Pyoderma ( hotspots ) on dogs?

No, I haven't. What are the symptoms, how does it manifest itself?

No, but I suggest you consult a veterinarian and don't let the animal
suffer while you gather information on a2k.

Get thee to a vet. The earlier dermatological issues are addressed, the easier they are to manage (to say nothing of the dog's well-being).

I took my Poodle to the Vet and Sammy ( my Poodle ) was prescribed the antibiotic, Cephalexin.

We still don't know what the real cause of this skin problem is, but the Vet thinks that Cephalexin will cure the itching and the flaking of my dog's skin.

Time will tell.

Itching and flaking of the skin and little round circles of crusty skin ( looks like RingWorm, but isn't a fungal infection ).

Is there focal hair loss at the sites of the lesions? Diffuse hair loss? Is the dog itchy all over, or in specific spots? Are there also problems with the ears? Is the skin dry or greasy? Are there any pustules? Bleeding? Has the skin become pigmented? Does the dog rub his/her face on furniture? What do you do for flea control? How old is the dog?

My Poodle is 4 years old and was Rxed Frontline by the Vet. The only hair loss suffered by Sammy is at spots where the itching was severe and the dog bit his skin to stop the itching. As a result, there is some hair loss.from the biting.

Sammy does have allergies and at times he'll have a pink ear, which is then treated with a topical antibiotic, which contains an anti-inflammatory.

The Vet thinks that Sammy has allergies and that the "hot spots" are caused by infection at these sites . However, he told me that the dog may be allergic to the Staph (?) infection ( if the bacteria is Staph ). Basically, the Vet doesn't know what's happening. Incidentally, this is the most common medical problem reported to VPI ( the pet insurance company ).

Other facts:
No bleeding.

Skin isn't overly dry or greasy.

No pustules.

No pigmentation of skin.

Rubbing of eyes only when there is a small amount of discharge from the corners of his eyes ( common to Poodles).

The Vet Rxed 250 mg ( oral tabs) Cephalexin ( 3X/day for 14 days). What surprises me is how fast the antibiotic stopped the itching and apparently improved Sammy's dermatitis.

I'm against having my dog on Cephalexin year round. However, the Vet told me that this is common and that after the first 14 days, if Sammy needs more
antibiotic, the dosage can be reduced to 1 tab/day.

The Vet never mentioned "antibiotic-resistant bacteria , which is of concern to me.

So, we'll just have to wait and watch Sammy's skin for the next couple of weeks and then act accordingly.

Frontline was Rxed for flea control.

Gracie (beagle) gets these from nervousness. She started biting at herself to scratch after she had puppies and they became more active and she couldn't keep them corraled. Once the puppies were gone, she cleared up significantly. Then we got another puppy before realizing the connection. She started the bite scratching again, although there were still no fleas. Puppy moved out and Gracie cleared up.

When she goes to the dog park to "play" she spends all of her time trying to mother the other dogs. Dogs she doesn't even know, if they start running together and appear to be ganging up on one in particular... she's in the middle of it barking and trying to break them up. When we leave the dog park she's again nervous and biting herself for the rest of the day.

She also does this when too many people are around, or the noise/activity level of the house is high. It's always in the same two to three spots on her back, above the tail.

A barely warm calm bath during these episodes seemed to be soothing to her.

Ah, a poodle.

Has your vet discussed the possibility of testing Sammy to see what he's allergic to? There are a couple of options available along these lines. The results can be used to start a hyposensitization (or "allergy shot") program -- the same therapy that's used in people with allergies that aren't manageable by conventional treatment. It takes a while and takes a fair amount of work on your part, but somewhere between 2/3 and 4/5 of dogs with environmental allergy do quite well with this. (Assuming it's an environmental allergy. Neither the testing nor the shots work for dogs with food allergy.)

As to the "hot spots" -- are these really specifically localized lesions, or do they show up over broad areas (say, Sammy's entire belly or all her feet)? Either way, I'd want to do impression smears of them to see if they show bacteria, yeast, or inflammatory cells. A lot of allergy dogs get overgrowth of a naturally-occurring yeast (Malassezia) that can cause a tremendous amount of inflammation and itch, which in turn leads to bacterial overgrowth. Yeast also can be identified in the material in the nail beds in these dogs. If there is yeast overgrowth -- and this really is quite common in allergic dogs -- just treating the bacterial component is not going to result in lasting success. I can't tell you how much better my own allergy dog got when I treated her with cephalexin AND ketoconazole (an oral antifungal agent).

All of that is assuming that allergy really is at the root of the present problem, though. I'd really recommend cytology (impression smears of the skin, scrapings of the nail beds, ear swabs, +/- skin scrapes) to see if something else is going on.

There are also a variety of topical treatments available that help somewhat against the inflammatory component of atopy (allergic dermatitis) in dogs, but they're all pretty ineffective once secondary infection has set in.

Ears:
At times the ears have shown contamination with both yeast and bacteria. Ears were treated with Tresderm and the ears returned to normal.

Pustules":
You mentioned pustules early on in this thread and I now recall that Sammy does show these pimple-like objects on his skin.

Collaretts:
Another term the vet used was "collaretts"...this is the ring-like structure that developes after the pustule appears. It reminded me of "ring-worm".

Ketoconazole:
Your points about using an antifungal agent are very useful and if need be, I'll ask the Vet about using ketoconazole if Cephalexin doesn't do the job.

Allergy Testing:
The Vet discussed allergy testing and told me that it was expensive and often a waste of time, since the allergen (s) were never identified. He told me he didn't think the dog food was the problem.

So far Sammy is itching less and so far I have not seen any more "hot spots" appear.

PatioDog: Thanks for your valuable input. It's greatly appreciated.

I know a lot of clients who disagree strongly that the allergy tests are a waste of time. The intradermal test (at least when performed by someone accustomed to doing it) has always been reliable in terms of identifying allergens, and within the last couple of years a reliable blood test has been developed to the same effect. (There previously was a blood test that was NOT effective; different test, though it is still available and some practitioners may still offer it.)

That said, I'd only advocate the "allergy shot" protocol when all other means have been exhausted. I really would push for skin cytology and nail bed scrapes, though. They technically are no more difficult to perform than an ear cytology, it's just that a lot of practitioners aren't in the habit of using them. I was taking my Molly to a vet (and a friend of mine) for 3 years who never did skin cytology, and my dog was miserable because we never treated yeast except in the ears. Eventually I did my own cytologies, took them in, and "we" started Molly on a monthlong course of ketoconazole. It's been 8 months now, and Molly is still the best she's been in years.

Good luck.



Oh, and ditto on Bethie's inpute re: bathing. Oatmeal based shampoos are good, and there are some shampoos desinged for dogs with seborrhea that can be very useful, depending on the state of Sammy's skin.

My Poodle is a nervous, anxious dog so I asked the Vet if the "hotspots" were a result of Sammy's nervous condition. He said no.

I still think the "hotspots" are tied to the nerous condition of my Poddle.

We've tried the oatmeal baths and they haven't reduced the number of the "hotspots".

The antibiotic seems to be working, so the future looks good.