I would love to say that this has not been a ongoing battle but my poor old girl lily has battled allergies for most of the 12 years she has been on this earth, none of her siblings or parents or grandparents have allergies, it just seems to be a “her” thing. Summer and water are always worse times for her then winter but her biggest triggers are food related.
She is on a homemade diet for this very reason as well as on a allergy med.. but a number of weeks back, she was able to “break in and sneak a large amount cat food” and boy did we get the mother of all hot spots.. * compared to how bad it can be, it is not that bad but it was a good solid 3 inch by 3 inch effected spot and that is big enough as far as I am considered.
So the first thing I am going to say is, if this is the first time this happened or if it gets worse, please, please consider taking your pup to the vet and get it checked out, and follow their recommendation.
Given that my girl is on a normally strict diet and meds to keep her allergies under control and because this is not her first nor likely her last hot spot for me to deal with, I have a good idea of what will and will not work with her.
Here is the tell-tale signs that under her coat, bad things are happening..
If you have a fairly short coat, its alot easier to see this look then it is on a long coated dog, just one more reason to try and make sure you give them a good groom and good check over. Now the first thing I want to do is get air to this wound, and that’s the best way in my mind to consider a hot spot, its a wound, it needs to be kept clean, dry and ideally allowed to be open to the air but also treated and watched over carefully.
So here is the big old ugly mess now that the hair has been shaved off, remember to clean your clippers or trimming item afterwards, its red and inflamed and weepy.. ah.. poor dear.. so I like to give it a gentle wash with soap and water, I have a very gentle oatmeal bar that was made for dogs, and so that is the first thing I will do, then I will let it air dry, then I am going to help it dry, I use a homemade rince made from apple cider vinager, stinging nettle and plaintain juice, this is dabbed on and allowed to soak the area, I have found that the nettle and vinagar seems to take alot of the “weep” out and the plaintain juice helps reduce the swelling and seems to reduce the pain as well.
At that point I have a homopathic spay that is used twice a day on it.. its a slow and long process to clean up a hot spot from start to finish..
I am aware that this does not look great but trust me this is what it will look like on the mend, the hair around has grown back in, the wound itself is no long red, infected and the hair is starting to grow back in, it still looks bad, and I cringe a little each time I see it but I know that the worst is behind and now its a matter of time and regrowth, but don’t stop your daily checks.
In another six to eight weeks, it will be back to looking like this..
Now , If you look close at this photo, the very middle you will see extra course and wavy hair, that is a fully healed hot spot area, the hair never quite grows back the same way afterwards, but it will come back with care.
So remember its not just about treating the hot spot itself, you need to look at diet, what triggered it, consider that you might need mediation and help from your vet to deal with it and that the wound itself will require daily care for weeks, while they may appear quickly, there is no quick fix on them.. slow and steady will win the race on these.
Just another Day on the Farm 
Oh poor Lily: nothing like dogs and their impulse to eat (‘specially Labs, eh?; )
Would Witch Hazel also help for drying things out and with the inflammation?
For sure it would and if it was winter and I could not get and make fresh batches with the herbs out of my garden, I would reach for it! Witch Hazel is awesome!
I’ll definitely be bookmarking this one for future reference; but thankfully with these guys it only seems to hit in over active earwax production (knock wood; ) Years ago we had a girl who was terribly reactive to flea saliva – now THAT was a treat! Finally wound up giving her brewer’s yeast and fresh garlic daily – that did the trick – and she lived to be twelve and a half years old: )
O I hear you about labs and their big tummies, I hate to seem dramatic but honestly, I did the wail of “why!! and then gave her the lecture about what she can and can’t eat” while she gave me puppy eyes.
LOL!! Oh yeah, I can SO picture this scenario!! Silly Doggits!!: )
Okay, I am confused and maybe a little bit stupid. Those spots on Lily look like two on my boy. I have been assuming it was an age thing and he was losing some fur. Neither the vet, nor his technicians said anything to me about the area without fur or being concerned. He is on Arcana seniors food. They did tell me to reduce his food by 15% because he is a tad overweight.
if it looks like the last one, and it on pressure points like elbows, it can be hairless, kind of like a doggy callus, like we get on our hands or feet. If it was a red, raw infamed hot spot and they didn’t notice or say anything that would be very odd.
Our big dog got one a couple of weeks back, I wasnt sure what it was so we went to the vet. We had to take the one with liver failure anyways, so it was just one trip. The vet shaved the area and gave him anti biotics and something else. By the time he got home, you could see that just shaving it and washing it was helping, so we never went with the drugs and just kept it clean and dry. I’m not sure what brought it on, I think maybe he got a bite and niggled it. We usually try to swim the dogs a few times a week and that seems to keep their coats and skin pretty clean. I always run my fingers or the brush over them every day, it’s a good habit picked up from when I had a horse. Grooming an animal will tell you so much about how it’s doing, and they mostly like the one on one :-).
ps liver failure, terminally ill, 2yr old dog, appears to have decided not to die, at least not right now and is looking better than he has in a couple of months! We are enjoying him enjoying life, whilst it lasts 🙂 He is coming on holiday to a cabin by a lake this weekend, they are going to think all their Christmasses have come at once 🙂
Oh Queen! Liver failure and so young? SO sad. Wishing all of you a miraculous holiday.