Patches Of Dry Skin?

[Guest donatella]

My workmate has asked me to ask here (she saw me on this site), she has an 8 year old Pomeranian who has dry patches of skin. She's been to specialists and has been given Cortisone etc but nothing is working. The dry patches go black, has anyone had something similar or know what it could be or know any relief? the dog is shaved now for its comfort.

[Mason_Gibbs]

Have they seen a dermatologist??

Edited November 18, 2011 by Mason_Gibbs

[Guest donatella]

She says she did and they recommended cortisone injections and she followed their advice for months with no avail.

I think the poor darlin is allergic to something. I'll tell her to take her back. It's not cheap having an allergic dog by the sounds of it, she said the first appointment cost $900 all up.

[RiverStar-Aura]

As I found out with Poochie (who suffered seasonal mange for a good 13 to 14 years) cortisone does nothing but treat the symptoms. Poochie's mange was left undiagnosed because our local vet used cortisone to treat the itchiness but he failed to look into what was causing it.

It was after I took Poochie to our cat's vet (they had the cheapest desexing) 14 years later that he discovered she had mange mites that flared up every summer. The consultation was well over 2 hours because we were discussing the costs of allergy testing for an older dog when he decided to do a skin scraping for the h*ll of it to rule mange out. Sure enough, she had the mites buried under her skin and I was then able to treat her accordingly. She never had the problem again after that!

Your friend should definitely take her dog back for a second or third opinion because I've also heard that continued use of cortisone isn't good for dogs.

I also understand that my first vet probably ruled out mange due to the fact Poochie only ever ripped out fur and had flare ups in a localised place: on her back at the base of her tail (no where else). I'm just glad she got through 2 summers itch free!

Maybe have your friend request a skin scraping to rule out any type of mites. I can't actually remember if Poochie's skin went black but I know it was flaky and sore from the constant scratching.

[becks]

Have her look up 'Black Skin Disease' it is something that Poms can get.

[Guest lavendergirl]

She says she did and they recommended cortisone injections and she followed their advice for months with no avail.

I think the poor darlin is allergic to something. I'll tell her to take her back. It's not cheap having an allergic dog by the sounds of it, she said the first appointment cost $900 all up.

$900 and they didn't fix it? I would be telling her to take her back as well!

[Mason_Gibbs]

She says she did and they recommended cortisone injections and she followed their advice for months with no avail.

I think the poor darlin is allergic to something. I'll tell her to take her back. It's not cheap having an allergic dog by the sounds of it, she said the first appointment cost $900 all up.

Did they do allergy testing? Maybe get her to try a new specialist a dermatologist that's any good would have done tests and found the cause and then gone from there.

[Guest donatella]

I have forwarded her the Black Skin Disease info, I just had a look and it sounds EXACTLY what she was explaining to me last night. Thanks guys, its prominent in Poms too, hopefully she can get some answers now. apparently the specialist did some allergy testing, I cant remember what the outcome was (this woman is an authentic old French woman with the thickest accent i've ever heard ). Will see how we go, I really think the Black Skin Disease fits the puzzle, makes sense with the areas of darkened skin, dry patches, Pomeranian, sounds like this disease to me.