skin condition

[miasmummy]

hey everyone
i was wondering if anyone can help me because i am at a loss . i have a 4 year old female bulldog called mia she is a absolute little love . About 16 months ago she developed a soar on her neck within 8 hours this soar had grown to about the size of a tennis ball on her neck it was very angry looking (it was not a solid hard lump ) and it was weeping , i took her to the vets he suspected she had knocked it and got a infection he shaved the area and told me to bathe it twice a day and apply a steriod cream which worked and slowly it went away and her hair grew back . about 12 months ago the same thing happened again yet this time she got the big one on her neck and a couple of soars on her head , again went back to the vets he did a skin scrape and standard blood test and again i used the steriod cream . the results showed nothing . again the soars healed . about 2 months ago it happened again but this time her entire body came up in a bumpy rash as well as the reoccuring soars aswell . i just dont know what is wrong with her . when these wounds appear she doesnt seem to be in pain but it must be very uncomfortable for her , and she loses weight , so its a constant battle to try and keep her weight up and get these soars gone . she is upto date on her injections , she is wormed regularly and defleaed . the vet things it could be a hormone imbalance and could be related to her coming into season . so the vet says spaying her may help her . but thats the problem i have i am absolutely terrified of spaying her as when she was 5 months old she had a routine operation (to remove her dew claws as she kept catching them on things ) and she had a very tough time under the anestetic and very hard time coming round from it i nearly lost her . so i am trying to see if anyone else had ever had the same problem or know what is causing it .

 

[Sherry]

do you have a picture of her condition? It may help us

 

[karenben]

usually if its hormone problems they get seasonal flank alopecea which is not what your describing,could well be food /contact allergy,but the only way to find out is to change food and start eliminating things like bedding/where you walk her/grass to name only a couple,ive been having trouble with annie for 6 months she was kibble fed and when she started with the constant scratching i swapped to raw feed but she still carried on scratching,i kept her off grass and wool carpets and for 2 weeks no scratching at all ,then i let her on both grass and wool at the same time how daft am i !!!,she started scratching again,it was subsiding then my son took her to his girlfriends house and she was there for a couple of hours and came home full of hives ! so im leaning to wool being her trigger,start a diary of what she eats and what she comes into contact with and start elimminating things,it can take up to 12 weeks with food change to see any difference but obviously it can be quicker,and up to 6 weeks for contact allergy to come off the body,give her a good bath before starting the diary ,also annie had a terrible reaction to frontline so now i dont use it i give her 1 garlic clove per day and apple cider vinegar once a day and up to now no fleas,good luck i know how hard it is when they scratch till they are raw or even if they dont scratch just seeing them the way you describe is heart breaking,sometimes also simple nappy rash cream helps i use sudocrem on annies belly and pits and it really soothes and heals ,karen

 

[bullmama]

The first ones you describe sound like hot spots. I am thinking it is an allergy to something.

 

[LariP]

Yes a picture would be helpful. I agree that allergy is the likely culprit. What does she eat? Food as well as types of treats. Can you track the sores to any changes in diet ot environment?

 

[miasmummy]

hey thank you for the replys unfortunately no i dont have any photos and touch wood her soars are gone for now , i was looking through the threads and noticed that in the threat please help skin rash or scrape the soar that the dog has got on them photos is very similar to the ones mia gets except the one on her neck swells and is about the size of a tennis ball. my garden is all patio and when out for some reason she doesnt walk on grass , dont know why she just doesnt like it she sticks to pavements . she is currently eating naturediet adult sensitive . treat wise she has denta sticks or bonios . I cant see anything thats different or changed before the soars appear .

 

[GatorRay]

If it looks like that post, it is likely a hot spot. Usually that is an allergic reaction to something. It is tough to figure out what it could be. They can just develop an allergy to something that they have been fine with in the past. I would start with a food change and then go from there. If you do a food change, take it very sloooooowly and add just a bit of the new to the old and increase every few days. Good luck!

 

[WilliomJacob]

The soar has been changed like a tennis ball then what are you doing here friend,You must get a vet .If you have contacted then stay determine because vet can give you only the best advise than a common person.

 

[miasmummy]

im sorry but she did go to the vets , everytime it happens(and will continue to go the vets ) . shes had numerous blood tests and a skin scrapes all nothing . the vet thinks it could be hormone imbalance and spaying her might fix it . hense why im here as i wanted to ask other bulldog owners if they had ever had the same problem . so i didnt have to put her through surgery as she doesnt do very good going under the anestetic or waking up from it . as some people here think it could be allergic reaction i am looking into getting her a allergy test . as it would take me months to work out what it could be as i cant pinpoint anything different in surroundings or diet before a flare up , and i hate seeing her with these soars . i just hope it does show up that she is allergic to something or i will have no choice but to go with what the vet says .