UPDATE: Just got this from my SIL:





Hi all -- I posted this thread in our Pets forum but haven't seen any responses yet.  I'm hoping it will get a bit more visibility here in GD.  Mods, if this is inappropriate, please delete.

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My sister-in-law & brother-in-law have a Husky puppy (approx. ~11 months old?) that developed some very quick issues over the weekend, and they're not sure why.  They aren't sure if these are skin issues or what, but if you have any suggestions on what this might be, we would be very appreciative.  The dog has been to the vet, who claims to have never seen anything like it.  I believe the vet took some skin samples to have them sent off.  I think there are (3) spots like this on the dog.

The dog is generally crated at their house during the day but occasionally goes to doggy daycare.  I have been told he recently blew his coat.  He's apparently had some behavioral issues that coincided with this -- lethargy, suppressed appetite, and acting as if the affected areas are painful.   That's about all I know, but I can ask my SIL any specific questions if you have any.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have!  Note that these photos are full resolution, so do a right-click "view original" if you want to see the larger size.

Sending the pictures to my MIL.  She's a veterinarian.

Thank you sir!

Hey, no problem.  I'll let you know when she replies.

kinda looks like mange....my dog had it as a 6 mos old puppy.....its some awful shit and moved really fast.....vet should have been able to diagnose with a microscope in office tho if that was it

My dog had something that looked similar.  Pretty much the meds (shampoo, spray, and pills) knocked it out.  You're going to have to see a vet because the spray and pills have to be prescribed by a DVM.

did you recently apply a flea and tick medication there?

Never seen anything like that myself.  Things that come off the top of my head are a hotspot, or maybe food allergy?  I know my folks Lab had a hotspot that looked like that, and they used a gel from the pet supply store that knocked it out pretty quick.  Dog hated it, but it worked.

I know our Husky had some redness/irritation when we first rescued her, and we switched her to a grain free food, and it cleared up within a week.  She was never very good with eating her food (would always leave half of it uneaten), and now she eats much better.

Keep us posted!

Shot the image to a couple of folks I know, and a suggestion popped up to try Tea Tree Oil - if it's a spot the dog cannot lick (paws, legs for example).  Try it in a small area to see if it helps calm the irritation - may not completely help. but might make life more livable for the pup.  If it works on a small area, use a bit more.

If this is the neck - is that where the collar sits?  If so - is it a new collar?  If it's new, could be something there causing irritation.  Saw that with some cheap Chinese leather collars a couple years ago on a couple dogs.

What kind of food is this dog on?  Brand name and formula might be helpful.

I don't know the answers to any of the questions, but I'll shoot them over to my SIL to see what she says. Thanks for all the responses so far.

I have a purebred German Shorthair that has constant problems
with licking paws and skin "hot" spots. Not nearly as bad as your
pic.

Evidently it's some kind of allergy. If we touch her her back leg
starts scratching away leg thumper style.  We are religious about
keeping her on diet and no people food.  It was so infuriating lately
that we brought her back to the vet and they put her on an antibiotic,
gave her a steroid shot and we also have steroid pills.  It literally knocked
it out overnight. I also have to bathe her 2X per week with special shampoo
and dunk her paws in some blue goo liquid.  Seems to be working as of now.

Vet said large breed dogs and especially purebred are more prone to allergies
as long as parasites, bugs and infections are ruled out.  Sucks when the pooch
is sick and I hope you get this worked out.

Just going off appearance, I'd say sarcoptic mange. Difficult to diagnose with a skin scraping, but it looks like cases I've dealt with before.

Downside: it's contagious
Upside: it's completely treatable.

Wow, talk about people blowing things out of proportion in the GD thread. You can not possibly diagnose it via a picture, especially if you're veterinarian didn't in person. The neck and shoulder region is a very common spot for dogs to scratch with their rear legs and i'm sticking with my initial comment that those marks are self inflicted. Obviously i can not diagnose it online but most allergic conditions will resolve with steroids in order to suppress the bodies immune system which is causing the reaction. It could be a local (contact) allergy, something general (food or general environmental allergy). I would not jump right on the sarcoptic mange bandwagon; that is one of those "worst case scenario" diagnoses. While i can not diagnose it and i can not tell you what it isn't, those are my initial thoughts. Its certainly tough since you are the messenger. Unless they live in a highly rural area, or are still working on a diagnosis with the original vet (pending test results, etc) then i would highly recommend seeking a second opinion.

BTW you know the internet is full of shit right???

I would never, ever ask medical advice (pet, person, etc) online because everyone thinks they know everything. Not to knock anyone on the site here but just because you own a dog does not qualify you to make any sort of treatment recommendations for anything.

Take things with a grain of salt and continue working with the veterinarian. Certainly if the vet can not solve the problem, some yahoo from a different profession who frequents ar15.com is not going to be able to diagnose your dog, lol!


PS: I'm a licensed veterinarian.

All good points.  I was hoping that a real live vet would be willing to chime in.  Thanks.  As a side note, I get all my medical treatment and advice from arfcom, don't you?  Usually they revolve around eating bacon.


Response from my SIL:
"He is on Fromm for Large breed puppies.
Flea/Tick treatment is Trifexis giving on the 1st of every month
It doesn't itch and he hasn't tried to scratch any of the spots. However it is very painful and he won't let us touch them.
The biggest spot is between his shoulder blades. The other spots are down his back. He has 4 total.
He hasn't had any hair loss. The vet shaved the spots so she could get a better look at the skin.
She scraped the skin for a culture and should have results in 3-5 days
Pain meds & antibiotic seem to be helping because he is slowly getting back to his normal self. (begging for food last night)"

Yeah. Pretty much in agreement with you. I threw out an idea, but that's all it was. Just something to be considered as a possibility. Skin issues are hard enough to diagnose in person, much less via pictures over the Internet.

And you are absolutely correct with your suggestion; it could possibly be sarcoptic mange but when people (not necessarily you) start throwing out uneducated comments "it could be X" or "it could be y" it does nothing to help the OP which is thus why asking for medical advice (whether human or pet) on a gun forum (at least from anyone not trained in that particular medical field) is a huge pet peeve of mine.  The fact is that it could be just about anything and even a veterinarian can not diagnose something over the internet.  Some of the comments people throw out in the pet forum or in pet related threads are so asinine that it just blows my mind.  Behavioral advice is completely different but suggesting trying X,Y,Z, etc. doesn't mean it will work and just because your dog improved on "item A" doesn't mean it will help the pet in questions.  The same goes with the fact that just because you had a negative experience with "item B" it doesn't mean it wont work for the pet in question.  

I'll try to step off of my soapbox now but its very hard to sit back and watch the comments that get tossed out in pet related threads here on arf; i almost wish i hadn't discovered the pets forum.

ok, stepping down now.

Trifexis is a good product so if the owner is compliant we can hopefully rule out fleas.
If it is non pruritic (doesn't itch) then its not likely sarcoptic mange)
The shaving of the spot is to get a good view along with the idea of getting the hair off the area which can cause excessive irritation to the spot.
Depending on the pain med its hard to say if the skin condition is resolving because of medication, time, or both but i'm glad the dog is doing better.

Dermatology is a very wide topic and can be very frustrating for owner, pet, and vet as well; not to mention expensive.

Thanks again for your input.

Not meaning to knock you or the OP, but he did open his thread up looking for suggestions.  Glad you were able to offer up some more educated responses though!

I feel the same way with some of the IT/computer related threads.

I'm also surprised, this being GD, we didn't get flooded with requests for photos of the sister...

UPDATE: Just got this from my SIL:



He had been on Clavamoxx and was seemingly improving; hopefully whatever new medication they put him on will knock this out.