hi, our cane corso has started getting hot spots. From my research best thing is to clean with bedatine or colloidal silver and apply vetricin, aloe, gold bond powder, or acv.

She had one on her chest, we cleaned with salt water, dried and applied gold bond powder, went away nicely. Thought that was the end of it, she has folds on her chest and imagined it was from swimming etc.

another one appeared and its on her face and nasty red bumps in it. same routine, getting a bit better but not much, yellow gooey stuff too. I clean it after dog park and lots of times a day.

ive been reading theories as to why and says immune system is not up to par, and spinal alignment could be off.

We changed her food a bit then went back then back to reg food, but don't know if last hot spot coincided with food change. Just a different brand, chicken still.

What do you guys find works best? How do I keep them from appearing? Why are they appearing suddenly? She has gone 8 years without getting one? She has a face wrinkle where hot spot is, seems to be where her folds are, as moisture collects there I imagine. She seems sadder than usual but maybe that's me putting my emotions onto her. It hurts her when I clean it, poor girl.

Allergy is part of it, and diet can sure contribute. Basically what happens is that the skin breaks down. Staph infection, yeast contribute. Being wet, dirty, germy (as in a skin fold) is a major contributer. So are fleas. A tiny wound, wet dirty hair (all hair is dirty from a germ perspective) and in a susceptible dog a hot spot begins.

If you can catch a hot spot forming very early a cortizone ointment can sometimes shut down inflammation and nip it in the bud.

There is an underlying reason. Betty mentioned the major ones, and staph and/or yeast often go hand in hand with allergies (including flea allergy dermatitis).

I'd want a derm vet visit.

thx, we are going away for the wknd and cant get her in til Monday. We are going to shave the area and bring the cleaning solution and polysporin with us. We should be rinsing and drying after swimming where her folds are correct? Also the thing about the wound made me think that my malinois bites at her jowls in play and she sometimes has a scratch there, maybe that's how it started. Also we started adding raw tripe to their food...could this be why?

our clippers suck, taking her to a groomer to get it done.

 Quote: Cat Richter

thx, we are going away for the wknd and cant get her in til Monday. We are going to shave the area and bring the cleaning solution and polysporin with us. We should be rinsing and drying after swimming where her folds are correct? Also the thing about the wound made me think that my malinois bites at her jowls in play and she sometimes has a scratch there, maybe that's how it started. Also we started adding raw tripe to their food...could this be why?

Well, it doesn't sound so much like a nip-wound, especially when you add in all the other hot spots, but I don't know (and I'm not a health professional). Also, hot spots often start on the head (or chest).

About allergies: Other dog allergies are far more common than food allergy. That is, flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) is number one, and number two is inhalant/environmental, and food trails far behind. (Of course, this means nothing to the dog with a food allergy.)

And then, often hand in hand with the pruritis of allergies, yeast and staph are also problems in and of themselves. (But yeast and/or staph can also be introduced in other ways, like swimming in bacteria-heavy water and/or remaining wet in the folds. And that's just one of many ways.)

There is an underlying cause. The hot spot needs treatment, absolutely. But that's just step one.

I have saved a good page on this. I'll hunt it up.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=1330



P.S. I empathize. Been there with derm issues -- much more than I would have liked.

Thx Connie. Ill check out the article! Groomer couldn't shave too much as too painful and he also said food allergies usually dont cause hotspots on the face. She definitely swims in less than clean water..well wades in. She doesn'thave fleas that I can tell. I just dont get why now? Definitely will probably go to vet of not a lot better by Saturday. I dont want a bunch of steroids or something? What do vets usually recommend for hot spots? I try to be as natural as possible with my dogs.

Thanks

If it's short facial hair I wouldn't attempt to shave it especially if it's in a fold. It will just cause more irritation. You need to keep it clean but not irritated from being cleaned constantly.

Yellow goo indicates an active infection. I would be visiting the vet to knock the infection out and then planning on regular wrinkle care. The last few times people have mentioned little red bumps it's ended up being a staph infection and you don't want that traveling especially if it's close to the eye area. I don't think a dog with a possible staph infection should be going to the dog park.

For my Boxer I wipe his face folds out every night after dinner with just a wet washcloth followed by a dry towel. He has one fold by his eye that has a tendency to get a bit raw and nasty looking if he doesn't get his face wiped. I don't scrub it or use anything. It just prevents the crud from accumulating.

 Quote: Cathy Goessman

If it's short facial hair I wouldn't attempt to shave it especially if it's in a fold. It will just cause more irritation. You need to keep it clean but not irritated from being cleaned constantly.

Yellow goo indicates an active infection. I would be visiting the vet to knock the infection out and then planning on regular wrinkle care. The last few times people have mentioned little red bumps it's ended up being a staph infection and you don't want that traveling especially if it's close to the eye area. I don't think a dog with a possible staph infection should be going to the dog park.

For my Boxer I wipe his face folds out every night after dinner with just a wet washcloth followed by a dry towel. He has one fold by his eye that has a tendency to get a bit raw and nasty looking if he doesn't get his face wiped. I don't scrub it or use anything. It just prevents the crud from accumulating.

I agree with this.