Scabby Rash

[Niques]

James has quite a few scabby lumps (maybe 10ish or so?) isolated to the area under and slightly around one of his forearms. From what I could see initially under all the hair, they looked like tick bites - reddish appearance to the lump with a black top. I had a better look around with tweezers and the tops just flaked off.

I'd love to post a photo but he's a squirmer.

Anyway, onto the questions - how urgent are skin conditions? Is it best to have it seen right away or is there no harm in playing the wait and see game for a bit? Would Sorbolene or anything be of use to rub on?

And while I'm here, I know I haven't given all that much info, but anyone know what these lumps could be?

EDIT: Thought I'd add, he's otherwise fine. No unusual behaviours, lethargy or anything.

Edited September 9, 2010 by Niques

[dee lee]

Could be a skin infection from a hotspot? I would try some betadine paint on them and see if they improve.

My GR had a contact allergy recently and after the rash subsided, the skin had been irritated and had some pussy red lumps.

After much googling etc, I decided it was probably a staph infection and my choice was to either get some antibiotics from the vet (which anecdotally were not always successful) or try betadine and see what happened (then followed by the vet trip if it didnt work). I would rather not give antibiotics unless absolutely necessary and thought there was no harm trying the betadine.

Happily it worked a treat!

[silentchild]

My Rottie also had some scabby rashes on her skin recently, I put it down to her maybe having her jacket on too much during winter... Took her to the vet, they said it wasn't anything to worry about, possibly just some minor contact allergy and gave me some Ilium Neocort cream for the rashes. It certainly seemed to help her stop itching a little. Also bath her once a week with some Aloveen shampoo... her scabs are healing up nicely now.

Hope that helps!

[Niques]

Thankyou for your suggestions Good to know that Betadine can be used on dogs, as well!

I think (as much as I can tell through the fur) that the lumps are going down and I'm now thinking that maybe they were simply caused by irritation - he spent a lot of time wet last week and perhaps rubbing occurred. I don't know - will keep an eye on it, anyway