Skin problem - systemic?

Hi everyone,

Sorry, this may be a long read.

I am new to this forum, but not new to dobies. My baby boy is 9 years old, has always been an amazing boy and is the sweetest gentle giant. I also have a 2 year old female who is healthy with no concerns.

Recently, within the last month my 9 year old has developed itchy ears and a couple small lesions on his body.

I took him to the vet suspecting he may have a yeast infection that turned systemic. They found yeast in his ears and chalked up the lesions to a systemic reaction. They prescribed prednisone, an antibiotic, a medicated wash, antifungal ear drops and an ear wash. We finished the course of treatment and he seemed to stop itching his ears, however the lesions exploded and are now covering his entire body - legs, face, neck, belly, back - literally everywhere.

I took him back and requested a bacteria culture suspecting the lesions may be staph/pyroderma. In the meantime, they have done blood tests and everything seems normal, even white blood count was lower than they were expecting for such a severe infection. His liver enzymes were slightly elevated which they suspect was due to the prednisone. He spent 2 days getting iv antibiotics and fluids, and have sent me home with 2 antibiotics and prednisone while we wait for the results.

My vet has reached out to a local dermatologist specialist and she recommends we do a biopsy before the bacteria culture comes back as she said the lesions look more like pemphigus foliaceus (autoimmune disease). I have my doubts as the lesions did not originate on his face/mouth area like that disease typically presents.

We are currently in limbo as we wait for results, and his biopsy is scheduled for monday (2 days from this post).

Im not really looking for answers from this post, more so just ideas that we may not have considered as this infection has stumped my vet as well as the dermatologist.

He still eats, drinks, has lower than normal energy and is obviously incredibly itchy, but overall staying in good spirits.

I have attached a couple pictures of the problem at hand for reference.

Thanks for any advice/ideas you may have! Im open to anything to get my boy back to feeling himself.

I don't really know the answer to your problem but I just wanted to say welcome from Minnesota.

Let us know what you find out as you go.

JanS said:

I don't really know the answer to your problem but I just wanted to say welcome from Minnesota.

Let us know what you find out as you go.

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Thank you! Ill post updates as we get more answers.

Poor guy! Looks like an allergic response; grass/hay, pollen, blown in on desert Santa Ana does that in this area...
Yeast, mold, or other external irritant etc that would get colonized with staph after scratching.

Any chance he got into something?
Run thru tall grass with herbicides freshly applied? Mosquito spraying in area?

Good call getting straight to dermotologist.
Dobes have skin problems more than most.
I suppose they ruled out flea bites, mites?

BGpa said:

Poor guy! Looks like an allergic response; pollen, mold, etc that would get colonized with staph after scratching.

Any chance he got into something?
Run thru tall grass with herbicides freshly applied? Mosquito spraying in area?

Good call getting straight to dermotologist.
Dobes have skin problems more than most.
I suppose they ruled out flea bites, mites?

Click to expand...

That was my suspicion too. Allergies that led to staph, but nothing in our routine has changed, aside from a rat infestation to our town (he has not caught or gotten into a scuff with any to my knowledge). No sprays get applied in our area either, we are fairly rural.

The dermatologist said it doesnt look like an allergic reaction, thats why shes recommended a biopsy. He has been on a chicken heavy diet his whole life, and nothings changed there but im wondering if hes spontaneously developed a chicken allergy?

Mites and bites have been ruled out.

dobieduo said:

That was my suspicion too. Allergies that led to staph, but nothing in our routine has changed, aside from a rat infestation to our town (he has not caught or gotten into a scuff with any to my knowledge). No sprays get applied in our area either, we are fairly rural.

The dermatologist said it doesnt look like an allergic reaction, thats why shes recommended a biopsy. He has been on a chicken heavy diet his whole life, and nothings changed there but im wondering if hes spontaneously developed a chicken allergy?

Mites and bites have been ruled out.

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Could be diet.
We had an old GSD/Chow mix who developed itchy skin, pads,
And we went down the list with vet and nothing worked, negative on allergy tests until diet change: turned out to be chicken food allergy, cleared up after, go figure.

No idea why it came on late other than he was getting old...

I'll defer to many others here with more experience and only note these dobes are prone to hyperthyroidism but usually its the girls after spayed...or so I read in these forums...so thats on my list to ask BYB Bonnies vet if needed....one symptom is hives:

BGpa said:

Could be diet.
We had an old GSD/Chow mix who developed itchy skin, pads,
And we went down the list with vet and nothing worked, negative on allergy tests until diet change: turned out to be chicken food allergy, cleared up after, go figure.

No idea why it came on late other than he was getting old...

I'll defer to many others here with more experience and only note these dobes are prone to hyperthyroidism but usually its the girls after spayed...or so I read in these forums...so thats on my list to ask BYB Bonnies vet if needed....one symptom is hives:

Hypothyroidism | DPCA

dpca.org

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Thank you for your input! One of the techs that admitted him brought up how her daughter's dachshund had a similar reaction and it turned out to be a chicken allergy. Although the vet is adamant that its not presenting as an allergy.

I believe his thyroid was tested with the blood panel, and the panel was normal.

I will keep that in mind for my 2 year old female though as she has been spayed.

I have read that chicken food allergy is more common in "all dogs", than dobes per se- so dont trust my recollection of anecdotes here (and other forums) as fact,

And remember my laymans helpful advice - is worth exactly what you paid for it...

- just the kinds of things to bring up with the vet(s), if I were in your shoes.

Search the archives here for more- several topics on skin/allergy/food issues in past might help you realize you are not alone in this thin-single-coated breed.

Note There is a protocol to follow on diet changes for allergies, so you could ask about that.