Hi everyone, Loki has some redness/irritation on his belly around his penis. We had him at the vets and the vet told us to keep the skin clean and rub some polysporin on the area. We did this and it looks better and the redness has subsided, however its concerning to us why this is happening. I thought it might be due to his belly being his "skid plate" and basically he is rubbing it on the carpet/bushes/ect, but i wanted to see what you guys thought about it. Its contained to the area with no hair yet and i can see that it is symmetrical and has clear termination lines, that is its contained to a specific area and not like a rash that dissipates towards the edges. He is 8 weeks old. Thanks!

Could he possibly be laying on something like a heater vent that is doing it? Or some kind of rug that could have a residue he is allergic to? Harder to diagnose if it's really defined. Seems more like a burn or spot where a bandaid was and adhesive bothered him.

If it has a clear termination mark, I'd be more inclined to look at the possibility of a fungus or similar. It sounds like it fits the definition of ring worm or its ilk. (polysporin won't work on a fungus, it's an antibacterial)

aljones wrote:

If it has a clear termination mark, I'd be more inclined to look at the possibility of a fungus or similar.  It sounds like it fits the definition of ring worm or its ilk.  (polysporin won't work on a fungus, it's an antibacterial)

The vet seemed to think he was not cleaning himself enough and the urine was causing the irritation, and the polysporin and cleaning him 3 times daily has worked so far. The problem i see with this is we need to keep him from licking the polysporin off and it might further discourage him from cleaning things. So far its been much better, so i don't think its a parasite. Fungus is a possibility for sure, but the polysporin would not have helped at all so I'm not sure. I'm going to take a good picture and upload it later tonight once i get home from work so that you can see exactly whats going on.

Ok, i took a picture to better display whats going on. You can see its slightly more red in a triangular area. Its very slight and I may be over-reacting but i would much rather be safe than sorry.

<< LMAO >>  It's bad enough that our dogs have no shame!!  You have no shame!!!  Exposing this poor defenseless little pup!!

I'm not sure that I'd agree with the vet completely, but it does look more like an irritation than a disease.
Your comment about a "skid plate" - I wouldn't think so, it's too localized; I'd expect to see more abrasions on his belly if he were just rubbing it while he's out exploring.

Did the vet do a urine test to see if there was anything unusual about that??  I honestly can't think of anything off hand but, as I said, it looks like it's more of a (chemical?) irritation than anything else.

My girl pee walks and her belly is a little irritated and her hair is a little on the gross side, haha, at times, uhum. My vet said it was a slight infection, and to keep cleaning her with baby wipes, after she piddles, ugh, because of course she has better things to do than to clean herself. She did say it was pretty typical in puppies because they don't have the cleaning down pat. So maybe some baby wipes would help more, and not have to worry about him licking the polysporin. Puppies, they are so cute, but goodness, I think I will be bald before she ever gets to a year old.

Brought him back to the vet today, and the vet still thinks its irritation caused by urine. He mentioned the Ph levels might be too high and we might need to switch his food, but in a separate topic after being made aware of the lawsuit against blue buffalo/blue wilderness we decided to switch him over to TOTW anyways. The vet gave us an anti-fungal cream to apply and told us to make sure the area is dry after he pees because he might be peeing on himself, but i don't think this is the case. I watch him go and its a very clear stream that isn't broken up or spraying all over him. It could be the case that he licks it a bit, and spreads the urine around but not enough to clean it off, and that could be the cause.

 We had been cleaning his belly 3 times a day before applying the polysporin. Now the Vet wants us to just make sure its dry and then apply the anti-fungal. We have not been using any sort of scent beads or bleach ect with anything he lays on, strictly just laundry detergent. The vet didn't feel a urine test was necessary which bothered me a bit, and i think we will end up back next week. Its not getting worse, but its not getting better and of coarse this is troubling.

 Could this be related to a food allergy such as chicken? He was on Blue Wilderness Puppy, grain free, but we switched him over to Taste of the Wild puppy which is grain free. The big difference being BW was chicken and TOTW is bison and lamb. Im at work but i will have my fiance text me the exact medication he is getting on his belly that the Vet prescribed. He comes very highly recommended but i remain skeptical.

Viaderm K C is the medicine.

I'm sorry but your vet is confusing me.  If (s)he really thinks it might be a fungus - since he gave you an antifungul - and saying that he thinks it might be an irritation caused by a too high PH level ... amounts to "You have dandruff, here's this good foot powder that will cure you."

I may sound condescending and my apologies if I do.   A fungus is essentially a plant, give it the right temperature and the right moisture and a seed and it'll grow.  Fungal growth can be checked easily enough, you take a scraping, put it on a food source and see if it grows - if it does then you treat for a fungus, if it doesn't you look for something else.

If it's an irritation caused by the urine then it's quite probable that the Ph is too high (or maybe low, acidic), again that's easily checked.  I'm not sure about the validity of what I'm going to suggest but give it some thought.  You can purchase Ph test strips over the counter at probably any pharmacy.  Now, according to Mercola Cats and dogs, being carnivores, are designed to have a slightly acidic urine Ph -- optimally between 6 and 6.5. If you test his urine - and what little is left on the hair should be sufficient to test, just get it before he 'cleans' himself - and it's consistently significantly above or below the 6-7 range, I'd have a serious talk with my vet.

Viaderm KC is a catch all - essentially your vet is saying that he has no idea what's causing the rash but if it's an infection then Viaderm should help. Viaderm is both an antibiotic and an antifungal.

This is an opinion based on what you've had to say so far. Given that your vet has suggested that it might be a Ph imbalance and is unwilling to test for it doesn't make me too appreciative of your vet. It's too easy to test and should give results almost immediately.I don't understand why he would not consider such a simple test before going to a medication that may or may not do anything.

You ask about a change of food ... now I'm going to answer this very carefully ... again from the Mercola link:

Quote :

A problem arises, however, when dogs and cats, which are designed to eat meat, are fed a grain-based diet, as is the case with many commercial dog and cat foods. This causes their urine to become more alkaline, which may lead to three major problems. (and you can go read the rest)

If a change to a meat based food alter the Ph then you're good to go. If not you may have other problems - bladder problems that need to be considered.

Seriously, my thoughts on this are that you need to have a serious set down with your vet. Ignoring your comment about a possible Ph imbalance is enough for me to look askance. Tossing (okay, wrong word, but ...) you a generic multisymptom cream is not the solution. I'd suggest that Viaderm is probably intended for the situation where a fungal infection causes a secondary bacterial infection ... I don't think it would be intended to be used as loosely as he has.

All of this is from my own experience and a few, hopefully, well placed searches.

aljones wrote:

I'm sorry but your vet is confusing me.  

I may sound condescending and my apologies if I do.  
 

This is an opinion based on what you've had to say so far.  Given that your vet has suggested that it might be a Ph imbalance and is unwilling to test for it doesn't make me too appreciative of your vet.  It's too easy to test and should give results almost immediately.I don't understand why he would not consider such a simple test before going to a medication that may or may not do anything.

Seriously, my thoughts on this are that you need to have a serious set down with your vet.  Ignoring your comment about a possible Ph imbalance is enough for me to look askance.  Tossing (okay, wrong word, but ...) you a generic multisymptom cream is not the solution.  I'd suggest that Viaderm is probably intended for the situation where a fungal infection causes a secondary bacterial infection ... I don't think it would be intended to be used as loosely as he has.

All of this is from my own experience and a few, hopefully, well placed searches.

Im with you 100% and your definitely not being condescending at all. I appreciate your candor very much and the situation is slightly complicated.

After the vet visit today i am really disappointed with this vet. However, my fiance is much more trusting of her friends recommendations and seems to just accept what he is saying verbatim. I had the impression he was shooting in the dark and had no idea what the problem was, and had no reasonable means of ascertaining it even after i had suggested the urine Ph test. However, convincing my fiance will be another story, as she seems to put a lot of trust in a licensed vet and like i said he came highly recommended.

As i said earlier, at no point has he been eating any dog food containing grain. He originally was eating Blue Wilderness puppy which is grain free chicken formula, however after some fantastic advice from Miyas Momma i was made aware of Blue Buffalos questionable practices and opted to switch him over the Taste of the Wild high prairie puppy, which contains buffalo and lamb. If he does have a food allergy to chicken, which i doubt, we should find out in a day or so.

I'm definitely in the same boat as you, as the vets uncertainty raises just about every red flag i could have about his medical competence. The next step is discussing this with my fiance and bringing him to another vet for a second opinion.

He basically gave us the cream and told us to come back in a few days if the redness does not go away. I am in no way very medically knowledgeable however i am a resource expert and i excel at pragmatism. In other words i have large issues with blindly prescribing medicines to treat something that can be tested now to determine what the best course of action is, instead of trying solutions on our puppy blindly. I would assume the first coarse of action would be to identify the cause and prescribe the solution that is best suited to treat the cause. I intend to keep this updated as i move foward, and the redness persisting for this amount of time is causing a great deal of concern for me. I just need to convince my fiance to be more skeptical despite the vets title and get a second opinion.

I agree, you need to go to a different vet!! My Sofie had severe upset tummy issues, the first vet did 2 tests, no blood or urine, and gave me 3 prescriptions, and told me "we don't really know what is wrong with her, but here give her this, and if she isn't feeling better in a couple of days we'll do more tests". Hmmm, ok. 2 weeks later she has ear issues. I went to a different vet. Told her what happened, and she was bewildered. Second opinions don't hurt, and in the end, may actually find out what is going on with your little guy.