doggie trouble!

Hey guys, my GF is actually posting this for her dog. So I will let her explain the issue, any advice for this would be much appreciated, thanks.

Hello,
I adopted an older male Chow from the pound in January and for the past several months he's been chewing himself around his rear end and tail to the point of bleeding. I coned him and took him to the vet twice. They say it's just a hot spot, cleaned him up, gave him a steroid shot and told me to use bitter apple spray. Just a few days ago, I took him to his third vet visit and she gave my dog his steroid shot for allergies and said he shouldn't be biting himself anymore for a while, but three days later he chewed his tail until an entire area of his tail and rear had been exposed and bleeding. So far, I tried cleaning his wound and bandaged it up as best I can. He also has a lot of thick green eye boogers that cover his eyes often and I think he has an infection, but the vet didn't say it should be a concern, but I think it really is. I made an appointment with the vet on Monday. Is there anything you can think of that might be a possible cause of his chewing other than allergies, fleas or habit? He didn't start chewing on himself until about 3 months into my ownership of him. I'm really worried about him because him to be a happy dog and not have to wear a cone for the rest of his life.
Thank you so much!

First of all, GREAT on getting a shelter dog! What's his name?

Second, is this a vet that you have used and been happy with in the past? I can see why the tail-chewing might be a challenge to solve and could require multiple vet visits, but their lack of concern about the green eye goobers is a red flag to me.

Maybe somebody you know can recommend a vet they like and trust? Be sure to take a copy of his records so that the new vet doesn't have to repeat everything that the present one has already done.

Is he on Frontline or a similar product for fleas? Even though we can't necessarily see the fleas or signs of them, they sometimes are there.

Good luck!

What food is he on? Have you recently switched foods?

Food allergies cause a lot of skin problems (through too abrupt of change or simple allergy) and though I love my vet(s) it does seem the profession is institutionally-biased toward medicine and not knowledgeable enough on prevention and treatment through diet.

By the way, my Samoyed (Gidget) once did the same thing underneath her tail and I did not see it until it was quite raw. This was January.

The cause was my washing her and failing to completely blowdry that area.

Also, a number of my friends have recently observed their dogs having various itchy skin afflictions. Ragweed has emerged the past 3 weeks or so (as evidenced by my own headaches) so I wonder if that's a common problem.

I strongly recommend going ahead and subscribing to www.whole-dog-journal.com and searching their database for previous articles. It is an excellent resource, contains no advertising that could corrupt their reporting and is sympathetic (but not exclusively so) to holistic remedies.

Good luck, it is awful to see your pup suffer while the vets and you are trying to deduce why.

He also has a lot of thick green eye boogers that cover his eyes often and I think he has an infection, but the vet didn't say it should be a concern, but I think it really is.

"Green" means infection (in sinus infections and eyes, as far as I know)! I'm stunned that a vet would be nonchalant about it. :???:

Gidget woke up with substantial greenish eye discharge on a camp trip when she was a year old -- and was clearly uncomfortable -- and I rushed her home to the emergency.

Turned out she had scratched the cornea in each eye and infection had set in. We believe the scratches were from grass on the edges of the lake she was playing in.

I'd be vet shopping if I were you. All vets are not equal.

I'd also be Googling "green" and "greenish" and "eye discharge" as well as the tail-hotspot issue. You can find a lot these days on the Internet these days.

:-)

I agree with you HC (and ABC mentioned it too). Vet shopping sounds like a good idea. Some years ago my dog started loosing hair and his skin got dark dots and he did stink. We went from one vet, who had no clue what it was to another vet at the University vet clinic where my parents live. One would think they would solve the problem but we were wrong. They thought it was alergy and just wanted to change his diet. We knew the diet was not a problem. Time was passing (one month) and he had less and less hair all over his body and his skin was getting darker avery day. Finally a friend of ours suggested us to visit another vet and immediately (from a very tipical smell) she diagnosed he had a type of mange (parasitic skin infestation). It took us a very long time to get rid of it and to have the hair grow back but after around a year he was normal.

Good luck and I hope you will find a good vet who will take care of your baby and find the cure!

Unfortunately Chow's are vulnerable to both allergies and hot spots.

As suggested by everyone else, I would start looking around for another vet. Obviously what they're doing isn't working for your poor puppy.

I'm really concerned about the vet's attitude with respect to the green eye boogers. Per Hiker Chick's statement - green means infection. This isn't something we would ever let go with any of the animals at the shelter I work in.

I would definitely start asking friends and family which vet they go to and what their experiences have been. I would get a second opinion on the condition.

Good for you for adopting a shelter dog :smile: Let us know how he's doing!!

Hey guys, my GF is actually posting this for her dog. So I will let her explain the issue, any advice for this would be much appreciated, thanks.

Hello,
I adopted an older male Chow from the pound in January and for the past several months he's been chewing himself around his rear end and tail to the point of bleeding. I coned him and took him to the vet twice. They say it's just a hot spot, cleaned him up, gave him a steroid shot and told me to use bitter apple spray. Just a few days ago, I took him to his third vet visit and she gave my dog his steroid shot for allergies and said he shouldn't be biting himself anymore for a while, but three days later he chewed his tail until an entire area of his tail and rear had been exposed and bleeding. So far, I tried cleaning his wound and bandaged it up as best I can. He also has a lot of thick green eye boogers that cover his eyes often and I think he has an infection, but the vet didn't say it should be a concern, but I think it really is. I made an appointment with the vet on Monday. Is there anything you can think of that might be a possible cause of his chewing other than allergies, fleas or habit? He didn't start chewing on himself until about 3 months into my ownership of him. I'm really worried about him because him to be a happy dog and not have to wear a cone for the rest of his life.
Thank you so much!


First off about the vet and vets in general. As in all professions there are some good and bad vets. So if you are not happy with your current one then certainly try to find another one. My hubby just graduated from vet school this past May and I have worked in the profession as a licensed vet tech for over 6 years. I have worked with good and bad vets and before the hubby became one, have left vets if I did not think they were doing a good job.

Now about your pup. Thank you for adopting him. I am always a fan of those who adopt.

It is certainly possible that it started out as a hot spot and as the dog chewed and tore up the skin that it turned into a bacterial infection. If it is that then antibiotics are needed to clear it up. Hot spot treatment and steroids will not help. It also could be other things. Has this dog's anal glands ever been expressed? Because that can lead sometimes to the tail biting or the excessive chewing. Have you seen the dog scoot on his butt before? Is he on flea treatment (another thing that can cause itchiness and chewing) you cannot always see fleas and it might be that he is allergic to fleas and one bite set him off. And as others have said it could also be a food allergy. Or it could be Demodectic mange which is an immune problem. A number of dogs that come from shelters have immune systems that have taken a beating and this can mange they get frequently.
All of those things require some more workup so if you go to another vet be prepared for them to do some of what has already been done over again.
The goopy green eyes can be an infection but also can be due to dry eyes or other things. This also might require a workup.

But if you are dissatisfied with your vet I would definitely find another one because you and your vet have to be on good terms and united as one to help with any problems your pets might have.

Good luck with it!!