My dog has red raw spots on her shaved belly after spay. What to do?

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The most important part of treatment of a rash is to stop the self-trauma. I strongly recommend getting an E-collar for Bess. Once you have this on, I would clean the rash with warm water, and then dry it very well. If there is yellow/cream/green debris, or the pimples are very numerous, then antibiotics might be required. I would try the e-collar for a couple days, if it isn't looking better fairly quickly then I suggest going back to your vet to discuss if antiboitics are required. There isn't really anything that you can put on it in the mean-time to help with the itch, as steroid creams might make it worse if there is a bad infection. Once you stop the licking with the E-collar it should start to improve. Best of luck with Bess.

So sorry about the problems after your dog's spay. If your dog is licking near or around the incision or at the clipper irritation, then you need to obtain an elizabethan collar or a Donut from your veterinarian or PetCo to help avoid further licking. I would keep in place until you have a chance to reach out to your veterinarian tomorrow, then you might want to drop by and have your dogs incision and skin double checked for any complications and advise as to treatment, if any, Normally animals receive some kind of pain management in the form of oral medication post op for spay operations, so double check that you are giving the medication prescribed or ask for medication when you see your veterinarian. This will help to cut down on licking or chewing. Lastly, there is no harm in applying a small amount of soothing ointment to the skin rash such as Neosporin or hydrocortisone cream a couple of times a day to help reduce the soreness and induce healing of the clipper rash until you can see your veterinarian. Despite you not being able to reach your veterinarian, please follow up with them as soon as you can Monday morning as most clinics want to be sure their animals receiving surgical get support and treatment whenever there is a complication. So e-collar to prevent licking and chewing, soothing ointment, and recheck at your vet clinic as soon as possible. Best of luck, Thanks for the question. Steve Popish, DVM

These spots are usually due to a bacterial skin infection. the round red spots, hesitating in circular darker areas are commonly called epidermal collarettes. A mild antiseptic shampoo for dogs based on 4% chlorhexidine digluconate can be used with good results in these cases. This can be used twice weekly until complete resolution is seen.

I'm sorry to hear that Dakota has been experiencing so much clipper burn, but I'm glad that her incision is healing well. Since Dakota cannot lick her incision (and presumably her paws too), try putting baby socks on her paws so that her nails cannot irritate her skin further should she scratch more. A small amount of hydrocortisone cream applied to the irritated skin (but not the near the incision!) may alleviate Dakota's discomfort. If this issue persists or worsens, I recommend calling Dakota's vet. I hope that she feels better soon!

Hi and thanks for your request. This could be due to a very mild skin inflammation due to a superficial infection. Disinfection for 4-5 days with a product like hibiscrub diluted 1:10 with water will help to sort the problem out.

This presentation could be due to a localized spot of skin infection (likely to be caused by bacteria or fungal). A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics or antifungal meds (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are needed to solve the problem. Disinfection can eventually be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths twice daily for the next 4-5 days. Buster collar may be useful again as well to avoid any licking/scratching (if any) . 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.

The rash is quite extensive, i suspect it might be related to the spay surgical site that has been bothering her, you will need to take her to the vet in order to get some meds to treat this rash, she will probably need a course of antibiotics as well. the surgical incision looks fine by the way so i wouldn't worry about it.