Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Hot, hot, hot

My Whiskey has been itching and scratching more than normal. She finally got groomed and I had them trim the fur around her neck to the lenght of her body fur to blend. When she came home I noticed a bright red spot under her chin. After further investigation, and some good old fashion cleaning and neosporian application, and wrap it was all better the next day. Crisis averted I thought. I tell the people I work with what I found on her (because she is my baby, and everyone I work with has 2-legged, non-furry babies), and they say it sounds like a "hot spot". I kind of ignore and don't really want to believe it. It was just a rash from her collar rubbing the certain spot. Well low-and-behold another small spot pops up in the top of her neck. (And her collar has been off since the first spot). We do the same treatment and that one disappears too. Now yesterday I found ANOTHER one on her leg. After this I start doing my research on "hot spots on dogs". Yup that sounds like it. This one on her leg looks slightly worse than the other 2 we found, it is a small spot maybe the size of a nickle, but its kind of oozy. We preformed the home treatment and hopefully this one will disappear without any further problems. But they just seem to be popping up everywhere, and it has me frustrated. In my research I found that sometimes they are called "summer sores" because they are most prevalent during summer, and being in 100 degree weather in FL I'm sure isn't helping. Also water can cause them especially if their fur is not dried completely, because of bacteria. And due to the 100 degree weather we have been doing a lot of swimming, and with corgi dense fur not all the water gets out. Another thing I found is food- you can add certain things like omega fatty acids to prevent it or help an already formed spot. Corn, gluten, wheat and soy are not helpers either. Meat based foods are best. Annnnnd..... I just changed her food to another brand (that I'm actually not too fond of), but my mom was trying to help out and I asked her to pick up dog food and she forgot what brand it was and just took a guess (the wrong one).

So what am I going to do to fix it?
1. Ask you reader for any advice and help. PLEASE!
2. Change her back to her old food
3. When I take her in the pool make sure she is dried off completely (...how I do not know, cause she HATES the blow drier)
4. Brush her out daily and scan her skin. (Which we corgi owners know is easier said than done with that thick fluffy undercoat)

3 comments:

  1. I don't have any experience w/hot spots, so I'm probably not much help :( It could be the food.. Or maybe the groomers used a strange shampoo on her?

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  2. 1. Herman has such senstivie skin that he only gets baths from me or the vets groomer. He doesn't get trimmed because he reacts to it. Wyoming is not as hot as FL though.
    2. My cat has allergies and he is on an allergy food diet. As soon as he eats something he's not supposed to he gets hot spots. Restricting food to things you know they don't react to is good.

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  3. I am starting to think it was the bath she got at petsmart. Even since that visit is when she has been itching super bad. Since then I have given her a bath, and I took her to reputable groomer that knows her well. The food issue is being changed as of today, and she has a vet visit first thing tomorrow morning.
    Fingers crossed this does the trick.

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