Poor Ernie's Skin Condition

One of my miniature daschunds has got red blotches on his groin and under his arms. He is scratching them red raw and licking them. I have been to the vets with this problem before about one month ago and they gave him a course of antibiotics. I have put some tea tee cream on it and have ordered some medicated shampoo and vitamin e off the internet as I have been told that this may help.

Ernie has had this problem on and off for about 12 months (he is two years old). His brother Bert has no such problems.

I have also noticed that Ernie may be going slightly bald on his underside.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be causing this and is there anything I can do to help him?

When he went to the vet a month ago he was given Frontline so I do not think he has fleas or mites.

Thanks

I have been reading all of the posts on the forum about itchy skin and I am wondering if my Ernie may have a grass allergy. We mowed the lawn this weekend and it seems to have flared up since then. I have given him one Piriton and will continue giving him one twice daily and see how he gets on.

I believe you cannot use the non-drowsy Piriton. I have looked on the box and it does not say non-drowsy so hopefully these should be ok.

Anyone else got problems with grass allergies?

Thanks

Not a grass allergy, but one of my terriers suffers with itchy skin. It started when he was about 18months and he would get it every year, usually the summer months and by autumn it would disappear again. Last year was particularly bad from February.
He had allergy testing and it came back negative for everything, so I'm none the wiser as to what causes Dougs itch.
I just have to manage his condition when it occurs, with soothing shampoos and creams and piriton.
I do sympathise with you, it's awful to see them scratching and nibbling at their skin.
Good luck with your little one, I hope you find what's causing it.

could it possibly be food related?
Have you changed what you wash their beds/the carpet/the floor with?

A tricky one.

I've been here - It could be one or more of so many things.

You say you went to the vet a month ago and got AB's.........what was the vets opinion, what were the AB's for, were you not asked to go back at the end of the course ?

I would suspect that the vet went with non-specific AB treatment to clear it up but (even if it worked) should the problem persist you should go back to the vet as the cause of the problem isn't identified.

It can be a right old problem and whilst ABs can keep it at bay a process elimination can be of more use.

Good luck though as it can be a tricky to identify the actual trigger.

Both our Boxers suffer from grass allergies once the grass is in the growing season. I would have thought two Piriton a day a lot for a little dog, did you check the dosage with your vet before you started to administer it?

When I visited the vet he said that Daschunds were prone to a skin condition which could not be cured but could be treated but he didnt want to jump to any conclusions. He said to take the AB's and then see how he goes and to come back if it happened again where I am assuming he will do some testing.

Poor Ernie was scratching a little bit in the night but not as bad as he has been. Checked this morning and his rash has calmed down somewhat.

I have given him a Piriton this morning but am concerned now as to how many to give him per day - does anyone know the answer to this please?

As for his bed I have not washed it with any different washing powder and have not changed his food recently. He is a very fussy eater and will only eat meat that comes out of one of those square foiled boxes like Ceasar!! He will not eat dry food - his naughty brother is the same!!!

Any more advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you xx

The anti-biotics will be to combat any bacterial infection due to the scratching. It won`t do anything for the original trigger.
Allergies are difficult - they can be caused by a range of things - and a combination.
Can you think back to when it started? Did it happen last year?
One of my dogs had a long-lasting anti-histamine injection when we were in France to get her through the summer but I haven`t heard of it being used here.

Sasha gets a little rash on her tummy area as she is so short still that when she runs through the long grass she gets prickled by the weeds, could it be that

I cant really remember if it happened last year. She seems to have had it on and off for a while now but its only the past couple of months it has got really bad.

When I take them out for walks I dont tend to go to grassy areas as there are no parks by where I live so they tend to walk on the pavement.

I only reason I thought it may be a grass allergy is because the lawns have just been mowed!

Just looking at other threads and it says a lot about Hibiscrub. Is this something for humans or is there an animal kind? Have looked on Boots website and you can get Hibiscrub skin cleanser for £8.29 - would this be it? I have also read about Sudocrem, would it be worth getting some of this or just sticking to the tea tree cream I have been using?