I have a Golden retriever and a schnauzer. Three weeks ago my golden who is a 1 and a half year old dog, got distemper four weeks ago. He was under antibiotics for 7 days, he soon got better and finally recovered. The same week he got sick we changed his food for another, the schnauzer also started on this food the same day. After a few days of this I noticed that they both started scratching really bad and I checked on them and found a terrible rash on both of them, specially on their tummies and chest. I changed the food a week ago, and thought that they were scratching less than before, but today I noticed they had scabs on their elbows (if u can called them that) and knees, and their skin feels really hot because of how much they scratch. I don't know what to do because I'm not sure if it might have been the food, or if it's a fungus from outside, cause they stay outside all morning till I can home from work.I put a plastic ring sort of bucket round the neck to stop scratching.help
Answers:
Yes it could be mange, but there are three types of mange, demodectic, Cheyletiella, and Sarcoptic mange. Only sarcoptic is transferable to humans, thats the scabies. That is pretty rare. When dogs immune systems are down they are more suseptable to mange. You can find out more about these on the web. Another possibility it could be is fleas. Many dogs have flea allergies, if one flea bites the dog or cat every seven days it can cause any pet with allergies to develope rashes and itchy skin all the time. Mange is very serious, but its not going to kill your dog fast. Your dogs can wait until afternoon. I have seen horriable cases of mange when its let go for months and in that case you are looking at spending about a year treating it and well over $1000. There are alot of things that could cause this but if it is mange the sooner you treat it the cheaper it will be for you, and the quicker your pet will heal.
Since you can't be sure it is a food allergy, and since mange is very serious and spreads quickly and can eventually, left untreated, lead to the death of your dogs, it would be best for a Vet to examine them.
It could be food related, could be fungal, could be a reaction to fleas, but since this is something with a sudden onset and that drastic that quickly, a Vet really needs to SEE the dogs. Hope they will be okay.
Mange can be spread to humans (it's scabies).
Change their food back, or try something else. Always use a good quality food, the generic stuff may seem cheaper but they have to eat so much more to get what they need, which also causes more waste. You're obviously willing to vet your pets, ask them what they think, and have their thyroid checked. This is one of the main causes for hot spots, and another is a flea allergy. Some dogs are merely annoyed by fleas, others are terrorized by them. Since they are both being affected at the same time I'd think the food or fleas first. But while your trying to figure it out, give the poor things some benedryl and put some cream on their boo-boos. Most put store sell a pet
itch relief product, but you can also try a benedryl type cream.
Jo who died and made you expert?
Don't listen to her.
You need to take your dogs to the vet. It is pretty shameful to begin with that you didn't vaccinate your dogs against distemper, and then to let them suffer for two weeks with the present condition makes me disgusted. You have a legal responsibility to provide adequate medical care for your animals, and if I lived near you I would certainly call animal control.
Perhaps you could surrender your dogs to rescue where they would be better cared for.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment