Owners of Golden Retrievers - Hot Spots

[Trish Bessette]

Does your Golden get hot spots? I have a 9 year old male who get a few each year.

I just brought him to the vet Saturday with 2 hot spots. However, this time he was acting different. Runny nose, runny eyes, just not himself

The vet seems to think it is allergies and gave him a steroid shot and sent us home with antibotics to give twice a day for two weeks. I've been told to give him these meds with food as it can upset their stomach.

He has had 4 doses of the meds so far. Thank god he is not scratching at the hot spots so that is under control. However, he is still not herself. Not enthusiastic about anything, which is not him at all.

Has anyone experience this? Does this seem normal. I know he is getting up there in age and I'm worrying it could be something else.

Thanks friends for your help!

 

[dianeschlicht]

The lethargy is probably from the meds. Go to the pharmacy and get some Borough's sulotion. It comes in a small powder packet and you mix it in water. Put it in a spray bottle and spray it on the hot spots a couple times a day. It will dry them up and stop the itch. Sometimes my vet reccomends doing this in addition to some topical hdrocortisone cream you can buy over the counter. If I have a dog even look like they are getting a hot spot, I start those two things, and it will clear up in about 48 hours.

 

[Lanshark]

Yep, both of my goldens had them at one time or another. My older one, who died a few years ago, would get one about the same time every year on the side of his face. My 3 year old golden gets them more frequently.

It's always a fairly expensive vet visit. We finally had to get an e-collar for my old boy so he'd stop scratching and let it heal.

 

[vickyBaby]

They are allergy related. My dog had them so bad and suffered horribly. We finally determined that food was the primary source of the allergy. I have had him on Flint River Ranch dog food for years now. It has been a life saver for my Golden.

 

[Trish Bessette]

The vet brought up the idea it may be food but said it is quite the process to figure out what would work. I have had him on IAMS forever.

Lanshark - YES! My dog has one on the side of his face this time. Never had one there before and ouch it is nasty!

Dianeschlicht - Thanks for the tips. I will run out today and get that powder. I appreciate it!!

And yes, it was an expensive visit this weekend, $197.00!!

He's worth every penny.

 

[Lanshark]

Trish

Is he/she scratching it? We found the e-collar helped him allow it to heal. It also kept the spot from oozing on the carpet. I cleaned the collar frequently and put it right back on him until he was healed up. If I removed it too early he would scratch it, open it up and we'd have to start again. It was inexpensive and I got it from the vet. I believe around 5-10 dollars.

I spoke to my vet about it being allergies. I believe it is for Jake (the 3 year old) but not for Max. According to my vet a small percentage can be traced to a food allergy. In either case we switched to Lamb/Rice. He said it was the safest.

 

[dbal]

My golden gets the same thing too. In fact - it usually happens this time of year ( late summer early fall) How can your vet determine if the allergy is food or otherwise related?

Our vet always gave us this antibacterial spray that really dried it up quick.

Is that e-collar the same thing as the funnel collars? Does it seem to bother your dog while they it's on?

 

[JerseyJanice]

We used Bitter Apple as a training aid for my dog (a lab mix) to stop him from biting good furniture and such.

It says on the bottle it can be used for hot spots although I think I heard that Goldens actually like the stuff.

 

[Trish Bessette]

Lanshark - after the vet gave him the steroid shot on Saturday, he hasn't be scratching the spots.

Now he just isn't acting himself which has me worried. LIke you've all mentioned, it is probably the high dose on antibotics he is on.

The lamb/rice food you have your dog on, what is the brand? I think I may try that.

Thanks again for your help!!!

 

[Feralpeg]

Mine has one right now. He also has the runny nose and eyes. I bought an over the counter spray for hot spots. It seems to be helping. It's funny. Our other golden, Scout, had terrible allergies. We lost her before we moved to Florida. Griffin never seemed to have a problem in Missouri. Now we are in Florida, he's started having issue.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our yellow lab had a lot of hot spots. Our vet never mentioned linking them to allergies. I wonder if that was his problem.

Denae

 

[Meriweather]

Our dog used to get them all the time too....it was constant. Not a golden though....a black/ setter mix.
Allergies....to grass!! OTC stuff for outbreaks. Daily pills......Dermacaps and benedryl. That seemed to make all the difference. No more problems for the last few years of his life.
It did take awhile to get the benedryl dose right.

 

[Figaro]

Our dog has allergies. One of the things I found out as we started the whole desensitization routine, is that the pollen allergies in dogs manifest themselves in skin itching otherwise known as hot spots, but not necessarily with the runny nose and itchy eyes like it does with people(smile). When we finally had him tested, it turned out he is allergic to every kind of grass, a lot of tree pollens, a bunch of weed pollens and dust mites. We didn't want to go the whole cortisone route, since that causes problems for them eventually with their eyes, bones and kidneys and so we are now giving him desensitization shots.

One thing that helped a LOT with the itching was to start giving him omega 3 fish oil pills every day. It did two things...first if helped keep his coat from drying out from the frequent baths (to wash off the pollen) and the other thing it does is it seems to change the shape of the white cells to make them less reactive to the allergens.

Even though this is the worst time of the year and we are only about 5 weeks into the desensitization shots, he is doing MUCH better than he normally does this time of year. I am hoping that this will be his worst allergy time and that it will only get better from here on in(smile).