My dog has scabs on ears and blisters on paws. What should I do?

Poor Wyatt! I'm glad to hear that he's heading to the vet tomorrow. The scabs on his skin could be a result of a bacterial or fungal skin infection (these often occur with underlying allergies), ringworm, or mange. Any of these issues can worsen until necessary medication is started. Allergies can occur to flea bites, food, or environmental sensitivities. Make sure that Wyatt is receiving a high quality flea and tick preventative, such as Nexgard, Bravecto, or K9 Advantix II. Tomorrow, your vet will be able to perform any necessary diagnostic tests, such as a skin cytology (to look for signs of bacterial or yeast overgrowth), skin scrape (to check for mites causing mange), or a fungal culture (to check for ringworm). From there, oral and/or topical medications can be started to help resolve this issue. I hope that all goes well!

Poor guy. I would recommend having Baxer seen by your vet for something like this. He may have an underying skin condition such as demodexx mites or a staph infection that is causing these skin lesions. His skin needs to be tested and possibly cultured to determine the underlying condition so that he receives proper treatment. I hope that your pet Baxter gets well soon. Best wishes and take care.

This appears to be some sort of topical dermatitis. It can be caused by an underlying allergy, a bacterial infection or a fungal infection. You will most likely need to put a topical medication on the sores to help them clear up. You can try some triple antibiotic ointment at home and see if that helps. If not, you will need to take Chico to see your veterinarian. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

It looks like Archie does have a skin infection of his paws that would likely benefit from prescription Simplicef (oral antibiotics for the skin), a 2 week course of Apoquel (a non-steroidal allergy medication, an e-collar as well as dose of one of the newer oral flea/tick preventatives that also treats mange such as NexGard, Simparica or Bravecto. An e-collar for a week plus a medicated antibacterial/antifungal shampoo such as Malaseb for the paws would be helpful as well. It may have started from paw licking from stress or from environmental allergies leading to a secondary bacterial and/or yeast infection of the paws. Your vet can do a skin scrape to try to rule out mange, or switch him to NexGard to see if it resolves the lesions. Congrats on your new baby and good luck!

I would recommend doing testing on the ears to find out what is causing the scabs. If your pet is outside a lot, then flea bites are possible and it is recommended to purchase flea bite repellent at your local pet store to start, followed by topical triple antibiotic to get the scabs to heal. If your pet is kept mostly indoors, two common causes of this are demodexx mites or a yeast infection. Also another condition called ear margin vasculitis could be the cause. Ear margin vasculitis is a spontaneous condition where the vessels at the ear tip margin become inflamed creating a scabby appearance to the skin. Since all 3 of these look very similar it is important to get testing done in the form of a skin scrape/cytology and/or skin biopsy because each is treated so differently and it takes out a lot of the guess-work. Therefore scheduling an appointment with your vet is needed for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Hi and thanks for posting! The area by Jax's tail looks red, inflamed, and infected looking. Sometimes when an area is infected, it can itch. I would recommend Jax see his veterinarian so he can get on some antibiotics. Until you can take Jax to his vet, I would recommend keeping the area clean with mild soap and water or a mild cleansing wipe a few times daily. I'd also recommend keeping Jax on a monthly flea preventative as fleas can come back even after a flea treatment and it only takes one flea to cause a severe flea allergy. Best of luck to you and Jax and I hope he is able to see his veterinarian soon!

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Poor Jake! What kind of Mange did Jake have? If he had demodex it is unusual for a dog his age to have it and I would be worried about an underlying disease causing immunosupression (cancer, Cushings, etc). Demodex can affect the feet. I would keep him on one of the oral flea and tick preventatives like Nexgard, Simparica or Bravecto. They all get mange as well as fleas and ticks. Other possibilities is an underlying skin infection with yeast or bacteria. You can try to bath his feet daily in a medicated shampoo and leave the lather on for 10 mins before rinsing. Ideally Jake needs to see a Vet for his skin. I wish you the best! http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?w=malaseb%20medicated%20shampoo