Almost A Hotspot

[Fudo]

Morning all

I have seen previous advice regarding hotspots, but they don't quite answer the question that I have.

Fudo has what I suspect is the beginning of a hotspot in his groin. The skin is not yet broken or weeping at all, it is just red, inflamed and 5 cent piece sized. My question is, since it is not yet weeping etc, should I just leave it and see if it goes away, or should I put something on it?

He is currently towards the end of a coat blow, which puts him off his tucker, I had to switch his dry food as Maximal is out of the country for another couple of weeks and we have been extremely humid here and had a couple of days of rain. It is all of these things that I think have stressed his system such that this has occurred.

Since it is not weeping, I don't think cureash powder would be effective. I have some neocort here but don't want to put that on him unless I have to.

What do you think?

[Erny]

Calendula will help take the redness away, and assists in stopping it turning into a secondary skin infection. Purchase from a Health Food Shop (it's not expensive) and make a tea out of it. Use the cooled tea to dab onto the spot (and/or any other area that looks a bit suspect). The redness should diminish considerably if not entirely, within about 24 hours. A follow up application might or might not be required.

Edited January 1, 2010 by Erny

[wuffles]

I'd put some Curash on it anyway, it is probably more moist than it looks. Can you watch him to make sure he doesn't bother the spot?

As my boy is prone to hotspots I have found that if it starts to look inflamed or red AT ALL, I need to treat it as a normal hotspot. I have witnessed one grow from a small white bald spot to a huge, red, weeping sore in hours. If I treat them immediately (I remove the fur, then use Betadine and Neocort, use an e collar) they don't turn so nasty.

[Fudo]

Thanks for the fast replies everyone, we have to go out so I will get some calendula and try it out. I might put some curash on it before we go as it will be a couple of hours before we get back and I can bathe it.