Hot Spots?

[StevenW.]

Our sheltie (Callie) has hot spots all over! She is constantly biteing at them and we tell her "No!" all the time! We've tried the sprays to help soothe it, but she just licks it off and continues to biteing her leg. She has 2 big scabs on both her hind legs from biteing so much that they bleed constantly! We even bought this cream stuff that spose to help soothe the itch and we even put a bandage over it. Within 5 minutes she had it off already.

Any advice? Our last decision will to get her a cone and put it around her neck.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

A Vet visit is in order here. Dogs develope hot spots for so many reasons: behavioral, allergies, pain in the affected area, and neurological. There's no way to really know why she is chewing on herself unless you take her in and have some of the more serious issues looked at. Neurological issues and pain the effected area are two things that should be checked into first. Allergies to environment and food are two of the most common causes of hotspots. A change in diet and some antihistamines might be in order here. I hope you find out what's bothering her, its sad to see a dog go through this.

 

[StevenW.]

Quote:
She has been to the vet, thats who told us to buy that cream stuff. (No idea what it was called.. Someone lost it..

)
Her food hasn't been changed at all.. She gets the Beneful dog food.

Here's a picture of said dog.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

How old is she? Does she have fleas? Some dogs are very allergic and sensitive to flea bites, my Rat Terrier was one of them.

 

[carolinagirl58]

First of all, get her on a grain free diet. Beneful is garbage. she may be allergic to corn or wheat. Second, get her on comfortis (from the vet) for fleas. Hot spots are most commonly caused by flea allergies or diet. If those two things to not help within a few weeks, it's something else.

 

[watchdogps]

You need a new vet. They should be helping you figure out WHY she is so itchy, not just trying to alleviate it sympomatically.
That's like a band aid on a bullet wound.
Also, beneful is one of the crappiest foods out there. Full of sugars and colors. Yuck. I know it tricks people with all the pretty packaging and hype, but its garbage.

 

[teach1rusl]

I'm not going to knock any particular dog food, but I would suggest experimenting with a dog food that doesn't contain corn. Many dogs do fine with corn based foods, but I've had (and many others have had too) one golden that did much better with non corn feeds.
Dogs can have flea allergies, grass allergies, allergies to many things. I'd see if your vet offers allergy testing to find out what's affecting your pooch.

 

[StevenW.]

She gets the flea medicine drops about every 4 months or so. I just went ahead and checked her, I looked all over and didn't find any fleas. Looked on her tail, legs, ears, head, belly, and body.

We might need a new vet then.. He actually told us to put her on the Beneful dog food. If I remember correctly she's 8 or 9 years old..?

Thank you everyone for all you help! What kind of dog brand food would be best?

 

[stephanie1992]

i suggest avoderm. my border collie had hot spots and we has to buy her spacial shampoo and creams, switched her to avoderm and she has no mor hot spots. i also shaved her. then bathed her in miro-teck hot spot medicated shampoo. that stuffs amazing and smells good.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
I would try her on a limited ingredient diet and see if it helps at all. That would at least give you some idea if it's food allergies or not. My allergy dog improved greatly on a simple lamb and rice kibble, California Naturals. Contains lamb meal, rice, sunflower oil and vitamins/minerals. That's it. No corn, no wheat, no by products or fillers.

The thing about vet's is they actually don't get near enough training on proper diet, what constitutes a good food and what exactly all those ingredients are. Such as "animal by-products" (junk) versus a named meat. They sell crap like Science Diet for heaven's sake, total junk, full of corn.

Good luck with her, hope you are able to find her some relief!