Staph Infection

We geez,,,sorry to hear poor Coal has so many issues!  I agree, getting it all taken care of at the same time is a good thing.
Well, if  its allergies thats causing problems,,I suggest you get him allergy tested. We got Olle the Great Dane blood tested and found he was allergic to dust and grass. He also had acne and bumps on his back also.....looked almost like more acne. The antibiotics helped WHILE he was on it,,  but as soon as he would get off it would come back.   The time in between periods of being on  antibiotics was getting shorter and shorter. After finding what he is allergic to and starting allergen shots he is fine now.  A Godsend for sure!

i am thinking maybe they are all allergic to something in the house?   One of my cats has been scratching the hell out his ear this week.  Actually was pretty raw for a few days but clipped his nails and put neosporine on it everyday twice a day and it looks like its healing. 
 
I am getting a new steam cleaner next week when i get paid so maybe once i steam clean the carpets really good they will be feeling better (i hope)
 
 
thanks Dyan... Will ask the vet about the allergy testing for Coal and Casey... and maybe the cat if things dont improve after i steam clean the carpets...... ugh... fun fun... this hasnt been a good year for my pets or my pocketbook  [:'(] 
 
have a great weekend!

this hasnt been a good year for my pets or my pocketbook

 
Boy, do I hear you on that point!!  Yeesh, if you'd have told me this time last year what I'd spend in the next 12 months, I'd have burst into tears [X(].  Good thing we can't see the future sometimes, huh?
 
Anyway, Coal sounds like he's got the same type of infection on the chin that Sassy's had.  This has been going on for a few months and it is just now starting to heal up.  For her, the ability to rub it on anything (usually my carpet), made the healing process take forever.  She also would lick the top of her paw and then use the damp paw to rub her chin on.  I hope you don't have as many problems getting Coal's chin cleared up though. I have to agree with Dyan about the allergy testing.  At least it'll give you some answers to what you're dealing with.  Good luck!

Oh Cathy i know what you mean.  And i live by myself and you know the bank and mortgage companies dont like to hear you spent their money on the pets...lol.. but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do.. they are my kids and they will be taken care of..... finally getting back on my feet but i swear this year has just been really bad as far as the pets go... everybody has had to go to vet several times this year especially the dgos....  oh well like my mom says its only money and cant take it with ya []

It never ends.. And he still is itching a lot. Even though i have him and Casey both on eagle pack anchovy, sardine and salmon formula i am haivng to give them both benadryl twice a day..... any ideas what else i can do. I know its not fleas as they are both on frontline plus.... just dont know what else we can try.....

 
  Sorry Coal's itching a lot. You can try a different antihistamine. Benedryl didn't help Jessie but her ears bothered her less on Tavist. She does best on Doxepin but it requires a prescription from your vet. Here's a link that lists the antihistamines dogs can take and dosage according to weight;    [linkhttp://www.utskinvet.org/pdf/antihists.pdf]http://www.utskinvet.org/pdf/antihists.pdf[/link].     Giving Coal fish oil capsules or liquid with a high concentration of omega 3 fatty acids may help; I give Jessie fish oil caps for large dogs made by Derm Care; each capsule has 360mg EPA and 240mg of DHA along with vitamin E and other antioxidants. It will take at least a few weeks to know if the fish oil helps but studies show that if fish oil is used while giving antihistamines it increases the effectiveness of the antihistamines by about 50%. Jessie had some allergy flare ups in August ( she's much better now) so the vet had me bath her twice the first week and once a week after that. I use a shampoo the vet carries made by Virbac called EPI-SOOTHE; it has oatmeal and skin conditioners. I follow that with a leave in conditioner called RESI-Cort; it has a steroid and the combination helped Jessie a lot. If your local PetsMart or Petco carry NusalT shampoo, it is excellent for relieving itchy skin; Nova Pearls makes a good shampoo for itchy skin too; I think it is the one that smells like coal tar. There is a conditioner made by Tropiclean called OxyMed that is very good and either Petco or PetsMart may carry it; it has a blue cross on the bottle. Have you checked your cat's ears for ear mites? They're the most common reason why cats scratch thier ears. Good luck with Coal; keep us posted about him.

THANKS!  Will try the shampoo and fish oil.  Although the food has fish oil already??  is that enough?? or add more.  he weights about 95lbs.. guy at the vets office asked me what kind of dog he was... thought he was  rottie... grrr...lol...  i said uh no.. hes a lab and he gave me this look.  Sorry hes got a big blocky head....lol..
 
 
in regard to Tucker (the cat).. I cleaned his ears on Monday and saw some brown stuff in his ear and had ear mite meds from the vet for one of the dogs and just went ahead and treated him for that just in case he does have mites...it his ear doesnt clear up by the end of the weekend will take him to the vet on Monday..  The meds say to use it once a week for 4 weeks.  Plus i put a new dose of revolution on the cats this week too so if it was a flea issue maybe that will help too....  poor cat...lol..  he was sooo pissed off at me on monday when i came home and saw the condition of his ear... i cleaned it.. clipped his nails, put meds on his scratches, cleaned his ears, put meds in both ears....  he was really mad for about 2 days...lol...  but its starting too look better... 
 
Coal and Casey both have been itching the past few weeks and hoping its either something in the carpet or seasonal since we live here in the south and the weather is chaning  i hope it gets better.  I may try the tavist instead of the benadryl... you cant even tell they are taking the benadryl...
 
thanks for all of the suggestions...  let me know about the fish oil/viatamin e... do they need more... and how do you know how much to give?  Coal like i said is 95lbs and Casey is 75lbs.
 
thanks! 

oh and if you use frontline plus for fleas on the dogs can you still bathe them or will it wash it off?  I know its waterproof but not sure about what happens when you give the dogs a bath.  thanks!

I give both of my dogs supplemental Omega 3/6s.  I've used the Derm Caps ES (ES is for large dogs), but I'm currently using the 3V caps, also for large dogs.  I give one capsule each day, which is what's recommended for large dogs.  I think you'd be fine using either one of these.  I know a lot of folks like using the liquid and adding Vit E, but I need to keep things as simple as possible.  I can actually hand the capsules to them and they'll gobble them up. 

  Robin I agree with Cathy about the fish oil capsules. You can bathe Coal but I always wait 24 hours after putting on the Frontline Plus as a precaution. How much Benedryl are you giving Coal? Jessie weighs 64 pounds and she can have 2 Benedryl 3 times a day, so you may not be giving him enough for his weight. If he and Casey are both itching maybe it's not allergies; seems unlikely they would both have them, but anything's possible.

Sorry taken so long to answer.  I was giving Coal 3 benadryl twice a day (not home to do more often) but uped it the other day to 4 since hes so close to 100 and it seems to be helping...  thanks!  Will give a bath this weekend and see if that helps too..
 
Casey is actually putting his whole foot in his mouth and chewing... not often and not everyday but that foot disappears on occasiuon.  So i am not sure whats going on.  Coal has been scratching his ear more than anything.  Have cleaned them and clean them twice a week now (was down to once a week)... will ask the vet to check it out next week when he goes in for his surgery.  
 
 
yeah its weird they are both itching.  They are both eating Eagle pack dog food (and thats it..) and both get frontline plus every month and on interceptor.. so not sure what the heck is going on.  Will start the fish oil this weekend too.  
 
thanks for you help!