My Great Dane has a skin condition. What's the best way to treat it?

It looks like he might have an allergic dermatitis and skin infection. It would be best to have your vet take a look at him to determine the best way to treat. Your vet can do a skin scrape, cytology, culture, or biopsy, if needed, to help diagnose. He may need an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and/or other medications to help treat. You could also bathe him with a medicated shampoo, like DOUXO® Chlorhexidine and see if that helps.

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 her 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!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on the photos, it appears that Po may have a skin infection. We call this superficial pyoderma. For these, I recommend topical therapy and skin supplementation. If after 10-14 days there is no improvement with this approach, I recommend visiting the veterinarian and having the vet take a look at Po so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further! 1. Douox PS Chlorhexidine Combination shampoo and bathe twice weekly until resolved 2. Miconahex + Triz and spray to the affected areas twice daily until resolved 3. Essential 6 spot on by Dermoscent 4. Krillex Krill oil chews All of these can be purchased online quite easily.

In order to investigate the role of food sensitivities, a hydrolyzed diet such as royal canin anallergenic should be fed for 8 weeks, avoiding all treats and flavored tablets etc. The extent of improved symptoms will give an indication if food is any, all or part of the issue. If limited improvement is noted, transition to a specialized skin health diet such as hills derm defence after 8 weeks. I recommend you contact the dermatologist before you institute changes to confirm this will not affect their protocols

Place an e-collar (cone) on Charlie to prevent pawing or rubbing. You can purchase one from your veterinarian or at most pet stores. This may be enough to allow healing, but if the area spreads or does not heal then she should be seen by your veterinarian. It may be localized bacterial or fungal infection or it could be a mite infection.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This looks like a severe focal infection. I recommend you have her evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment as this will likely require local therapy with cleaning of the site, pain control medications and antibiotics. Also, your veterinarian could check for a possible underlying cause like allergies, mites or a foreign body reaction. Good luck!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Duke. If he's had this before and had antibiotics that worked, I suspect it's a bacterial skin infection. I'd take him back into the vet in the morning. If he does have a bacterial skin infection again, the vet can treat it. I hope this helps!