My dog has been sick since I got her 4 years ago. She had Demodex Mange and chronic ear infections. I took her to a specialist last week (cost me $400 :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: *DIES*) and he said her mange is back along with a staph infection. With in the past 2 weeks she's been growing something inbetween her toes, it looked like a pimple then it sprouted... the vet said it was like the polyps in her ears, but this looks nothing like them! She kind of bit the one in between her toes out but this huge thing is still on the end of her foot. Anyone know what the heck it is???

Me gives wenchy a nudge, shes pretty smart with animals and illnesses.

Must say I've never seen anything like this but did a bit of nosing around and this looks like it might help you http://www.vetinfo.com/dinterdigit.html I'd suggest taking your dog to the vet and taking that with you, see if you can get something to deal with the feet and ideally a course of antibiotics and ear drops too. With illnesses like that I'd say it's best to treat all over otherwise you could get it kicking off all over again.

Now I don't know how good this stuff is for demodex mange, but my folks have used this stuff to deal with mange and it worked really well. http://www.camrosa.co.uk/index.htmIt's got a good reputation for helping skin problems, so might help your dog. They mostly sell it for horses but it's safe to use on dogs and you can get special boots from them to help with using it. I'd run it past the vet as it looks like it might help those poor feet and the mange. Might be something similar sold nearer where you live, but they deliver overseas too by the looks of things.

Good luck and give your dog a hug from me

Wenchy

Polyps can look real differet from one place in the body to another...I wouldnt be overly doubtful that thats what it is, unless the dog seems to have pain and/or itching at the site. Does the dog chomp at them or pull away sharply if you touch them?

Give the puppy a big hug from me too...

Aww I hope she is going to be okay. And holy crap 400 dollars. Don't know what that is on her paw =( Sadly I do not know much about stuff like that =/

-RMS Carpathia-

Thank you Wenchkin. I used to use something called Goodwin oil, which sounds similar to the Camrosa. It worked very well for the Demodex Mange. The vet gave me Ivermectin that I have to squirt in her food (because she won’t let me put it in her mouth). Her antibiotics came yesterday, Primor. It was so expensive for this medication Its weird, ever since we went to the DR, I took her to a Dermatologist because I thought she was having allergies, she seems to be getting worse. She won’t eat really, it’s very difficult to get her to eat her pills and she’s throwing up. I don’t know if it’s the heat or what.

I’m glad I brought her there or else my vet would have never noticed the mange, we’ve been treating her ears every 2 weeks and he’s never thought to re-check for mange I love my vet but I am disappointed, the worse part, baby has a weak immune system and we’ve been giving her prednisone, just making things worse. Now I’m worried she’s starving herself to death As for the paw, the Dermatolgist did look at it; he said “looks like the same thing going on with her ears is happening down there”. But it’s starting to bleed and looks like tentacles! I thought maybe it was a wart, it’s kind of oozy but I don’t know if that’s from her biting it or a infection.

Ivermectin tastes bad Most of my critters will spit it if I give them some. It might have something to do with your dog being off her food. The sheep sure spit it out at me often enough I'm not sure what dose she's on, but maybe you could try putting it on a little bit of food and feeding it seperate to see if she eats "clean" stuff ok. Or get a syringe and inject it into dog biccies. Feed her a couple of normal ones then the dosed one. If she's a gobbler of treats she should fall for it. Or try another brand of dog food, sometimes a change gets them interested again.

Prednisone I don't know about, there could be other drugs she could try instead though, might be worth talking with your vet if you've tried it a while without success. The throwing up is worth discussing with your vet too, could be a side effect of the drugs or a digestive problem. Low appetite does happen if a critter's depressed, but it's worth telling your vet everything she's doing even if it doesn't seem important. Does she scratch her belly or show signs her tummy's sore for example? Some critters are very good at hiding symptoms, or you get one that makes it so obvious when it's just a splinter

Dogs are a menace for chewing wounds and sore bits, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's messing with those feet. Feet are hard to keep clean so sores can get infected and dogs won't leave things like that alone You could try one of those vet collars, it would stop her scratching sores in ears too. A week or so with drops/creams and a collar could let some of it heal better. Maybe the goodwin oil would work on her feet, or even just some antisceptic cream to soothe it a bit. You also get shampoos that can be good for skin problems, though usually I get bathed along with my dogs

If you can just stand her paws into a really mild solution of first aid disinfectant (not the household fragranced stuff) when she comes into the house each time, that might make the skin taste bad and should help clean up the sores. Clean paws will prevent her dumping dirt in her ears during a scratch, my old retriever was a nightmare for running through mud then scratching ears

I hope you're not eating right now lol. But if there's any pus coming out of a sore bit, wash it and flush the wound out with a really mild solution of disinfectant. Literally a couple of drops into a pint or so of water. I've used a syringe without the needle to scoosh it in, then keep flushing it through with fresh solution till you don't get any pus again. Then blot it dry with kitchen roll or something that doesn't leave fuzz behind Gently push down on skin around it because the pus can sometimes hide back a bit. If you're not sure I'm sure your vet will show you, mine are always glad when I don't ask them to do it If it gets infected like that, you'll need to repeat at least once a day. First time is usually worst, I've sometimes dipped cotton wool in the solution and held it over the wound for a few secs to soften the scab and skin a bit first. I had a cat with a really horrible sore cheek who actually liked this lol.

Wenchy

I found out how bad the Ivermectin tasted when I squirted it in her mouth. She wasn’t too happy. I was making salami sandwiches with it in between, but she caught on! Now I’ve been trying to mix it in some spaghetti sauce and have her eat it, and then mix some spaghetti sauce in her dog food. It’s working well so far but she always catches on. She’s a smart girl

Prednisone is a steroid to help make the swelling go down in her ear canals. I spoke with the vet’s office briefly yesterday. They said loss in appetite is not a side effect and that the DR wanted her on that high of a dosage (2.5mg once a day) of the Ivermectin. She’s taking 1320 mg of Primor (which we started 2 days ago, not sure how much of her 2nd dose she got). Her hair is growing back on the paws, and she’s not getting all those pimples so it is working already. I have to give it to her for at least 2 months when we go for more skin scrapes and then another month at least if they’re negative. I hate to see her so miserable She doesn’t even want to give me much luvin any more either

I am pretty good noticing what’s wrong with her, but I am a tad nervous because both of the medicines she’s on can do some serious damage to her Plus that toe is just horrible looking. I’m going to see how she does with the antibiotics. She didn’t hold it down yesterday, she drank too much water too fast, then hurled it all up. Not to be gross but I fed her the half eaten pieces of meds again (they’re too expensive to waste!) I know part of it is she has an empty stomach because she’s not eating much and then she drank too much to fast. The E- Collar, omg! It’s huge on her! Its bigger then a lamp shade. I put it on my head to try it out I couldn’t get threw the door way, let alone hop on the bed! Her ears seem to be calming down a bit but they still smell/look like funky town.

Thank you for all your advice Wenchy! I really appreciate it! I will let you know how the toe goes over the weekend. I might stop into my regular vets and see what he thinks.

Technically the meds she threw back up is okay IF they were pretty recentally taken because no stomach acids have worked on them yet.

She sounds like she is in really bad shape =*( I have had pets who were in bad shape and just want so much hugs and loves even if it hurts them. They are so very affectionate but your gal doesn't sound like she wants much attension right now. Just give her some time alone I guess, give as much love as she allows. My rats ALWAYS appericated me being there.

My little Trinsic right now is having a problem... I hope it isn't to sevear. trying to get him into the vet but there was only ONE medical center that will take rats and it is an hour and half away from where I live and a week from when I made the appointment. Hope he makes it until they... hopefully it is minor. He is actually "Squeaking" to come out... rats normally are super quiet. Only time they squeak is if they are scared or hurt and it amazed me soon as I got Trin out he was quiet and fell right asleep here on my lap.

Sorry got off subject there... it is a load on my mind right now and with your doggie having problems can't help but think of Trin at the moment.

Keep us posted on how she is doing, I want to hope she is going to be okay.

And what is your doggies name? You might have mensioned it but I must have missed it =(

-RMS Carpathia-

Hehe aye, it's a bit of a battle getting medicine in some critters

Antibiotics are usually pretty quick at working, so fingers crossed she comes right. If it's a fairly general one (don't know that brand name) it should help her all over. High doses can be a bit rough on the system, but I tend to do the same if there's something living on one of my critters. Saves them getting resistant to it too.

Ear infections are a menace, and yeah that smell is one of the few things that turns my stomach. Eew it's nasty! My retriever gave me some serious practice in fast dropping He had a smaller collar than you're describing but was utterly PO'd with it! After clattering past the furniture he just went over to the wall and walked into it and just stood there lol. A pity you can't tell them it's for their own good, they just don't realise scratching and biting makes things worse

Wenchy