Rocket's hot spot

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

At 10:07 AM 10/8/02 -0400, you wrote:
> Yep,
> he's been swimming a lot lately and Milka has been grabbing his neck
> there. It's right below his right ear on his neck but above where a
> collar would be. We're going to the vet today to take care of it. Poor
> guy, I feel so bad for him....I've cleaned it out and dried it and put
> powder on it in the meantime until the vet opens
> today.


Ok Guys this is what I call a grooming issue hot spot with little sister
complications.  No dog is immune to them and Karin did not do
anything anyone else has not done, self included.  But let's get to
the bottom of this :-) 

When dogs swim they get wet and humidity  is the end result, adding
body heat and wet  you can get prime environment for irritation
which can lead to a hot spot and or an infection.  Moist wet warm is
not good and add Milka chewing on Rocket just added to it. 

Prevention:

What I recommend is to make sure your dog is dry about the head ears
including underside of ear flaps, neck.  Even if this means using
your human blow dryer on low temp to dry any places that towel drying
does not get good. behind ears ect.  Because if you don't while you
sleep your dog is going to get itchy  and scratch.  Ever had an
insect bite that you have irritated?  This has to be similar for a
dog, but dogs do not know to not  keep after the itch and hence
broken skin and irritation: hot-spot.  Never crate a wet dog. 
Better to leave them out side if it's day time after a swim to try to get
them dry... 

Past prevention, home care attempt:

Cut the hair away from the area, use clippers if you have them #10 blade
is good.  If not use scissors keeping one blade flat against the
skin so you don't cut the skin.  Get a good margin around all the
red skin, 1/4 inch around.  If the hot spot has a green center your
probably beyond home care and need to see the vet.  But if not try
this:  with a wet wash cloth a single drop of hand soap clean the
area, then flush it with clear cool water followed by a second rinse of
50 %mix up of vinegar and water.  (Don't skip the cutting hair
part)  pat the affected area dry and use your blow dryer on cool or
warm to get the rest of the area dry.  Don't put anything else on
this at this point, the key is to keeping it dry, powder will just make
paste with the ooze that hot-spots create.  Keep your dog from
scratching the spot by using an E collar or a bucket over their head to
detour them.  I know but in a lot of cases they only have to wear
the "head gear" for a day or two.  Subsequent treatment
twice daily  is to clean the area with the 50% solution or use
alcohol if the spot is not too bad, DRY DRY DRY did I say DRY the area
yes! 

Lori would you send your bucket post to the list... 

Vet care: 

Vet care will usually include shaving, sometimes a steroid shot, and or
antibiotics and a topical spray.  Some vets will use a oily lotion,
I don't like that and in some cases this just makes things worse. 
What has worked for us is this:  Gentocin topical spray only avail
at your vet.  Some dogs will respond to antibiotics alone with no
steroids and it's my opinion that going there first is best.  I
avoid steroids at all cost, as they make the dogs feel bad and need to
pee way too much.  I know I have had my fair share of these and I
can tell you they are not fun...  Can you say space
cadet?   Even with vet care you need to do some follow up home
care, keep the area clean and dry.  Also once a dog has had a
hot-spot and your vet has walked you through care as have I here you
should be able to just ask for Gentocin spray and if you ketch a spot
before it goes green you should be able to manage this on your own. 
But hot-spots that become infected do need vet care.  They can
spread quickly and you can end up with a large area of involvement and a
secondary infection of staph overgrowth over the entire body. 

Kaycee just had her first ever hot-spot on her elbow of all places, she
must have gotten a scratch or a bite of some kind and she spent her day
licking the area.  We cleaned the area up, sprayed it with Gentocin
put the cone on her when we could not watch her and in 48 hours
gone!  But her spot was not green nor was it red, just a bit 
of ooze.  

So there you have it,

Gina