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My dog developed a staph infection on his skin - primarily his "under carriage". The vet believes that it was a secondary infection after a reaction to walking through grass that had been sprayed with chemicals. He is a dachshund so his belly could definitely come into contact with the grass...
We treated him with two weeks of a cephalasporin antibiotic and three times a week betadine baths. The skin has cleared up nicely and the greyish plaques with the pink irritated skin around them are now just vague dark spots. However, now he is scratching frequently. He wasn't really scratching a lot when this first started, but now he scratches off an on all day.
Why start scratching now? Could it just be dry skin from the baths? What should I do?
If he scratches too much ~ you could end up with another staph infection. Perhaps he needs some allergy control?
My Westie suffers from skin issues; has also had staph infection. We give him Zyrtech and, once we cleared the staph infection, we still use a special cortisone shampoo that is soothing to his skin. Our vet prescribed it to us.
I'd guess it's either the skin healing (it gets itchy when it heals) or the skin is dry and irritated.
Try Benadryl. My foster had the same thing on his head and inside his ears. When it started to heal he was itchy too. I gave him a plain, normal, nothing added Benadryl tablet each morning and night for a week and he got through it just fine.
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That could easily be an allergy. If the dog starts to get recurrent staph infections I would say that is likely to be the issue.
It could be grass/pollen allergies, it could be a food allergy and it very well could be a reaction to something sprayed on the grass.
My dog had the same rash over his undercarriage and neck. It turned out to be an allergy to turkey. If he gets any turkey, he will scratch for a week. If he keeps getting turkey he starts to get skin lesions. No turkey, no problem.
I agree that benadryl could be a solution. If you are able to stop the itching you may be able to stop the skin problem. Ask your vet for his/her opinion, but as long as the only ingredient is diphenhydramine dogs are usually dosed around 1 mg / lb. of body weight. You have wiggle room on the high end of the dosage; benadryl is not very toxic at all. The concern is that an overdose will induce sleep so deep that breathing stops, it isn't like poisoning.
Be aware that some dogs will have the reverse of the side-effects usually associated with benadryl and will be completely nutso and hyper rather than sleepy.
I started this thread in October when Fizz first got this infection. It cleared up with two weeks of antibiotics, but is now back again. Same thing - plaques of greyish build up scattered on his belly and chest. There aren't any pink, infected looking areas this time because I caught it sooner.
Will this just continue to reoccur? Is there anything that I can do to keep it from coming back for good?
These betadine baths are killing my bathroom grout!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinetreelover
I started this thread in October when Fizz first got this infection. It cleared up with two weeks of antibiotics, but is now back again. Same thing - plaques of greyish build up scattered on his belly and chest. There aren't any pink, infected looking areas this time because I caught it sooner.
Will this just continue to reoccur? Is there anything that I can do to keep it from coming back for good?
These betadine baths are killing my bathroom grout!
Scratching and skin infections in the fall, all quiet over the winter, scratching and skin infections in the spring could point to seasonal allergies. It could still be a food allergy so switchin foods a few times may be your least expensive and least involved method to address the problem.
Sounds just like Gator's allergies! Scaly red belly and always itching. You may want to have some allergy testing done. Gator's allergies are environmental, not food related. Since your pup's reaction is on his undercarriage, his could be environmental too.
On another note..its very easy to get a staph infection. You and your family need to be careful or you can end up with one as well. Wash any abrasions or cuts immediately with soap and water, use antibiotic ointment and cover any wounds at least until a scab forms.
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