Sun, grass and sores

Hilda's latest favourite past time is to rub herself upside down on the short brown grass until she's bleeding! She's been doing his now for about 3 weeks and is a series of healed, creamed and bleeding sores all around her neck and shoulders. This time of year often sees an increase in skin problems, some of it's allergies to the grass, some of it is scratching from being so hot and if your dog only ever suffers problems in the Summer it can usually be kept under control by treating each sore spot as it arises. I do know that many people give anti histamines during the Summer but unless your dog is really suffering I do worry about that. Bathe each sore spot with salt water, pat dry and then apply sudocrem - if you see the area has healed or is starting to heal after 48 hours than this will work for your dog, if the areas start to spread and you find that you can pull chunks of fur out like you were plucking a chicken then a short course of anti biotics may help as this is a sign that the area has become infected. I know that many vets love to prescribe steroids for skin problems and I can't stress enough that this really should be a last case resort because long term use of steroids can lead to other problems, one of the dogs we recently rehomed has just suffered a bout of pancreaitis which the vet has presumed is due to the long term use of steroids.

Food can be a great contributor to skin problems, anything with a lot of colouring or a protein level of more than 24% is a definite no for dogs with sensitive skin, feed something along the lines of James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange or Burns as these foods tend to have less fillers (ie: crap off the abatoire floor), for some dogs feeding a fish based food such as James Wellbeloved White fish and rice or Burns Fish and Potato is helpful, but be wary of allergy test - they will simply tell you your dog is allergic to pollen and dust mites - neither of which you can do anything about and are usually a total waste of time, effort and money.

Malaseb is another vet fave, I just noticed that's being sold at £20 a bottle!!!! The big problem I have with baths as a treatment for skin is the simple fact that bathing dries the skin, makes it flaky which makes it itchy - try not to over bath your dog it can often prove to be counter productive and for what it's worth Medichems Sporal D shampoo (available from http://www.reggies-den.co.uk/) is just as good, if not better.

I think one of the main issues is the fact that vets not only feel the need to make money out of every dog that walks through the door (especially the pedigrees) but also that they have to be seen to be doing something. You really don't always need the pills and potions they prescribe, salt water, sudocrem and decent diet is often all you need to get you through the summer and an anti histamine reserved for really bad days or for dogs with a genuine allergy to pollen.