My Fire Hydrant

Bailey pays a visit to her favorite Fire Hydrant.

I mentioned on Saturday that Bailey had a hot spot. As of yesterday her tail is flying high again and she seems to be nearly back to her rotten-spoiled self (big sigh of relief!). 

 A hot spot happens when something irritates the skin–it’s a bacterial infection. The irritation starts a cycle where the dog licks and chews at the irritation site which further irritates the skin which makes it itch even more which makes the dog lick/chew more…you get the idea.

In Bailey’s case, she was licking her back paw making it very wet, then rubbing it against the remainder of the wart she somehow managed to slice off. The moisture from her foot and the bloody wart trapped by her fur against the skin caused bacteria to grow and the cycle of itching/scratching/further skin irritation to begin. I feel a little bit less like a bad mom who wasn’t paying attention because I read on WebMD Healthy Pets that hot spots develop really fast–sometimes within a matter of hours.

Things that can cause hot spots (other than pulling off a wart):

• Fleas (most common) and other bug bites
• Allergies
• Skin parasites
• Ear or anal gland infections
• Skin diseases
• Poor grooming
• Burrs
• Anything that starts an itch/scratch cycle

Heavy coated breeds seem to be more prone to hot spots than lighter coated breeds.

Treatment usually includes:

• Clipping away the hair around the hot spot–it’s usually bigger then it appears.
• Cleaning the skin with solutions that are antibacterial and/or have drying powers.
• Allowing the area to dry out.
• Antibiotics.
• An e-collar.
• (MOST IMPORTANT!) Stopping the itch/lick/itch cycle.

If your dog is scratching like crazy, and has crusty, scabbed, angry-red skin that might be oozing and moist, VISIT THE VET! Hot spots are extremely painful (as Bailey will testify)!

Here are some tips that got me through the past few days:

• On Saturday and Sunday I kept Bailey on her leash all the time so that I could keep close watch on her to keep her from scratching at her wound. Because of the location of the hot spot, an e-collar was not an option for us.
• The leash also helped me control her when I had to put ointment on the wound area (which she fought like crazy).
  

  Bailey's new neck ruff softly protects her neck where the hot spot is healing.

• I took an old, long sleeved tee shirt of mine and cut off a part of one of the sleeves. This became Bailey’s new neck ruff, covering the wound area and protecting it from more irritation (like rubbing against the sofa or scratching by that busy back leg).
• I let go of our schedule and went with the flow. I stopped stressing if Bailey missed a meal. She seemed to be sleeping more–if she was sleeping, I waited until she woke up on her own before offering a meal.
• Bailey is on an antibiotic, and antibiotics are indiscriminate about killing the bad and the GOOD bacteria. Along with her antibiotic med, Bailey is getting Prostora Max to help keep a balance of good bacteria in her digestive tract.

We had a vet appointment today, and it wasn’t exactly fun. The cancer remains MIA–no sign of it {HAPPY DANCE!}, but Bailey has a hot spot that’s nasty.

Warning: This post has an “ewwww!” factor of 9. Stop reading if you’re easily grossed out.

Close up of the wart that was on Bailey's neck.

For a long while now, Bailey has had old dog warts. Califlower-shaped nodules, they’re all over her body. However, there are two that have always been a little troublesome. One is located on her head, the other on her neck.

Bailey likes to rub her muzzle and face against the side of the sofa as she walks by–which often causes the two warts to break open a bleed a little. There’s almost always a little scab of blood on both of these warts. I’ve talked about this with the Dogtor–to remove them would mean putting Bailey under anesthesia, which we want to avoid. The Dogtor says it’s better to just leave them alone–even though they’re icky looking–and to clean the scabs off as needed.

On Tuesday we noticed that there was blood smeared on Bailey’s neck where we expected the wart to be. Somehow, she had managed to slice off about 3/4 of the nodule.

I cleaned it up and put some Tritop® ointment on it, and that seemed to be the end of the matter. Except Bailey kept scratching it with her back foot. I did all I could to discourage her from scratching. I even tied a scarf over the wound so that if she scratched when I wasn’t able to stop her it wouldn’t do damage. I thought the wart was getting better.

When I went to put the Tritop® on her yesterday, she wouldn’t let me get near that part of her neck. She did her best imatation of a board, and stiffened up on her hind legs with her back against the sofa cushion so that I couldn’t get to her neck. I knew we had a vet appointment scheduled for the next day, so I didn’t worry too much, and didn’t press the issue.

Bailey's hot spot after the fur was clipped away and Tritop® applied.

Today, when she would not allow me to put on her collar, I knew there was a real problem. When we got to the Dogtor, the technician was able to hold her in such a way that I could finally see that Bailey’s skin around where the wart used to be was seriously red and angry looking. When the tech brought her back from the treatment room, she had a 2-inch  patch of fur cut off and a very mean looking scab where the wart used to be.

The Dogtor put Bailey on antibiotics and gave her a shot of pain medicine. Bailey’s diabetes adds some complications to how the wound is treated and what meds we can use–no styroids. It’s already looking better, though it still makes me cringe. She’s stopped trying to scratch it, and she seems to be comfortable.

I feel stupid for not taking her to the vet sooner–but up until yesterday I thought it was healing. Poor little dog! I’m a horrible mom!