re: Dog stuff

[Guest guest]

> The whole area got a rash-like irritation and when nothing natural worked, we

ended up at the vet getting poison for him.

 

I'm a vet -tech, not a vet so all normal disclaimers apply.

 

That said, it sound like he has a pyoderma or a hot spot. A pyoderma is a skin

infection. A hot-spot is an inflammatory process that gets infected.

 

Tx for a pyoderma: ABs, usually cephalexin, and +/- medicated shampoo or cream.

 

Tx for a hot-spot: steriods + ABs +/- medicated shampoo or cream.

 

 

>(I have already been through the bad-mommy thing, beating myself up for giving

him poison, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess).

 

Don't beat yourself up for taking decent care of your dog!! As far as the vet

giving him poison - are you sure that ANY natural remedy for your dog is NOT

poison as well? Because there is NO evidence, with the exception of anecdotal

(and I'm highly sceptical about anecdotal evidence from an animal that cannot

talk) that they are not. Every single thing that gets put into our bodies has a

side effect - even food. I'm all for using oils/herbs judiciously on myself,

because there _are_ a few reliable safety parameters out there, but I worry that

people too often extrapolate information about EOs/herbs and apply them to

animals without the benefit of scientific safety evidence. For example:

something like 50% of the liver is damaged before an animal shows clinical signs

of jaundice (yellowing.) Given this, how do we know what the threshold of, say,

oregano oil we can safely give a dog is before he gets liver damage? Dogs have

different metabolisms than humans, so we just don't know. There aren't any

studies - and the dog can't open his mouth and say " this disagrees with me. " .

And guess what? If there ARE studies one day, it will mean the some scientist

will give dogs of various breeds and sizes enough oregano oil to kill them, to

determine the LD/50 of oregano for canines. Yet without these studies, people

will just unintentionally overdose and injure their animals. If you think I am

exagerating, ask Kathleen about some of the YL pet horror stories.

 

What I am trying to say (and I hope I don't sound to preachy) is that most

people assume natural = safe, and this just ain't so - esp. for animals. At

least we KNOW that an appropriate dose of cephalexin will not kill or injure a

dog. It's NOT poison if properly dosed and administered. We don't know what

oils or herbs may kill and/or silently injure a pet.

 

<I know I went off on a tangent Debbie, but it wasn't directed at you - please

don't take my ranting personally :-) >

 

stepping off soapbox now

 

 

 

>Anyway, he was on antibiotics for 10 days and it cleared it up great. We were

also supposed to wash him with some poison shampoo, which I didn't do, b/c I

didn't want to double poison him.

 

 

The shampoo won't enter the blood stream, and it washes off. What it will do is

decrease/slow down the reproduction of the surface population of bacteria.

However, so will plain old soap - if it's irritating, try diluting whatever you

use to wash the area, but *if it were my dog* I'd wash it at least once a day,

and rinse rinse rinse!! One of my best friends is a vet and he always says: " the

solution to polution is dilution. " :-) Good old plain castille soap diluted

down with distilled water and a little jojoba would be my choice.

 

 

>Well, the pus was back this weekend, so I used the shampoo on him and it

irritated the area and he licked it raw again. Here are things I have tried:

>- rose hydrosol

>- r.h. with a touch of colloidal silver

>- lavender hydrosol

>- lav, heli in rose hip seed oil

>

>Any suggestions so that I don't have to take him for more antibiotics would be

most welcome!

 

I think you are wise to stick with the topical remedies, unlike cat skin, dog

skin is pretty tough and unless something is in a transdermal medium, not much

will pass into the blood stream.

 

You can try an oatmeal pack (put oatmeal in blender with some kaolin clay)

moistend with lavender hydrosol or distilled water. Perhaps just a few **drops**

of cider vinegar in the liquid part of the pack to change the Ph of the skin and

make it less hospitalble to bacteria, but not enough to irritate the raw skin.

That might help dry up the area and bring some itch relief. Wash and rinse

rinse rinse!!

 

One last thing, is this the first time your dog has had this kind of thing?

SOme dogs are predisposed to skin stuff. If it continues, you might wanna look

into changing his food. Food allergies in dogs often show up as skin problems.

 

Good Luck!

 

JenB