Is my corgi okay?

[wolfiesdad]

Hello,

Wolfie is turning two years old next week. He's a wonderful, obedient dog but lately he's been having some health problems. I noticed that he has three bald spots on his coat and that his skin is covered with something brown and crusty and smells like old French cheese. Is this a case of mange?

We have been feeding him the same brand of food since he was born so I don't think it's his food. I worry that this is the beginning of something major.

Help!

[MyPemCharlie]

There are several types of mange, several of them can be contagious to humans and other animals. You should probably schedule a vet appointment for a skin scraping to test for the mites which cause mange and a diagnosis.

Other causes for his symptoms could be some recent stress or an allergy.

Keep us posted when you find out the cause!

[wolfiesdad]

Thank you, Chris and Charlie. My husband thinks I'm inventing a disease but I really worry about Wolfie. I don't think the stench, the bald spots, and the crusty skin are normal. Our vet has very limited resources to conduct a diagnosis but I'm going to schedule an appointment for tomorrow anyway.

Thank you

Wolfiesma:
paw:

[MyPemCharlie]

I think that's a good idea. Your vet should tell you that mange will only show up about 20% of the time in a skin scraping even if your dog has mange. He/she may want to simply prescribe a mange treatment instead of doing multiple tests.

It did also occur to me that dog's sometimes chew "hot spots" around their joints if they have developed arthritis (sp?). At two years, your dog is probably too young for that though.

My last dog chewed "hot spots" - chewed all his fur off, then chewed his skin raw - from a severe flea-bite allergy. Even though I had him on flea control, a flea bit him now and then. Nothing could be done about that except for my giving him oatmeal baths and a topical "anti-itch & chew" spray to sooth the itching until the spots healed.

Be sure and let us know what the vet says.

[glencorgi]

Definitely a vet visit is in order and no you aren't "inventing" any diseases. What you are describing "could be" a lot of things all of which need to be checked out by a vet for conclusive diagnosis. Good luck and let us know.

Debbie

[Michael Romanos]

Hells, bells. Your poor Corgi is suffering a lot of discomfort unnecessarily. Shame on your hubby.
Debbie is right. It is likely a contact allergy but it could have something to do with bacteria or food

[jamierene79]

I went through something similar with Lexi not too long ago. My vet recommended putting her on frontline because she would break out from even one flea bite. She broke out in a horrible rash, the bumps turned into big scab like bumps and were flaky. It smelled also. I bathed her in oatmeal baths every 3 days for 2 weeks. I thought it was from fleas but, never found any on her when combing her. It slowly got better but did not completely go away. I took her back in to visit the vet. Turns out she had an allergic reaction to the frontline. (I did not like using stuff like that anyway). She got an allergy shot and a bath to strip the remaining frontline off her skin. I noticed improvements almost immediately. The rash drove me crazy though! I was analyzing everything from their food to what I washed their blankets in. The weather is turning cooler here so I'm going back to my old treatment ways. Best of luck at the vet. I hope it is not anything too serious. Maybe an allergy shot will be a quick remedy until they find out what is causing it.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by MyPemCharlie

It did also occur to me that dog's sometimes chew "hot spots" around their joints if they have developed arthritis (sp?). At two years, your dog is probably too young for that though.

My last dog chewed "hot spots" - chewed all his fur off, then chewed his skin raw - from a severe flea-bite allergy. Even though I had him on flea control, a flea bit him now and then. Nothing could be done about that except for my giving him oatmeal baths and a topical "anti-itch & chew" spray to sooth the itching until the spots healed.

Hot spots can be cause by a lot of different things. Allergies, contact dermatitis, bug bites, stress, and unknown reasons.

And something CAN be done about them. If you know the cause, such as an allergy you can try to remove the source. (In your dogs case he needed a flea treatment where the fleas didn't need to bite him to get taken care of.)

And hot spots can be treated. I use Gold Bond powder. Sprinkle it on the spot. It removes the itch, and drys the spot. Drying the spot out is the best way to get them to heal. You'll need to reappy 2-4 times a day, depending on your dog and how much he's chewing.

Listerine (amber colored one) works too, but you have to catch the hot spot earlier for the best results.

Also there are sprays you can get at the vet's for hot spots.

Hot spots do not usually smell. If one does it's probably infected. The dog might need an antibiotic in that case. An infected wound of any type should be seen by your vet.

Peggy

[MyPemCharlie]

<(In your dogs case he needed a flea treatment where the fleas didn't need to bite him to get taken care of.) >

He was on prescription flea control. Unfortunately there is no 100% control against an occassional flea bite, with any flea treatment. The vet's recommended anti-itch spray and oatmeal baths seems to calm them though.

[wolfiesdad]

Thank you all for taking a few minutes of your time to read about Wolfie. The vet came by yesterday and found not three but seven bald spots that were irritated and very smelly. He explained to us that Wolfie has a kind of fungus caused by holding too much moisture in his coat.

We live in the tropics and Wolfie loves to play with the sprinkler. Unfortunately, he doesn't let me blow dry his coat so he never dries his fur completely. We have had two months of constant rain in our town which probably hasn't helped matters. The vet cut the hair off in the affected areas, gave him a shot, and applied some red liquid on the spots. Wolfie wears a madeshift bell collar so that he doesn't bite the affected areas.
It's so sad to see him like this!

The vet is coming by tomorrow and hopes that the bald spots will be dry in no time. The bell collar, however, will have to stay on for a few more days.

Wolfiesma

[MyPemCharlie]

Happy to hear it wasn't mange and that you pinpointed the cause. That's interesting about the fungus - never heard of anything like that before. But it's very dry were I live.

Hopefully the vet had some recommendation for prevention of future spots.

[Michael Romanos]

Very little if any fungal problems in New Zealand with dogs - usually a tropics ailment though we do get a lot of rain in most places and for most times of the year, but we have a temperate climate which is great for every breed of dog.