Skin issue advice with pics

Hi all. I'm sure this has been seen before, but my hubby and I are stuck what to do with our Blue Staffy (18mth old) bitch called Gracie. We have just moved interstate to Adelaide, SA from Canberra in January 2012 and we started noticing her doing a lot of the usual chewing on her paws in July. Come end of July her paws were looking quite red (see pic#1) and so we went to the vet who gave us some ($80 for 76ml) steroid spray Cortavance.

About 6 weeks later we saw no improvement so went back to the vet who decided to do a skin scrape finally to see it was bacteria infection, so she was treated with antibiotics, told to stop the steroid spray and put on an antihistamine 2 x tablets a day (Chlorpheniramine). Three weeks later at the check up, no improvement - however the infection had cooled down a bit. So we tried a food diet. Its now week 7 into food diet and we have found her paws have flared up and cooled down a few times but now (only in past 4 weeks) she has a itchy rash under her belly and on her inside of the back legs (see pic #2) which wasn't there before. Has anyone experienced a similar thing where the rash on the belly has appeared at a later stage?


Here is alittle more info:
-We bath her in medicated oatmeal shampoo and a mix of home made oatmeal conditioner as well as vet-baught conditioner once a week (as per vet advice)
- She has started to have doggy flaxseed oil in her diet as reccommended by vet about 3 weeks ago
- She showed no sign of allergy when living in Canberra, but she was a young puppy
- All our suspicions lead to either a grass allergy or mite allergy (as I'm both highly allergic to both and since being in Adelaide, my allergies are terrible)

Questions:
Does anyone have any good home remedies to help her skin? I've heard doggy Stop-Itch (an Iodine based lotion) is good? Or bathing in epson salts?)
Do you think we are getting a run for our money by the vet or is this usual?
Would love to hear your thoughts! Any help or advice would be awesome. Thanks so much!!

have you try sudocrem? it may help

No, but do also put QV cream on her belly as it looks quite dry and flakey. Is that the same?

Have you tried going to a different vet for a second opinion? If you think you know what is causing the reaction have to tried to avoid it entirely to see if the rash improves?

Well, we are getting the house dry steam cleaned and a big clean out to get rid of mites as best we can, and whilst we try to avoid the house at this time, the only other place is the yard where grass lives. But we are heading to QLD in a month for a while, so I'll be interested to see if it calms down up there.

Wonder if its like an allergy, or a contact dermatitis?

I would wash her paws off after each walk, wipe her tummy and body down with a damp cloth too. I'm thinking grass allergy, it's ur summer over there now right ? So I'm guessing all sorts of pollens n irritants around.

If she's chewing at her feet a lot id be tempted to get one of those lampshade collars to stop her just for a cpl of days to give it chance to settle.

Other than that I'd go see another vet.

Thanks so much for your help and advice - there is defiantly sooo much pollen and grass seeds at the moment. We give her a hose at end of walks and make sure its all dry so its not keeping moist for long periods. I think a new vet is on the cards...

In Aus at this time of year a lot of pets are suffering from allergies and hayfever.. In ACT it's a fair bit cooler than SA and unfortunately I would guess it may get worse in QLD ACT is known to be the best place to live for people with skin problems like eczema and breathing probs like asthma as it is by far the cleanest there.. I would say with it mainly affecting her paws and belly it has something to do with the grass, whether it be a parasite or allergic reaction. My girl gets a rash on her tummy from the grass but with antihistamines (Clarantyne) and fish oil tabs every day it is under control.. I would say it is the different type of grass thats causing it, as different grasses are used to to the dramatic temp difference in the 2 states.. Also I don't know why the vet would tell you to bath her every week as that is just stripping her of all the natural oils and defences in her body and coat.. I would try not bathing her at all for a couple of weeks and giving her an antihistamine if you don't see any improvement in a week go to another vet.. I hope you get it sorted soon..

I take it you haven't changed her food along with the change of house? It really sounds like an allergy. Vets will often take the easy route & prescribe a steroid cream or spray, but won't sugest an exclusion diet.

What are you feeding her at the moment, and what are the ingredients?

Up until trialing a food diet, she was on Pro Plan dry food (puppy) and either chicken loaf (from the local Organic pet food shop) or raw meat (chicken or beef mince). The food diet has stuck her on a Royal Canine Hypoallergenic dry food (which she hates mind you!).

Treats include greenies, marrow bones from butcher and pigs ears sometimes.

I thought it was strange for the vet to say bath her each week in the shampoo, so I've taken your advice and not bathed her with soap this week (she loves sitting in her pool in the back yard anyway which keeps her clean). We also now have sudocream which she doesn't seem to mind and has started to settle her reddness on her belly. I've allready noticed it works better then the QV cream and the Stop-Itch. (Poor pup has had enough of me putting strange lotions on her belly!)

I defiantly think its a grass allergy. We have fish oil in her diet as well.

Thanks for your advise all. Let me know what you think about the food choices? Also, do you think it would be okay if I stuck sudo cream on her paws?

Jabba had something similar, mites i think, when he was about 6 months old, he looked terrible, lost a heap of fur, went really pink, the vets put him on a 6 week course of steroids & it fixed him up really good. The vet said its pretty common in staffies but once they get it they shouldn't get it a second time. Hope it clears up soon

Mites don't need to be treated with steroids! If they're really bad then a special shampoo or Advocate normally clears it.

I stear clear of steroids wherever possible!

Olly gets a rash and spots ,we were told by the vet it was a grass allergy ,we use allermil shampoo it seems to work ,ive been told hippy scrub works the same its an antibac shampoo used by doctors you canget it from large supermarkets.

Looks like the same issue we have with our oldest stafford. She doesn't get the rash on her stomach but her feet look similar, its horrible to see them in pain and must be so frustrating for them (and us!). We have tried the following:

* oatmeal soaks
* oatmeal shampoos
* steroids
* a variety of antihistamines
* new era homeopathic remedy
* sulphur
* vaseline on nose
* washing after walks
* omega 3, 6 & 9 oils

Plus hundreds more things which off the top of my head I can't remember!

At the moment our routine is down to washing her feet every time we come in from a walk. 1 tab of chlorpheniramine in the evening, 4 drops of sulphur 2 or 3 times a day, 3 tabs of new era in morning, washing feet with Douxo Calm Shampoo and then spraying them with Douxo Calm Micro-Emulsion Spray. To be honest nothing has made that much of a difference though I like to think we have tried a lot of different treatments! Saving up at the moment to take her back to the vets though I'm not sure what they can really do...

the douxo spray seems to help calm the skin down and reduce redness but we put a lampshade on her if we go out, the kong cloud doesn't stop her reaching her feet (another waste of £11!)

Ouch. Poor thing.

You might want to try a raw diet

Hmmm sounds a bit like Max. He's had a red lumpy rash this last day or so. I am putting Sudocrem on but he likes to lick it off Am not sure if it's a 'heat rash' as he lies right in front of the open fire and it's only on his baldy skin on his underside ....

Hayley wrote:Ouch. Poor thing.

You might want to try a raw diet

Might help.

just raw meat?

janemac wrote:just raw meat?

Not just raw meat.....

http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html

I have just had the same problem with Silva. I am a QLD'er and whilst at the vet i wasnt the only one with this kind of problem. I am guessing it may be due to the weather. It got alot worse after the huge rainy period and the grass grew like crazy.
Silva is only 16weeks so my vet avoided steroids and like previously mentioned we have him on antihistamines and other meds and some medicated shampoos. In just one day it has eased up a lot. He looks horrible though, like some stray street dog.
Do you have dermcare (aloveen ect) shampoos in your area? I swear by this brand i have used it on both my staffies with skin allergies.

Looks similar to the Problem Babs has, demodex mites. Its a difficult thing to get rid of. We are using aludex and advocate but its gone on for about 2 months or more now

janemac wrote:Hmmm sounds a bit like Max. He's had a red lumpy rash this last day or so. I am putting Sudocrem on but he likes to lick it off Am not sure if it's a 'heat rash' as he lies right in front of the open fire and it's only on his baldy skin on his underside ....

Are you sure that he isn't just getting burned? Bandit used to do exactly that & every so often we'd smell burning fur & have to pull him away. On those occasions he'd sometimes get redness & some bumps on his belly.

Wilko wrote:Looks similar to the Problem Babs has, demodex mites. Its a difficult thing to get rid of. We are using aludex and advocate but its gone on for about 2 months or more now

The pics the op put on don't look like demodex - the skin is too smooth. I'd lean more towards an allergy - either grass or wheat.