So, the dog learning curve increased dramatically for Lili and the last 2 days, let me explain: Yesterday evening Lili mentioned to me that Xavi had been giving himself a little more “affection” than usual. After laughing a little I took a look a Xavi and I realized that he was not “grooming” himself but rather biting himself right in front of his nether regions. Upon inspection I realized that an old foe had appeared, hot spots! I had dealt with them occasionally, mostly with a Golden Retriever, so I knew that I needed to clean, shave and maintain dry. In search for better answers I came to the blog and found, as expected, great advice.
So off I was to the store where I gathered Athlete’s Foot spray and Colloidal Silver. I decided to go with those two first. So I came home, cleaned the area (about 6” around and spreading by then!) with a mixture of vinegar and warm water. Once done I dryed him and shaved the area, even thought he’d already lost some hair there anyway. We also put a shirt (form fitting because he is trendy Lili said…) to help with the biting. We decided that if the applied remedies did not work by morning time we’d take him to the vet. And I left for work…
I got a call from Lili at work around 11 pm. She told me that she had given him 400 mg of Ibuprofen and that Xavi was still itching. I told her that I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Ibuprofen is not ok for dogs and she was off to google it. Sure enough, Lili called me within 5 minutes, barely able to talk from so much crying and told me that the Ibuprofen could create toxicity in a dog and she was dead worried about him. I suggested she call the after-hours vet who suggested as a first step that she give Xavi 1.5 tbsp of Hydrogen Peroxide. She put Xavi in the kennel, gave him the Peroxide and hung up.
Next call I got was Lili crying and throwing up herself as she was trying to look into Xavi’s vomit trying to find the Ibuprofen pills. She gave me play by play on what she was finding while she took tiny breaks to continue throwing up! But finally, success! Lili found the 2 Ibuprofen pills intact, not even the outer coating had eroded away.
Once that was done she gave Xavi some water and called it a night. Today, after finding that the hot sopts had spread a bit more overnight, Lili took him to the vet at 7:45am. The vet determined that Xavi does not have fleas and the reason for the hot spots is unknown. She prescribed 75-100 mgs of Benadryl, she also gave us PhytoVet CK shampoo to bathe him with, Betagen spray for the actual hotspots and prescribed an oatmeal bath. Xavi is still wearing the form fitting shirt, he is about to get his oatmeal (homemade) and has this sad look on his face. The joys and the pains of being parents…
Oh my – trying times. I hope all goes well for Xavi!
Poor Lili. I have done some really disgusting things to help my dogs out but I am not sure I would have gone digging through the vomit….ok maybe with a 3 foot stick I might have. I agree with your first choices for treating the hot spot: colloidal silver or athlete foot spray. Good job Rod. I don’t know if this was supposed to be funny, but it made me laugh.
The 10 most common toxicoses in dogs:
http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=314007
Julie,
I regularly dig through poop and examine vomit before cleaning it up…
Hope poor Xavi heals quickly. I agree with Julie on the hot spot treatment. I have also found out by accident that if I catch them early enough simply cleaning the with antisceptic can be enough.
Julie,
The whole phone call episode was funny! The only thing taking away from it was that Xavi was not well but being that by the time I posted this he was on the mend. Xavi is much better now and the huge bald spot on his belly makes him look like a rebel, lol. The only regret I have is that I don’t know for sure is how much the foot spray and the silver helped the skin condition since he got the vet’s prescription. Regardless, the blog is a treasure trove of dog knowledge and I’m grateful for it.
Irene, I wasn’t aware that checking regularly was a “requirement”, I’ll pass it on… And now that I know Xavi can get hotspots (despite the raw diet, salmon oil and vitamin supplements) I will be more proactive . Thanks again, Rod.
I spent 4 days digging thru Ziva’s poop after she nibbled a diamond earring off of a friend 🙂 never did find it, so it must be in the yard somewhere. I agree w/ Irene, I look at their poop every day to make sure it looks normal.
Kirsch is suffering through hot spots for the first time ever this year. We’ve had to go with the vet’s treatment as well, and he’s wearing some shirts that he thinks make him look good.
Evidently this has been a very bad year for allergies for dogs.
Thank you for sharing your very funny story and I’m happy to hear that Xavi is on the mend. Hopefully, so is Lili. 😉
Glad to hear Xavi is getting better but the way you told the story was funny.
Please post some new pictures of Xavi. Jack wants to see how “red collar boy” is growing up. He was one of our favorites.