Brooky yeast and bacteria infection

Hey all,
So Brooky has a yeast infection and a bacteria infection on her skin and the vet gave us Cephalexin (1/4 of a 600mg tablet twice daily) and Nizoral (1/4 of a tablet once a day). Anyway, I am wondering if there is anything I need to know about these or need to do extra to help her out? I mean, my vet gave me the run down, but in people terms, those that have used these before, any thing I should know would be great. Does either of these mess up her gut flora? Should I be adding probiotic? Or are they pretty straight forward?

The Cephalexin is for the bacteria and the Nizoral is for the yeast. Also, we will go back to using Malaseb once a week too.

She is happy as a clam, just itchy. I noticed red bumps starting which brought me to the vet (among other general stuff I had to go for anyway) and the skin labs showed the bacteria and yeast.

We start full on allergy test when I get back from the US in Jan (so I have time to devote to it...especially the food elimination one) and in a few weeks Brooklyn goes off her trial of Gabapenten for the SM investigations, so we will see what that does. Its strange, it seemed liked the gabapenten was doing wonders for the first month and a half, then in the last few weeks to a month...its almost like her symptoms are all back?? Could have been this skin infection though, but as always, until we get this all nailed down, I am jut left wondering. Is all of this SM or is all of this allergy or something else? Sigh. Next year will bring a lot more answers, but as she is only a year (and our neuro is happy with her clinical signs), we havent rushed into things like MRI and are slowly testing meds, foods, etc. We will get there, it is just slow. Sometimes I wish we could just draw blood and someone would say "Bam! There is your answer!"

I know how you feel; I am having a bad time with Ebony & Harley trying to find the right medication. Ebony has also started scratching her side on top of her head rubbing, and Harley’s ear scratching comes and goes. But when they are out walking Ebony doesn’t scratch at all. I really hate SM it’s because it isn’t straight forward everything is trial and error. My husband is just taking Rosie to the vets as she always gets red spots and scratches. I will try the food elimination as I really think that’s what it is. Otherwise it looks like that Rosie might also has to be scanned.

Hope you will get some answers soon

Get well soon sweet little Brooklyn!:hug:

Oooh poor brooky... Are u in brooklyn now?? Let me know! Lets have coffee!


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Gentlle hugs to Brooky. Hopefully Nicky will see this post, she is very good on this subject. :hug:

Thanks so much everyone for your sweet words!
Sabby - for Brookys red bumps, my vet said they were just bacteria pustules (I think that is what he called them)...just bacteria bumps from her infection which should clear up with the meds (I found this really interesting...he said dogs don't have "wax plugs" on the root of their hair like humans to, so when they get a skin infection, it slips right into the hair follicle...making those bumps). He said that these and the yeast infection all together are signs that we def need to get the allergies sorted. I feel it is food for her too but again, it is a bit of a guessing game for now.

Lynn...I am in Brooklyn starting December 19th!!! I would love to meet up and have coffee, I am there until the 16th of January so we have lots of time. I am dying to meet Blondie, the little monster I hear so much about! How is her eye by the way? It is too bad I can't bring Brooklyn to Brooklyn!

I'm sorry to hear about poor Brooklyn Skin is considered an organ and is usually the first to show signs of problems if the body is stressed.

There is no point in giving probiotics until the antibiotics are finished as they will just kill them, but once she has finished then yes I would give her a course.

Malaseb is very drying and I'm not quite sure why he is saying to use it once a week? Generally it is used as an intensive course of treatment.

in a few weeks Brooklyn goes off her trial of Gabapenten for the SM investigation

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this concerns me that the medication is being stopped if it is needed. Usually a trial of the medication is to see if it works, obviously the fact that she stopped scratching initially indicates that it was effective, which sadly would probably indicate SM.

It does look like the current skin problems may be causing the current scratching which is messing up your trial.

If this were my dog, I think I would be pushing for an MRI at this point, the fact that she stopped scratching on Gabapentin is pretty significant.


Allergies are very hard to test for and treat, usually to start with a minimum of an 8 week exclusion diet, nothing she has met before and no other food at all.


I do hope something can be sorted for you, it's obviously a very worrying time.

Thanks so much Nicki!! When her antibiotics are finished, what do I use for a probiotic? I have never done that with a dog before....so any suggestions would be great!
For the Malaseb, I thought it was very drying too...but he wanted it to be used once a week for a few week in course with these antibiotics and the yeast meds. Do you think that is too much? I can call him today and chat with him more about it if you think it is too much because all we need is itchy DRY skin too

As for the Gabapentin...she is not stopping it full stop. She is basically going to go off of it for a week or two to see if her symptoms come back. This is an investigation course that our neuro wanted to do before an MRI since she thought Brooky looked pretty good clinically, she didnt want to rush into an MRI. So for instance, if she goes off the Gabapentin and lots of symptoms come back...then it is straight into an MRI. If she stays the same off of it, then it could be pointing more towards another factor (though an MRI at that point is still on the table). Does that make sense? So, if they are helping her, she will go right back on it. It is annoying as I feel like a lot of people think it could be a lot of different things and each one wants the others ruled out first. I am also inclined to just MRI her, but wonder if we should do allergy searches first?? Though, I know how hard those are as well. She started Ziwi Peak right at the time of going on Gabapentin too, so that could have helped.

On the Gabapentin, she did not completely stop scratching, but it was reduced a lot. Now she is really scratchy again...but obviously that is probably due to the skin issues so I am excited to get those resolved to continue to observe her without secondary influences. Since we also switched to Venison Ziwi Peak at the start of Gabapentin too, it is hard to say if either has had an impact (which is why she wants to take her off the meds for a few weeks to see if symptoms return or not).
Do you think I should just push for an MRI anyway? I know it is hard to give an opinion, but I do worry all the time. It is probably the skin thing, but now I feel like she is back to square one with itchy, biting legs (only on right side) and dragging head (not as often as before) and scratching around ear/head (slower methodical scratching mixed with hard scratching). It is so hard to separate the normal dog behaviour from the excessive. Sigh.

We do have a great neuro though, she is leading the pack on SM research on the Brussels Griffon breed and she is really easy to work with and will listen to me and she said that though this is her route to go slower based on her examination of Brooky, she will also listen if I want to discuss MRI right now.

Ugh, it is all so confusing!

If the Malaseb is only for two weeks then yes go ahead with it, I wouldn't want to do it indefinitely but that's just my opinion!

Many people in the past [and sometimes now too] have spent a fortune on allergy testing and their dogs have suffered for months or even years before it's been realised that it is SM and not allergies...although it is necessary to rule other things out.


Skin problems are also not something that is resolved overnight.

I think Ziwipeak is a pretty good food, are you feeding any treats etc or only that food?

She does sound to be doing an awful lot of scratching and probably the sort of scratching I would associate with SM rather than allergies...but it's hard when I am not seeing her obviously. Also when you don't have another dog to compare her with.

It is very hard to know what to do for the best - and of course there is always the possibility that it's not an either/or situation anyway.


Obviously you need to be advised by the neuro, she is the expert - but I was just expressing how I would feel, I can't make that decision for you.

Her eye is OK but not yet healed.. Her pupil is also dialated and we are trying to figure out why..
Please IM me when you come and ill give u my phonenumber so we can meet! U can come to my place for coffee and meet blondiemonster if ud like.. (im in clinton hill) Or come here first to meet her and then well go for a beer!


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I do hope Brooklyn is on the mend soon.
On another note, that would be very cool if you and Lynn and Blondie could meet. We must see pictures if it happens! :-D

Nicki, thank you so much for your thoughts on Brooky. Obviously you cannot give any solid answers given that you cannot see her in person, but I do so appreciate your thoughts, advice and wisdom on the subject. All help me gather thoughts and info I need to help me make the right decisions moving forward with Brooky. So thank you!

And Lynn, I SO can't wait to meet up with you and Blondie! So fun (and we will definitely take pics for everyone!). I am happy for coffee or a few beers, so I will Message you once I arrive in NYC and we can pick a good time to meet up...probably after the holidays. I will be staying with my sis and she is on the Upper West Side, so I will just need to figure out subways/transport but that should be easy. I used to live in the Tribeca/Battery Park area (3 blocks from the World Trade Center), and getting to you would have been so easy then! I loved that spot. Getting very excited to go home for a month, will be in touch!

The train from the uws goes straight to my house (a/c) so wont be hard! Its hard to travel with blondie or id come to u! Im on vava from the 6 to 13 of jan so anytime around that!! maybe between 2md and 5th is a good spot? Lemme know!


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Oh perfect! The A/C train it is then, and I am more than happy to come to you since I don't have a furry friend in tow I can definitely meet somewhere between Jan 2nd and the 5th, I will message you when I get there and know my schedule a bit better and we can pick a date! I am so excited...and Brooky is so jealous!