My doh has dark red patches under his legs IMG

[jezza]

Hello,

I was wondering if any of you would kind kind enough to diagnose the problem i have with my alsatian. The picture I have attached does not show the full extent of the problem, and it is worse than it looks - unfortunately it is very hard to get a picture of the affected area. He also has a smaller variant of this under his mouth, which has now healed with 'hot spot' soothing spray. The affected area is extremely dark red in the middle and then fades slightly, I would say the area is about 6 inchs by 4 inches, and is on both sides. Please take a minute to look at the picture and tell me what you think.

http://www.jezza.f2s.com/ricky.JPG

Thankyou.

 

[Renee750il]

First, I'd go to the vet, and if my vet couldn't take care of the problem (hopefully without resorting to cortisone or other steroid treatment), I'd get a referral to a vet who specializes in allergies and skin ailments.

That said, since the hot spot spray worked, you might try bathing the area with an antibacterial wash to which you've added some tea tree oil, an excellent anti-fungal. After drying the area very thoroughly, apply some of the tea tree oil.

For the long term health of your dog's skin, examine his diet. A great number of skin problems can be avoided that way. There are some lengthy and in-depth discussions of dog nutrition here.

Let us know how your dog fares. Your vet is a good first line of attack on this, but sadly, many vets don't recognize or aren't really attentive to the more holistic, long term care of pets and much of their nutritional "training" comes straight from large, commercial pet food companies.