Dog giving herself 'hot spots'

[FinkleyAlex]

My 3 year old Malamute has been giving herself 'hot spots' according to the vet. She started licking her front right leg on Tues evening - thought nothing of it and passed it off as the usual self-grooming. An hour later she came into the living room with a sore, red patch on her leg that she kept licking. We took her to the vet who said she has basically started licking herself continuously for no reason until an infection has set in. She has another self-inflicted sore that she must have done within the same hour on the underside of the same leg.

She is now on antibiotics and being treated with a steroid cream and wearing a cone.

The vet is adamant that there is no cause for the licking, but surely something must have irritated her to cause such a reaction? As soon as we remove the cone for her to eat she wants to start licking her leg again. On the same day the sore set in, we noticed she was itching the side of her mouth as if that was irritating her - on one occasion she itched so hard that you could hear her hind leg hitting her teeth.

Could it be an allergic reaction to something? She hasn't been on any new food, nor has she walked anywhere particularly new. She had a flea treatment 2 weeks ago and went to a dog groomer about 3/4 weeks ago, so I doubt they could be the cause.

Has anyone heard of anything like this/have any advice? She is miserable in her cone.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Could be an allergic reaction to her food, even if she has shown no problems before, to a chemical (could she have run through sprayed grass etc) floor surface, carpet, cleaning product, air freshener, pollen (new flowers or pot plant in house?) a protein intolerance.
Also could be boredom (I know a few dogs who eat themselves through boredom not casting aspersions, just an option) externalisation of an internal problem or an obsessive behaviour.

Look at her diet, look at any changes at home, look at her exercise levels and try, try, try to physically and mentally exhaust her if you can.

Keep on top of it NOW - if you aren't happy with your vet's advice, either torture him/her or change - what you have been told is just not good enough, sorry.

My dog is now managed with a low protein diet, antihistamines, and weekly or twice weekly shampoos with Malaseb.
I would actually use Aloe Vera gel before steroid cream, steroids suppress the problem in a localised area and it can surface somewhere else.

Good luck.

 

[ladyearl]

It could be a "lick granuloma" which is a self induced problem and can be triggered by stress I looked after a dog that would lick away if you left her alone for too long, she was bored or simply didn't think I was looking. After a couple of days she felt secure in my house and didn't do it so much. To begin with though it was a case of distracting her when she started to lick. It did eventually heal but she always had a look in her eye.......

 

[prosefullstop]

My pug developed these a couple of weeks ago. Like your dog, one minute it was a tiny damp patch, and a few hours later he had open lacerations on his neck. Our best guess is that it was an allergic reaction. It can be caused by fleas, food allergies or environmental allergies. In Prince's case, the hot spots developed after three days in a swimming pool (not continuously ), plus being outdoors in the heat.

For next summer, we've ruled out swimming and hopefully that should be sufficient to prevent a repeat episode.

 

[zandp]

Mine does this too, I think it's something to do with grass / fields or what's sprayed on them. We keep him off a grass we have in the garden that we've been trying to pull up for 4 years now but it comes back every year, and I've stopped walking him through certain fields that seemed to make it worse. I use Aloe Vera on him which helps a bit.

 

[Laura1812]

Could it be mange? My JRT seems particularly prone and will lick lick lick till the advocate comes out. Never seems to pass it to the other dogs though.