Please help to get rid of dog's hot spots.?

Question

My 6-months- old German Shepherd has hot spots that become rushes on his skin. His breeder never had this problem with his dogs, so it is not a genetic. My dog is on a raw diet and supplements as salmon oil, kelp/alfalfa. Also, I gave him 'skin and cout' vitamins which cotain soybeen oil. I still have no idea, where this problem came from - I have read lots of articles about dog's alergies to long hair cats(we have one, too), soybeen oil, etc. I used benadril - it helps little-bit. Then, I bout Dr. Goodpet itshy skin free drops - I use them a week but do not see any improvement. Our vet is about 100-year-old. By another hand, I don't want to treet my dog with antibiotics as it has a site effect. I would appreciate any help and suggestions.

Answer 1

My dog too had skin rashes and it can be hard to treat and may be trial and error for a while. I sought the advise of a specialist in canine nutrition who is now my regular vet. You say youre dog is on the raw food diet? Maybe lay off the red meat if you are feeding it and try free range chicken only, necks and wings included, about 60% of the diet should be raw animal protein. Feed raw and canned sardines and lots of vegies. Increase fish oils gradually to about 3-4 in the morning and the same in the evening for about a month. Take out the soyabean oil and replace with a low strength cod liver oil capsule, about two a day for youre dog and evening primrose oil. Give vitamin c everyday, it acts as a natural anti-histimine, 500mg morning and night, choose a low acidic tablet with hesperidin or bioflavinoids in it to help with absorbtion. If you think youre dog is allergic to cat hair try and contact a homeopath in youre area, they may be able to make a remedy from the cats hair to give to youre dog to build up youre dogs own resistance to the cat hair. Also put some chammomile tea in youre dogs drinking water and bathe youre dog with a oatmeal stocking and do not rinse off. Dont wash with soaps etc. You could also try rinsing your dog off with water everyday in case something external is irritating his skin and washing his bedding in water only. Also check the epa/dha levels in youre salmon oil. In 1000mg of fish oil you want an epa level of 300 and a dha level of around 200. Most are about 180/120. Not strong enough. Needs to be a clean fish oil also, no dioxins, pcbs, mercury etc. After 1 month drop to around 3 per day.
Two other things make sure youre dog gets good exercise everyday, in the morning, just so hes tired and that stress wont be causing his hot spots. And he needs to know his place in the pack, under you and your family and in line with the cat. If he is pack leader in his mind, unnessisary stress worrying about the pack can cause allergies so you need to be pack leader and if the cat is pack leader or youre dog is jealous of the cat may be causing youre dogs allergy towards the cat. Anyway I could go on forever ( and already have! ) but maybe you can find something that will help in my answer. Give everything at least a month to work and good luck!

Add On. It ended up being a reaction to vaccines with my dog, I had him tested. Reactions can happen a day after vaccines or a month/longer after vaccines. If you suspect it may be this the above will be best for him also.

Answer 2

Sulphur mixed in vaseline or similar pre-mixed product like "Sulphur 8" available in the hair care aisle Wallyworld. Cortizone cream also helps.

Answer 3

sulfur 8

Answer 4

Try the holistic approach. http://www.purelypets.com/cgi-local/shop.pl/SID=945587047
I would avoid further vaccines at all cost for this dogs entire life and vaccines are likely what caused the dog to have allergies in the first place. They put an all out assault on the immune system and cause a lifetime of ailments.
You are right in not using antibiotics and feeding the raw diet is great too. What you might try is process of elimination wih the diet. Drop the chicken and feed turkey instead for about a month and see if that helps. If there are any grains in your diet, stop feeding those as well. Feed xtra beef liver for a few weeks. Like 4 to 5 slices a week if his stomach can tolerate it.
Take the diet back to square one and feed one food for a couple of weeks like turkey and add nothing else eccept for liver. If there is an improvement you will know there is an allergy to something else in the diet. Then start adding back in one thing at a time until the problem comes back then you can figure out what is causing it.
Vaccines do a LOT of damage to dogs that people do not realize. Allergies are top of the list.
Also if you have the dog on heartworm prevention or flea and tick topicals.. stop the use of those as well as many of them cause these kinds of issues. The ony way to really figure it out is the process of elimination. Good Luck!

Answer 5

very possible its the diet! very common problem with a dog a friend of mine had, and raw diet was contributing. try an oatmeal based shampoo

Answer 6

I suggest you take your dogs diet back to a basic quality dog food only. Have you always fed him his current diet? A basic dog food is best, his food sounds too complicated. You are feeding your dog supplements and vitamins mixed with a raw feeding program, plus human medications and chemical drops that im sure aren't any use to him whatsoever. Yet you are afraid to hurt him with antibiotics and you blame the cat!!! OMG!!! Your dog isn't a machine, he doesn't require 1part of something and 2 parts something else to operate...
IF he has a natural allergy to something the first thing you look at should be his diet, that means feeding him the blandest food you can for about 3wks. If he doesn't improve on a bland diet then you need to look at an outside cause such as plants, fleas or household chemicals. I would say your dog has very high protein or zinc levels, keep it simple and stop ALL the additives. These type of additives are designed for working dogs or racing dogs etc, if your pet doesn't work hard, these additives are very harmful if allowed to build up in he's system. Too much of anything like this turns to poison in the body, it defeats the purpose as the body ends up working HARDER to filter the excess.

Answer 7

http://www.omegafields.com/index.asp

this product is very reasonable to feed. You just top dress your dog's feed with it. Its well worth the money, it did take a few weeks for me to notice results with my dog's hot spot on her tail. But after feeding it for many months now it seemes to work, no problems!

From the website:
The Omega-3 stabilized flax, antioxidant, and fish-oil supplement to help maintain healthy skin and coat, and top performance – for dogs in all life stages. There are natural sources of Omega-3 and antioxidants that taste great and are easy to serve. They are found in the stabilized, ground, fortified flax, refined fish oil, and sorghum used in Omega Canine Shine. Utilizing proprietary stabilization technology developed by ENRECO®, INC (Omega Fields' parent company), the powerful nutrients in Omega Canine Shine are locked in and guaranteed stable for at least 12 months -- longer if refrigerated or frozen. Feed 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds per dog weight daily, top dressed over food. Start gradually first week, then increase to full amount.
Product Benefits

-- Soft shiny coat
-- Eliminate hot spots
-- Arthritis relief (able to enjoy life!)
-- Healthy skin
-- Recovery after exercise
-- Maintenance of lean muscles
-- High energy levels (good, usable energy!)
-- Maintenance of strong bones and teeth