Dog Community

Scabs on puppies? HELP!!!

Posted : 9/28/2009 1:39:37 PM

My Chocolate Lab recently had a litter of 8 puppies(Planned). They are currently almost 2 weeks old. About 4/5 days after birth I noticed a dry hard spot on 5 of them just above the base of the tail on their back. It felt and looked like something spilled and dried there. You should also know that Ive never seen an open wound on them.I took the worst case pup to the Vet and they were not sure what it was. They shaved the hair off the spot and the scab had raised off the skin with new hair growing underneath (thats good). There's also a little bump on the skin. I took the same pup and another to another Vet and they took skin samples ( for Mites) Negative, and hair follicle smples for fungus infection. (No results yet) In the mean time Ive been giving Omoxacillian twice a day as perscribed. And now all the pups have it, some just have little bumps on their side some have it on most of their back. I'm really getting concerned cause it just keeps getting worse. Has anyone else out there experienced this?

--Russ

sheltiemom

Posted : 9/28/2009 2:25:18 PM

I had the same thing happen to a litter of Min Pin pups... it is the canine equivalent to baby cradle cap.

Take a baby comb, apply some baby oil and softly comb off the crust/scabs. The coat will all grow back, usually before the puppies are ready to leave @ 8 weeks.

The litter I had, had both choc & black/rust pups. The black/rust pups *black* grew in, no difference in appearance.

When the fur grew back on the choc pups, it was darker... the actual color of the ADULT coat... not the lighter color of a pup coat.

Congratulations on your litter !

raweddle

Posted : 9/28/2009 6:27:16 PM

Thank you sheltiemom for the quick reply. I remember the vet mentioning that so when he didn't diagnose it as that I ruled it out. I told my wife your reply and she completely agrees. I will still give them there Omoxocillian until gone and also treat as cradle cap. I've already cleaned up 4 of the 8 who didn't have it bad. The rest are in pretty bad shape, i'll have to go easy on them. Again thank you for your help

--Russ

sheltiemom

Posted : 9/28/2009 7:11:54 PM

raweddle.

It actually looks worse than it really is. Once you start with the baby oil and gently combing out the crusty parts, it actually heals quite quickly.

You say that the pups are 2 weeks old... after doing this for the next 2 weeks, you might want to give the pups a bath( they will be greasy) with a PH balanced puppy shampoo .

Just make sure that the pups are well dried afterwards and are not exposed to any drafts for the next couple of hours.