Horse antibac cream ok for dogs? Strange bald patch

MissSBird

MissSBird

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Probably belongs in veterinary but I thought I might get some more responses on here.

Was giving my dog some cuddles yesterday after getting back from Uni. As I was rubbing him I felt this odd, definately not right, part under the 'armpit' of his left foreleg. Had a closer look and it's really bizarre. He has a bald patch there. There's no cuts/real bleeding but the skin looked quite raw. It almost looks like he's manically scratched himself or had something tightly wrapped around the area which has rubbed the hair and skin.

He's definately not had anything wrapped around that area, and no one in the family has seen him scratching any more than usual. I checked him thoroughly and there's no other bald patches similar to it. Seems very bizarre, but I don't have a lot of experience with dog illnesses/diseases so thought someone on here might be able to shine some light.

I gave it a thorough clean with saline water, which he was very obliging about. It looks quite healthy in that respect - there's no fresh blood or signs of infection. He also doesn't seem to be in the least bit bothered by it. He let me have a good look/poke at it, and hasn't been licking/scratching the area that we've seen (he is a sociable boy so is around us most of the day). I was thinking of bringing home some anti-bac cream I have for the horses, using that, keeping it clean and seeing if it gets better/worse before instantly running off to the vet with him. Would this be alright to use on a dog?

Or is this something that has alarm bells ringing for anyone? :(
 
He is a bernese mountain dog, 10 months old. He's not walked in a harness, bog standard collar for us. He's currently on Eukanuba dry food; he's been on it for months now so I don't think it's a reaction to that. His diet hasn't changed at all recently, so if it is an allergy it's not very likely to be something we've fed him.

I did wonder if perhaps it could be a reaction of some sort. We're having our kitchen renovated at the moment. He is kept out of the way, but I thought perhaps it could be a reaction perhaps to plaster dust as the plasterer has been in since last Monday. But we took him for a bath on Friday (same shampoo we always use) and there was no sign of this then. It also seems to be quite a specific place for something like that.

I've got some Malaseb already as he had problems with his coat when he got him. He doesn't seem to have the best immune system unfortunately.
 
If you know he is ok with Malaseb I would stick to that rather than introducing something new. Our collie had scratched her tummy on some wire and it was quite sore so thinking i was being kind I dabbed on some herbal healing cream from the yard - calendula and something which we had used for a horse with good effect. Next day dogs tum was red raw and then all the hair fell out!

I would be very much inclined to leave the bald patch alone unless it gets any bigger or seems sore in which case see the vet.
 
It may be a reaction to builders material but don't totally rule out a food allergy, they can take months to build up.

Also maybe turn the thermostat down, the dip in temps and the central heating on more often may have gone for him.

My fella's skin problems first developed under his elbows which is why I would keep an eye on it! Ears, under elbows and thighs are hotter areas of the dog (they'd be like sweat patches on us) and are not exposed to too much air so can get fusty and irritated easily.
 
I would not put anything on him and simply monitor it. This is a common place for skin problems to start. If it got any worse, nip him down to the vets as it could be any number of things (fleas for eg.)
 
That's an interesting point Cavecanam. Because of said building work his bed has been moved from the hall to the living room, which is generally quite a warm room. I'll see about moving him out of there.

It's still looking quite red and raw tonight so have decided to take him to vets tomorrow. Thanks for the advice and thoughts!
 
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