• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

Flea dermatitis??

moniechris

Well-known member
My sweet Wesley has torn himself to bits on his hind quarters. It is amazing how much damage he has done to himself in literally, a matter of days. I began to notice hair loss from his chewing on Monday, then on Tuesday morning I saw that during the night he had torn every last bit of hair off of his leg and was bleeding. He must have been going at it all night in his crate...

I have an apointment with my vet this afternoon, but I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with this. I use Frontline plus EVERY month but I still find one or two fleas on my boys. This weekend we are treating the yard, and I have ZERO carpet in my house, so I don't know what else to do!! It is absolutely breaking my heart!!
 
poor you and poor Wesley. Could he be allgeric to the fontline plus? Can fleas live in wood flooring? Could you bug bomb the house and funiture?
Let us know how he gets on at vets.
 
Poor Wesley! :cry*ing:


Keep us updated with what the vet says. I hope the little guy feels better!
 
Poor Wesley!!!! Are you sure the fleas are causing it?

I imagine they probably are and are the most obvious cause. My sister's dog lost all his hair in the hind quarters. Fleas are not an issue for him, he was scraped for mites. Nothing. He wasn't even raw ... just no hair. His happened gradually over a could weeks though.

Finally, she realized that she'd changed him over to a chicken based food for the first time when she started noticing the hair loss. She changed the food to Innova Red Meat and is cutting out all chicken and chicken based foods and the hair seems to be growing back. :xfngr:

The dr. told her to give him a half a benedryl if he is itching - you should consult your vet and make sure that is safe for Wesley, but it seems to help Razz when he itches and maybe will make Wesley feel a little better. :flwr:
 
We are having allergy problems with Teddy. he had blood tests for outdoor things like pollen, fleas etc and all negative. he had a slight reaction to dust mite, so a thourough clean and carpet treatment, but still the scratching, chewing and licking, when taken off steroids. We are doing food, now , and he's on a hyperallergenic feed for a month or so. I'm weaning off the steroids and he's having a little lick, but not much, so fingers crossed.

Our line of treatment was frontline, antihistamine (no effect in Teddy's case), steroids (worked well until stopped), bllodd tests, steroids and now food trials.

The vet said that these things are sometimes quite difficult and sometimes there is no conclusion.
 
How did your vet appointment go? You and Wesley have been in my thoughts; I've never dealt with fleas yet, so I'm no help here.

It's amazing how serious fleas can be though if the dog is allergic to fleas.

I hope he feels better soon! :hug: :flwr:
 
Wesley's apointment went well, my vet is so dreamy and wonderful. He sat with us for over 45 minutes just going over all of the possibilities of what this could be (rash, dermatitis, allergies) He did a scraping, which came up negative for mites. I explained the issues that I have been having lately with Frontline Plus and he told me that for the past 6 months, every single day a person has come in having issues with it. He says that it seems to be losing it's "oomph".

We went over how often I bathe the boys and he said that despite the claims of being water proof, the chemical (frontline) stays in the oil of the skin and when they are bathed, it rinses away the skin cells that hold it. It re-arises after a day or so, but there is at least a 24 hour window where the fleas have total access. Wesley is now on antibiotics for 21 days, and a steroid for the next days to help break the itching/infection cycle.

My poor little boy..I will be so glad when this is over. :(
 
i had no idea that frontline could be washed off for 24 hours then come back again. :yikes Is this if you leave product on then bath after a couple of days or does the product do that everytime you bathe the dog. Seems silly selling a flea product that offers no protection for 24 hours after a bath. Is 24 hours enough time for a flea to cling on then hatch?
 
Apparently it does it every time you bathe the dog!! I had no idea!! My vet recomended that if I have to bathe Wesley, that I would give him this pill called "Capstar" which will kill all of the fleas on his body and keep him protected for 24 hours. Then after the 24 hours is up, put the flea medication on him. He recomended that if I suspected that my yard/source was the source of all the fleas, that I should put the flea medicine on him during a walk in a paved area, just before the 24 hour period was up. He also recomended putting it on every 3 weeks instead of 4...great. More $$$$$.

I am not sure how I feel about that, simply because Capstar sounds like a powerful drug and I haven't researched the dangers or side effects, but it could be better than having him on antibiotics and steriods because of one flea bite!! The poor little guy!! One bite can itch for up to 10 days, and it that period of time he can destroy all of his hair and give himself a staph infection. :(
 
Too many steroids can lead to a lot of other illnesses - Cushings disease for example.

Tibby lost all the skin on her rear end and tail and my first vet would always find a speck of flea dirt and blow it off with that. The new vet took one look at her and said that she has a yeast problem with her skin. She is now having a medical bath weekly.

I've been using Capstar with my dogs for at least a year. We ordered it on-line, giving Wallis a whole tablet and the smaller girls one half each. We haven't noticed any problems with it at all. I think every dog that goes in to board at our kennel gets a Capstar on its way in.

It's incredible how quickly they can develop a hot spot from all that chewing. I had a dog that developed a huge one in less than 2 hours.

How much protein in in your dog kibble? A lot of dogs are sensitive to the amount of protein in a diet and it can cause them to itch. We were always looking at diets for the Golden and getting the lowest possible protein we could.

Oh, the fun of an itchy dog! Tibby can sleep for hours in the chair but as soon as she hits the bed she starts scratching. We used to think her problem was at least partially psychological, but we're not so sure now.

According to my vet, Advantage is more effective than Frontline unless you have an issue with ticks. He also told us that we need to use it every two-three weeks on all the dogs until the problem is under control.

Fleas can live any and everywhere. They spend 98% of their time off of the dog and in the environment. So they can live in the dogs blankets, on your furniture, etc. Hard to get rid of once they've settled in. And our cold spell down here isn't helping the problem!
 
Back
Top