itching resolved soon. Best wishes and take care.

I believe I already answered this question in regards to everything except for the last portion about aggression towards vet and medication. If aggression towards vets is an issue, I would encourage obtaining a basket muzzle or traditional muzzle and beginning to train Rambo to like to use them. I know that sounds a little crazy, but it is very possible and easy to do. This will be very important when there comes a day that he absolutely has to see one. If training doesn't sound like something you can do, there are medications that can be given prior to arrival at the vet (or at the vet) to help calm Rambo enough for an exam. As far as treatment, amoxicillin is a reasonable choice of antibiotic for many dermatologic conditions, but in many cases will require three times a day dosing at large quantities for such a large dog.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Yes, but I prefer cephalexin or cefpodoxime for skin infection. The amoxicillin dose for a dog 40lbs would be about 200mg every 12 hours. I would recommend seeing a vet though for appropriate antibiotic therapy recommendations. Topical therapy should also be considered. I typically recommend using a shampoo such as Douxo PS chlorhexidine combination shampoo and bathe twice weekly until the infection is resolved. I also recommend using welactin omega 3 fish oil and essential 6 spot on by dermoscent. Malacetic conditioning spray is also a good option to spray isolated areas on the body where infection is present. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. I am also available via consultation if needed.