Help!!

Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
I know I shouldn't put a dog health question in the Introduce Yourself forum, but this is urgent. My friend has a german shepherd named Asia. The dog's nose is peeling and bleeding.:cry: She tried everything from vitamines to creams, but they just don't work.:confused: My friend says that her dog has half of her nose now. It looks terrible. The vet can't reccomend anything to her and she's desperate. Please help!!!
 
tx_cowgirl

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
Wow I've never seen anything like that before...I'm sorry. :( Maybe try another vet?

Moved the thread, you should get more help here.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Is the dog pawing at it to cause this, or what?
Is this dog caged a lot, and keeps pushing his nose into cage, or how is this damage occuring? Is the flesh just sloughing off?

Maybe the dog is allergic to something. I've heard of a few dogs that are even allergic to grass. Could be something on her grass, too, like some lawn product. There is no rat poisons out where dog can get them, right?

Yeah, i'd get to another vet, too...like, yesterday. Good luck to your friend, but encourage her to get second or third opinions from other vets...poor dog..
 
running_dog

running_dog

Honored Member
Odd, I've only seen/read about something like this in captive lizards - they rub their noses against the glass of their tanks and get sore noses that can then get serious fungal infections that look like this dog sounds with skin and flesh sloughing off. Over time affected lizards can get permanently deformed/disfigured/chunks missing noses. When reptiles first became popular as pets it was quite common to see water dragons and iggies with chunks of nose missing or irregular. Pet owners know so much more and conditions are so much better for reptiles now that they are rarely seen like that.

I have a vague recollection that the lizards could be treated with some kind of iodine solution but I MAY BE COMPLETELY WRONG on that - the last time I had reptiles was over 10 years ago.

What kind of "creams"? Were they soothing? steroid? antibacterial? antifungal?

Definitely go to another vet.
 
Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
Thank you for replying!!:LOL:
To Tigerlily: I don't think that the dog is pawing at her nose. My friend says that it looks like she doesn't notice it at all. I'll tell my friend that maybe Asia is allergic to something.
To Running dog: Great info about the lizards.:D I never knew you you owned reptiles? Cool!!!Oh, and she used antibiotic cream, but the dog just licks it off, so there's no point in using a cream.
I will recommend my friend to go to another vet.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
oh wow, that sounds dreadful, it could be some horrible flesh-eating bacteria, (these do exist, i'm a nurse)
or maybe some circulation problem cutting off good blood flow to the nose flesh.........poor dog.

hope she does get to another vet, and also explain how the dog licks off the cream and ask what to do for that problem. wow.
keep us posted, i wonder what it is.
 
running_dog

running_dog

Honored Member
I'm annoyed, I loaned my pet health book to my sister on Saturday (because I NEVER use it...) and now my book is 200 miles away. Now of course I want to see whether I am remembering the lizards right (my reptile book says it looks fungal but is bacterial but doesn't say much else) and whether there is anything like this in the dog section... the book has so many gruesome photos that there might be one just like this :(. My lizards were so long ago that I am probably totally mixed up.

Tigerlily - if it is bleeding is is likely to be a circulation problem? I have no idea I'm just wondering :confused: . I do agree that an open unhealing sore that is not suffering repeated injury does sound like a bacterial infection.

Dogster - If cream is worked in it can still be beneficial even if the surface is licked clean. Also dogs can sometimes be distracted by pasting peanut butter on their paws... though the nose is just SO easy for a dog to lick :ROFLMAO:. I do hope poor Asia gets her nose sorted out soon :( .
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
well, good point, about my questioning a circulation problem, i was focusing on the tissue sloughing off, trying to imagine what would cause flesh to die and fall off...i guess dogs don't get blood clots, do they. Yeah, in humans anyway, they can have a blood clot or vessel disease which killing off circulation, so the flesh is dying,
and still the area develops wounds which spot blood and requires bandages, some bleed more than others.

but now that i think of it, i've never heard of a blood clot in a dog....real common in humans, though.


I had pet lizards, too, Rdog, we had horned toads, and i had a pet chameleon that came with a lil leash which pinned to my shirt. We had turtles and some other lizards, too, and later, some hamsters.
My parents could either not afford a dog, or didn't want a dog, and always said it was because *i* was allergic to dogs was why we could only get lizards.:ROFLMAO: later, when i was old enough to realize i was not allergic to dogs,
they then pointed at younger child and said HE was the one allergic to dogs!:rolleyes:
what a scam!

looking back, i now realize none of these pets were well cared for....poor lizards...


sorry for derail, Dogster, i hope you DO post what the problem was?
 
charmedwolf

charmedwolf

Moderator
Staff member
Dogster, I'd have them check out for either Discoid Lupus Erythematosus or Nasal Solar Dermatitis. Both of them are problems that can show up on the noses but the vet could be able to tell you more. I've heard of something like that before but I've never seen it myself. Hope this helps her out.

Tigerlily, dogs can get blood clots it's just not as common as humans. Axel (Isis' and Jinx's brother) died from a blood clot and before that I had never seen blood clots in dogs before.
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
really, dogs can get blood clots?? i had no idea....but the more i think about it, the more stoopid my guesses sound!!! even to me.:rolleyes:

.good post there, Cwolf.
 
Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
You are all soooo AWESOME!!!!!!!:ROFLMAO:
Thank you, thank you, thank you Charmedwolf!!!!:LOL: Now I have names to work from!!!
Thank you soo00 much Tigerlily for giving me the info on the flesh-eating bacterial disease.
Thank you runningdog for the info on the cream- I hope you get the book back from your sister soon!
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Yay, whew! Cwolf, you are now "vet-in-chief" of DTA!!:ROFLMAO:

i'm soooooooo glad this dog is getting some help to save his nose! whew. I'd been wondering what it turned out to be. Wow, so glad there is a simple enough cure!
 
tigerlily46514

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Diane,

If you tell us what brand your dog is currently eating, we might be able to help you spot the ingredient(s) most likely to be an allergy suspect.:LOL:


Some food items considered to be possible allergens for some dogs,
include
corn
wheat
soy
cannola oil and other GMOs,
yeast
beef
etc,
but all dogs are individuals, and your unique dog could have his very own allergy.

Maybe best way (besides have vet do some allergy testing on dog)
would be put dog on a dog food with few ingredients. You could make it yourself, taking care to add calcium ingredients (like so much teaspoon ground eggshells per pound of meat, etc, if you don't give raw bones, etc)
or follow a recipe for very plain, few-ingredient, homemade dog food recipe from a reliable site. It's a bit more complicated (not much, but a bit) than just throwing meat to the dog, you'll have to google some recipes. Not all homemade dog food recipes are balanced or healthy, sorry, i don't have a link to offer for that one...:(


You could either try one of the kibbles considered "hypoallergenic"
or "low ingredients"
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/hypoallergenic-dog-foods/
One sort of has to be a bit careful about some "hypoallergenic" dog foods, as some of them run low on meat or protein.

and see if dog is still itchy/scratchy/skin problems/chewing his feet or legs, etc or whatever.
If you have the fund$ to do so, another thing to consider would be to offer your dog raw food,
or one of the raw pre-made dog foods,
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/raw/

OR get one of the mixes that one just adds their own meat to it, like Sojo'shttp://www.sojos.com/products/dog-food/sojos-grain-free-dog-food-mix

or
THK "preference"http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/preference/
there are others, as well.

(be aware that raw feeding you provide on your own, using meat, raw bones, and organs, does require some education to achieve a balanced diet, http://www.rawlearning.com/)

Then, if symptoms disappear, and you are happy with and can afford current diet,
you could stick with it.:D
If not, you could watch ingredient lists closely and slowly try to swap to a different food, if dog gets itchy again, study the list of the food.

Dogs can also develop allergies OVERTIME. My last dog, after eating eggs for years, no problem, decided he could no longer do eggs. at all. ever. Well, he vomitted for all eggs after he got older, which is not usually considered an allergy, so much as an intolerance.

but dogs can and do develop allergies to foods they previously did fine with, which is good to know.
 
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