Red, Circular, Crusty, Swollen Dog Skin Rashes

September 25, 2014

Hi Hope,
From the photos you sent of your 3 year old bulldog, this appears to be a superficial pyoderma, especially since it is located along skin fold areas.

Basically, this means it is similar to a human baby with diaper rash. And the skin eruptions occur in areas with increased warmth, moisture and bacteria.

Treatment: Bathe the area with a baby shampoo, rinse and dry well, every 2-3 days. NO ointments or creams should be applied. As this will only draw his attention to the area and make him lick it, causing more moisture/irritation.

Continue for at least 2 weeks.

Make sure the diet has adequate moisture.

NO DRY Dog food.

Since bull dogs are fairly large breed dogs, you may have to compromise, with 1/3 dry, 1/3 canned and 1/3 raw food in each meal. But, if you are able to feed him only canned plus RAW for the next 4-6 weeks, it will hasten his recovery.

See our page on 10 Best Dog Food Options, https://www.organic-pet-digest.com/10-best-dog-food-options.html

You wrote,
“He had alopecia and symmetrical hair loss on his sides when he was aprox 1 1/2 years that has gone away slowly with use of melatonin at night. He is prone to R ear infection if I do not clean his ears aprox 4-6 weeks. Other than that he does not any health concerns.”

In some cases, the occurrence of a health issue can appear after a vaccination. Skin problems seem to occur more often in dogs on dry dog food diets. So, an adjustment to the diet might be beneficial.

If that does not help, he may need some homeopathic remedies, and/or immune supplements.

Conventional treatment would be to give antibiotics and cortisone. I find this will only suppress the symptoms temporarily. And then he will have a recurrence in another 3-6 months. (Or some other problem!)

You may need to find a holistic veterinarian to write an vaccination exemption form to keep him healthy and avoid a condition holistic veterinarians call ‘vaccinosis’. This is a syndrome created by too many vaccines, that will cause chronic illness in a susceptible individual.

Another resource for vets knowledgeable in homeopathy is AVH.org.

Please keep us posted by coming back to this page and clicking the ‘click here to add your own comments’ link below.

Take care,
Dr. Carol Jean Tillman

DISCLAIMER: The above should never replace the advice of your local veterinarian, as they have the ability to evaluate your dog in person.

Your response is much appreciated and I am immediately relieved that it something simply treated. I will get some baby shampoo today and start that regimen. I neglected in his history to state that we feed our boys a combination of dry food wet down with water to slow their eating and raw but I will investigate some canned food to add. I will let you know how he does. Thank you so very much!