A few weeks ago we noticed a bald circle on Lokis elbow with a small scab in the middle of it, the scab was in its end stages so he must have had it for a little bit, but we aren't sure what happened. We just left it alone and now the scab is gone but the spot is still there. It may have gotten slightly bigger. We do plan on taking him to the vet, just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas. He has had fleas pretty bad we are trying to get rid of, but they've been better. We've been using Pet Armor plus. A week after his first application we did find a couple ticks on him but haven't seen any since.

I have only seen him mess with it once or twice, and it is hot and kind of hard to the touch.

Any ideas while we wait to get him into the vet? He did have one day where he had a bit of bright red blood in his stool, but that was only once incident and he was perfectly fine after it. He was acting fine the whole time too.

There's no white puss or anything on it, theflash kind of makes it look that way.

My two initial thoughts were a "hot spot" but you suggest that it's dry and hot spots typically "weep". My other thought was simply a "skid mark" (tripping and skidding on a rug, for example) but that should have healed in a day or two or three.
Yep, time to let the vet have a look at it ....

Well the spot is now much bigger and leaking yellow stuff so we will try and get him in tonight.

I'm intrigued ... something different to look at / talk about (not meaning to make any less of the problem but at least it's not "my dog won't stop barking / biting / chewing")

On the one hand I'm still considering a hot spot, but my dogs hot spots have all been either on the back just above the tail or around the shoulder blades. On the other hand, this fits the definition of a pressure sore but, again in my experience, these develop as calluses not open wounds.

A question first - where does he sleep, on a dog bed, carpet, tile, concrete? Dogs who sleep on tile / concrete are most often to develop a callus where their elbow or other joint hit the floor as they lie down or get up.

Then a suggestion - if you can't get him into the vet today, I'd consider using a "three way antibiotic" and covering it with a pad / gauze. A wrap (not to tight, of course) might help if he decides to chew on it - then again, it might just give him more to chew. A typical three way antibiotic is intended for surface use so check and make sure there's no problem if he decides to lick it off.

Please follow up with what you learn from the vet.

No worries, I'm not overly concerned about it because he seems to be acting fine and I hate to jump the gun and go to the worst case. But it's definitely time to see a vet, it won't be until Thursday evening we can get him in so I will look into the antibiotic.

He sleeps all over the place.. at night he will sleep in bed with us, during the day his crate is open but he sleeps in it sometimes, as well as on the couch and the tile in the kitchen. Everywhere else is carpet snd he will lay on that too. We have been struggling to get rid of fleas and we took him hiking twice and found ticks all over him each time, so we are done with that for sure. Pet armor plus is not doing the job. My girlfriend thought maybe a tick that he bit off may still be in there partially, but I doubt it. He did get a Lyme disease vaccine last April but we completely forgot to go back for the second round after a couple weeks, so that is a worry of mine currently.

He does tend to flop around and slide off the couch in weird ways to get down so it could be some type of carpet burn or something, he is a character so there's a number of ways he could be aggravating it. Lol

Anyways, I will check into an antibiotic ointment for the time being and I'll definitely keep this updated.

From your last comment, I might strongly agree with the girlfriend (well, in part). Besides Lyme disease, ticks also carry a lot of other 'bugs', it's quite possible that this was a tick who dropped off but not before he left a, probably bacterial, infection behind. Polysporin (or similar) should help with that until you can get him to the vet.

@amymeme - comments??

Since you have had flea issues then it is most likely a hotspot and putting neosporen or coconut oil on it and keeping your dog from licking it will get it to go away in time, though as Al said there are other things that could cause this. One that come to my mind is ringworm and you will want your vet's help if that is the case as the yellow ooz will only get worse and it will spread. It will also spread to other animals.

AL - I'm stumped. That redness really looks inflamed to me. Less inclined to think fleas because fleas tend to be a hind end problem, but is certainly something to think about and I definitely would not exclude it.

Ring worm will also spread to people!

It almost looks to me, but very faint so may be imagination, like there is a bug bite possibly? Spider bite...bee sting come to mind.

As for fleas and ticks - at least up here in the northeast, I've found a permethrin based topical (of the topicals, I don't use systemics...just 'cause and no collars 'cause my boy is wooly and the collars don't make skin contact which mfg tells me is necessary.) But permethrin is crap for fleas. Fipronil will give 3 month protection for adult fleas. And an Insect Growth Regulator is necessary for eggs/larvae. So - I use vetguard plus once every 4 months (pyriproxyphen is IGR that lasts 4 months, permethrin lasts 6 weeks for ticks) than Freedom 45 6 weeks later and every 6 weeks except when time for next Vetguard Plus dose) and Sargaent's Fiproguard (fipronil for adult fleas) every 3 months. I start for ticks IN OUR AREA, in late Feb early March depending on snow cover and temperature, start for fleas late May, early June. Your needs, based on weather/temps will be different. For us, all treatments, including heartworm end in December.

Sorry it took so long for me to update this, the vet gave him two weeks of antibiotics. She checked a small sample and didn't see any issues with it, she said if it didn't clear up he may need an antifungal. He ran out of antibiotics but it is looking better still, not completely clear but he did somehow cut/bust open the spot about a week into them so that delayed the healing lol

As far as fleas and ticks, we got a Seresto collar to try out since my parents had good luck with their dogs with it.