Victor and PEpper's muzzle

Both dogs have it. This raised angry looking area. Pepper's is much more mild, more the size of a pea. But VIctor's is enormous, and raised up a full quarter inch. IT drains in some areas..a bloody serum. HE has been on clyndimiacin for a week now and i can't see any improvement. In fact it looks worse. THe vet said it would clear right up but it hasnt and the one on his chin looks just as bad. I found two more spots on his body. I am so worried. I applied a warm washcloth for a heat treatment since the alcohol isn't making any difference either. I pray to God it is not staph but i got a sick feeling it could be. Will be going back to the vet monday morning.

I looked up what the vet said he had..a dog acne but it says it is a young dog problem and he is 5 and Pepper is 2. Whatever it is they got it out of the soil and they got it at the same time.

Those of you with digging dogs is this something you know about? WHat could I do at home to help him get over it? I am not finding much on the net.

I'm inclined to think of a staph infection... Maybe it's fungal? My brother is a wrestler and he's always fighting with those annoying skin infections that don't want to go away.

I thought it was ringworm to start but the vet said not. Ringworm i don't believe would swell up this much or drain the bloody serum. Whatever it is it's deep.

That's no good. And then you're afraid to over medicate.. I hope you find something that helps them soon, it doesn't do to have two sick lovelys.

My dad got a reallly bad case of ringworm once. It drained like no tomorrow and freaked the doctors out bad. Is it possible to get some sort of skin test?

IT's cephlexin not clyndimiacin. I wrote the wrong drug down. Even so i dont think it is working so good.

smkie, I'm so sorry to see this. I hope they both start to feel better soon. Please keep us updated and let us know if you need help, okay?

I hope they start to show signs of improving. I was looking up staph infection and found that it can stem from an allergic reaction to pollen, grass treatments, etc. which was in the soil where they were digging. It said the infection has to be treated and then the cause of the allergies avoided. I know this doesn't help much; I wish I had better answers.

WE haven't been back to the valley since and i know they miss it but there is no choice.
Time to go heat up some water...the hot pack seems to help. AT least he doesn't fight me when it comes to that.

I hope Victor and Pepper get well soon. I would run them back to the vet also.

The heat pack must have worked it looks much better this morning. I had also put him in teh shower and used the sprayer on warm until the tub was fullm (then i gave him a bath) so fingers crossed! IT is pink but not angry looking like it was yesterday afternoon.

ONe thing i know for sure..heat kills bacteria. Will try to do that twice today.

So sorry that you are having to go through this .... and for the pups .

I would be a real good idea not having another vet bill this month. Eddie the cat had a toe as big as a grape that I soaked in a pan of hot water three times a day. WIthin 24 hours it was almost back to normal and by the second day of soaking it looked really good. Soaking a muzzle however is just about impossible so that is why we used the sprayer and most of the hot water (my tank is little) so maybe we should do that again. His wiskers are right there and that makes it sensitive in the first place but it must really hurt as well because he does not want it touched and twists and tries to squirm away.

I ran into a case of deep pyoderma on my one dog when I lived in an apartment complex with lots of wet areas and ducks. I used mupirocin ointment (found it in the Merck Manual and asked for it) and it cleared up the spots in no time, even after a long course of Cephalexin. It's a human antiobiotic ointment used to treat impetigo and also used for people who have MRSA.

THanks Colliwog. IF this doesn't do it i will be sure to track that down.