I'm worried about Cricket

[Renee750il]

First, remember that the cortisone cream is going to cause swelling and has the same side effects (though milder) as cortisone. Switch from that to topical benadryl and see what happens. Or even something with tea tree oil.

I don't think it's mastitis, but if it is, the best treatment is to run warm water over her belly for 5 - 10 minutes several times a day and boost her immune system. Learned this when it happened to Tallulah with her first heat. Vet charged me $125 to tell me that, plus another $60 for antibiotics that we could have done without.

[thehoundgirl]

I would get her into the vet, honestly. It could be many things. It doesn't look like mastitis to me, either and I have seen a lot of females with mastitis and it looks nothing like it does.. if it was she would have inflamed nipples and usually when dogs have mastitis they usually get it from having a lot of milk in their teats or if they are nursing. Maybe a yeast infection?

[kady05]

Okay here you go..



it's a cell picture, so not the best, but you can see the bruising (mostly near the bottom). It was almost completely healed after his last episode, but he randomly decided to scratch it raw again last night.. I think his is caused by boredom. I do have a spray that is tea tree oil based that I use on it that seems to help.. but he HATES it. Acts like I'm spraying acid on him or something!

[skittledoo]

That actually looks a lot like cricket's neck only she has darker fur surrounding so it doesn't look quite as red. What's the tea tree oil based spray you're using? I just need her to stop scratching herself so it can start healing. She is a mess as far as her skin is concerned so I still definitely want to get her checked out.

[kady05]

Originally Posted by skittledoo

That actually looks a lot like cricket's neck only she has darker fur surrounding so it doesn't look quite as red. What's the tea tree oil based spray you're using? I just need her to stop scratching herself so it can start healing. She is a mess as far as her skin is concerned so I still definitely want to get her checked out.

It's called Vet's Best Hot Spot Spray.. smells really good. It does seem to help, and it wasn't too expensive (I got it at a local pet store), so it was worth it. I give him 50mg. of Benadryl too when he has episodes like this.

[DogKisses]

Dis she wear a diaper during her heat? It looks like her whole "diaper area" is irritated.

[RD]

Eve got bruises like that from chewing/scratching her nipples when she was in heat. Worried me, too.

Honestly the only thing i can think of with Cricket and her skin issues is the abundance of grass where you live, and perhaps an allergy to that.

[umterps97]

Originally Posted by kady05

It's called Vet's Best Hot Spot Spray.. smells really good. It does seem to help, and it wasn't too expensive (I got it at a local pet store), so it was worth it. I give him 50mg. of Benadryl too when he has episodes like this.

I second the Vet's Best Tea Tree Oil. Maya gets allergies around this time of year, and she had a few raw spots where she had really scratched. I had been giving her Benadryl, but that seemed to really knock her out, so I picked up some of the Vet's Best spray. It definitely has helped her not to scratch so much. She wasn't a fan of getting sprayed at first, but now she comes right over to me to get her "spritz".

[skittledoo]

She hardly wore her diaper when she was in heat. She only wore it when she was out of her crate in the apartment and if I'm at work she is crated and at night she is crated and when I'm home she spent most of her time outside with me so she only wore the diaper about two hours out of the day and only during the bleeding part of her heat.

I'm wondering honestly if its more of an allergy situation or from her licking herself a lot. She does tend to lick her belly a lot recently.

Also Kady I got that vet's best hot spot stuff and already that's making a difference on her neck area where she's red and been losing fur. The redness is gone now on her neck. I sprayed some of it on her belly where the other redness is and she hasn't licked that spot since I sprayed it so I might continue doing that to keep her from licking it so it will heal. It looks like its already starting to heal.

[kady05]

Originally Posted by skittledoo

Also Kady I got that vet's best hot spot stuff and already that's making a difference on her neck area where she's red and been losing fur. The redness is gone now on her neck. I sprayed some of it on her belly where the other redness is and she hasn't licked that spot since I sprayed it so I might continue doing that to keep her from licking it so it will heal. It looks like its already starting to heal.

Oh good! Glad it's helping