Retriever Rescue

Hello, has anyone got any experience/advice about contact dermatitus? My 3 year old goldie has developed a problem under his chin and in his "arm pits", and is waiting to spend the day at the vets to have all the tests done. Poor lamb!! He is a typical goldie and just loves water, mud, amd fox poo, which i'm sure doesn't help much!! javascript:emoticon(':lol:')
Laughing

Any advice or comment would be happily welcomed.

Luv n woofs.

Chezzy.

P.S It's good to see the sight is attracting more activity!! Long may it continue!!

Hi Chezzy,

You do not say what sort of dermatitis it is. Is it dry and scaly, wet & gungy, scabby, itchy. raised lumps.

Sometimes they can never come up with a conclusive answer for you and end up with steroids

Many Goldens have allergies to cut grass. which is a niightmare but yours might be just as you say the horrid things that are rolled in and perhaps when washed off a minute amount remains to irritate the skin

Hope you get is sorted

Jan

Our Paddy is a mud magnet he just loves water and recently we were up at our caravan and in the water he was, a couple of days later he started scratching and when I rolled him over to inspect he was red all under his arms and belly, so I gently used my hubbys moustache trimmer (he doesnt know!) and shaved under his arms and then put some sudocrem all over I did this twice a day and have to say it cleared up.
Now I try and keep him clipped shorter underneath so when he is in the water can always make sure he is dry and less chance of the same happening again...as you can never stop them going in the water can you..?

Haven't any knowledge of this but we have had 2 episodes of wet excema with Amber which is pretty nasty...

Read recently that Dogs Trust are sponsoring research into possibly hereditary skin disease shown as excessive dandruff in Goldens...a copy of the research is avaiable from them if you send them an A4 SAE.

I give mine 2/3 cod liver oil tablets once a day in their food it helps their coat and skin too...

Hi, Thanks for all your helpful comments, I'll give the Cod Liver oil and Sudacrem a go and see what happens. He's booked in to have the skin biopsies done after our hols in Sept so maybe that will help with an accurate diagnosis. Though I suspect it might tell us what the problem is but perhaps not what's causing it. The cut grass allergy is interesting, only this morning I purposely took them on a dry walk (mean Mum that I am!) but where there was a recently cut field, and he's scratching like mad at the moment. Maybe that's a clue.

Jan, the patches are dark, dry, scaley and rather itchey, if that helps?

Anyway thanks once again for your help, I think it's fab that support and advice is just a click away!!!

Regards, Chezzy.

I don't know if this is of any help, but our Jake's had nasty dry scaly itchy patches under his chin and chest. We first noticed it because there were dark flaky bits in his hair. The vet said it was a bacterial infection and gave us Malaseb shampoo. We've been using it for about a month and it's more or less got rid of the problem by now. I think we'll need to use it for another week or so (twice a week) just to make sure. Hope you get to the bottom of it soon.

Malesab is an antifungal shampoo and very good,also for any itching have you tried giving him one piriton tablet per day,it does help...black patches on skin you could get a the vet to do a skin scrap then they should be able to tell you there and then if it could be a mite of some sort.

HTH.

Oh dear, sorry, got it wrong. Just checked now I'm home from work, and we used Malaseb on our cat when she had ringworm. At least it's good to hear from hairydog that it can also be useful for goldens! We're actually using Sebomild P shampoo on Jake, and as I say it seems to be working.

Well chezzy I think everyone has covered everything with all the tips but it does sound like maybe it is an allergy to the sap from the cut grass, but that would also make the feet itch and the tummy black If it is then just rinse off after a walk and thoroughly dry. I am sure something will work for you. Sometimes, it can be hormonal or( heaven forbid) a flea allergy

Jan.

Hello, thought i'd give you a catch up about my poor Oscar and his itchy skin!! He's now had the patch test and a more spacific blood test which has revealed he is allergic to dust mites (Great!!) So now he's on Piriton, a steriod, antibiotics and oil of evening primrose , plus the "special" shampoo. We are having a vaccine prepared too which will start in about a month. I guess the idea is to get on top of the itch now then gradually desensitise him to the allergens, though the vaccine will be a life long measure.
Has any one else got experience of this kind of thing? Any hints and tips would be gladly welcomed.
Thanks once again.
Chezzy.

Hello, My friend was looking through this website and came across your problem - my 4 year old Golden Retriever - Paddy, has a similar skin condition and from an early age suffered from kanker in his ears - this developed into his skin turning dark and some hair loss - after a year and half treating him for this he is well - he has a monthly injection to help with his allergies which are numerous, but include dust mites, grass (nearly all types!) and rice!!!!! but since he has been diagnosed and been on 'Effavet', an oil capsul for his skin, and 'Atopica' from the vets, plus his injections is now fine and enjoys life to the full. He loves going on our childrens garden trampoline and now thinks it is his! Just another tip we also give 'Strong Hold' every month as this helps with the dust mites allergy. Hope this is of helps you - funnily enough my Goldie hates water! so this doesn't help with bathing him regularaly!!!!

Thank you so much for your information Jenny. It sounds really good advice and I am sure will be of great help to those with the same problem or similar.