Skin Lesions

[igsmith]

Weiner just had a skin lesion erupt on her back. We had just started reloading her, but it seemed like it had been developing for a few weeks before. Her fur in that area (around the size of a nickel) was funny, and upon touch, the skin under the area seemed "thick". Then, all of a sudden, the whole area lost hair and is now raw. It seems itchy.

How should we treat it? At first, we put some neosporin on it, then we put a corticol steriod creme on it. Any thoughts?

[katmax1968]

Hi Ian,

That sounds like a "hot spot" which is something Max has unfortunately experienced a few times this year. My vet advises me to clip all the surrounding fur to allow it to breath and dry out, as well as give you access to keep it clean.

Then we liberally apply Hydrogen peroxide 3x a day. We've had good luck in clearing up the really bad ones pretty quickly when she's prescribed him a 10-14 day dose of an antibiotic in addition to the above. Also, keep her from biting or scratcing at it, don't know how accessible it is to her, but either socks on her feet to prevent the nail scratches or a cone on her head for biting. At least for a couple days until it starts to heal and is not so itchy and inflammed. If it is indeed a hotspot - they can be really nasty, get severely infected if untreated, and spread so quickly it's horrifying.

There may be specific skin lesions that erupt during lysodren loading that need to be addressed in a different way, so I'd recommend a call to the vet to check with them on this type of thing during loading. Maybe someone else here who uses Lysodren has experienced this during loading and can offer their recommendations and experience as well.

Wishing her well!! Kathy

[EllenF]

I do not have a dog at this point in time who has "hot spots", but I did experience that problem with one of the dogs I had in the past. One thing that always helped heal was the use of an oatmeal shampoo. It eased the itching and it prevented the scratching. Now, if I ever notice any kind of skin irritation on one of my dogs the oatmeal shampoo is the 1st thing I grab and use.
Still, in your case, I would consult with the vet. I have no idea if a sore could be caused by Lysodren.
Poor Weiner!
Please keep us updated.
Ellen & Snowdrop

[katmax1968]

Hi Ian,
Just wondering how Weiner is doing with the loading and the skin lesion/hot spot?

Hope all is going well. Thinking of her and you.
Kathy

[igsmith]

I put some neosporin on it and some strong corisone steroid creme. Fortunately it is in a place she cannot reach (only when she wiggles on her back, which is cute!). It seems to be dying down, so that's good.

I HATE loading her. You can definately see it doesn't make her feel good (she seems a bit out of it).

However, her appetite is still crazy (it has never changed EVER) and her water intake has gone up significantly. When on maintenance, she consumes approximately 375ml per day (almost 30ml/lb, which is considered normal). Two days ago she drank 500ml, and yesterday she drank 700ml. This makes it very difficult to determine whether she is loaded or not.

We are going to have her tested tomorrow (after 7 days of loading) to see where she stands.

Thanks for asking!
Ian, Gina and Weiner

[acushdogsmom]

Hi Ian,

Glad the sore is getting better, but you may want to check with AMC (Dr Peterson) to ask if it's okay to be applying an ointment with steroid in it.

Although absorption through the skin is much less than if a dog takes a steroid pill by mouth, a cream containing steroid may not be advisable, because it is still a steroid.

I'm not sure if enough of the steroid could be absorbed through the skin to affect water consumption or if it could affect ACTH test results, but it's probably a good idea to ask the Vet.

My Vet did once allow us to (very sparingly) apply a cream with cortisone in it when my dog had a hot spot last year, but his stim test numbers were nicely low at that time. (around 2 pre and post)

I hope the test numbers are just where you want them to be and that this time they stay put! :)

[igsmith]

Yeah, you're probably right. Especially since we are going to have her get an ACTH stim test on saturday. Anyway, I just put it on once or twice and the hot spot seems better now.

Dr. Peterson is in Sweden at some conference now...so we are on our own for a bit...will take her to our "normal vet" on Saturday for ACTH.

[katmax1968]

Ian, Gina & Weiner,
So glad to hear that the hotspot didn't erupt into anything severe.
I hope her loading results are at a good level now - keep us posted. Seems like an aweful lot of water intake, but her poor little body is enduring so much maybe it helps to flush itself out during these tough times.
You're all in our thoughts!
Kathy

[igsmith]

Well, our vet group told us that they would wait two weeks before performing an ACTH stim test after using the steroid creme. This is very annoying, because it will be hard to figure out if Weiner was loaded or not, or how the maintenance is working.

Weiner SEEMED loaded, so we stopped her. I emailed Dr. Peterson and he said he thought we only had to wait a day or two after putting the creme on her, so Weiner will be retested this Saturday. She is doing MUCH better now that she is not getting the 2x daily dosage.

Hopefully she is loaded. We increased her maintenance by 50% per Dr. Peterson.