auir Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Hi All Just wondering if any one knows of any good skin or nose specialists in the Sydney region? Bit of background, our BC has had some flaky skin on his nose for a while, we have seen a few local vets but they dont know the cause and recommended to keep applying paw paw cream or neotopic cream, this was there recommendation since he isnt bothered by it. His nose has also changed from a light brown to pink, it occasionally starts to darken but goes back to pink soon after. Anyway, feed up with the local vets and them not having any ideas so looking to see anyone can suggest a specialist to take him to? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Plastic and metal bowls can sometimes cause those symptoms.Change him to ceramic water and food bowls first to see if it clears up before looking for a specialist. If the change of bowl doesn't work then he could have lupus. There have been a few cases in recorded in Border Collies over the last 15 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilderblu Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 It's most probably a mild form of lupus which is aggravated by sun light. The best thing you can do is keep the dog out of the sun as much as you can. There is a good sunscreen called "Filta-Bac" which is great as it's also a Antifungal and Antibacterial which you can apply when you are out in the sun especially this time of year. I found it online but not in shops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonecutter Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Perhaps call the Sydney Uni vet clinic in Camden? Philippa Ravens is a dermatology fellow (I think aussielover has been to see her about Mindy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auir Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Hi Wilderblu - that what i was thinking but wanted to a vet to basically give the same opinion. It doesnt bother him (ie can touch his nose and he doesnt care) but it bothers me and would prefer him to not have to put up with it. I will have a look around Filta Bac, i did buy a sun screen a little while back but seem to actually dry his nose out at the well, but i will try this one. Hi DancinBCs - thanks for the suggestion will give that a go as well, he does have metal bowls and i have seen some ceramic ones i liked :) and for the lupus thing yeah i was going down the path i think, from what i have seen / read on the net it looks like a very mild case of DLE unfortunately alot of the pics on the web are of extreme cases so when i look at them i go 'oh god no his nose doesnt look like that' but from the info sounds like it could be Hi StoneCutter - thanks will look them up and see if i can get in to see them at some stage for a consult Thanks for the info guys Chees :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Plastic and metal bowls can sometimes cause those symptoms.Change him to ceramic water and food bowls first to see if it clears up before looking for a specialist. If the change of bowl doesn't work then he could have lupus. There have been a few cases in recorded in Border Collies over the last 15 years or so. Thats interesting dancinbcs. I have been using a metal bowl for my boys food bowl for a while now & have noticed a slight change in the appearance of his nose. Might swap him back to his ceramic one & see how he goes. Thanks for the heads-up, I have never heard of that. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppop Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Dermatologist Linda Vogelnest who used to work at Sydney Uni has recently moved to SASH in N Ryde. She is meant to be excellent. You will prob need a referral letter from your vet, and then you contact Linda, who consults at SASH on Mondays only I think. It's about $180 for the initial consultation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kia Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hi All Just wondering if any one knows of any good skin or nose specialists in the Sydney region? Bit of background, our BC has had some flaky skin on his nose for a while, we have seen a few local vets but they dont know the cause and recommended to keep applying paw paw cream or neotopic cream, this was there recommendation since he isnt bothered by it. His nose has also changed from a light brown to pink, it occasionally starts to darken but goes back to pink soon after. Anyway, feed up with the local vets and them not having any ideas so looking to see anyone can suggest a specialist to take him to? Cheers Hi auir, I would recommend getting a definate answer as soon as possible. While lupus starts out looking quite harmless it can deteriate and look ugly very quickly if not looked after. An aussie I bred unfortunatly has lupus and he doesn't have a lot of nose left now. There is no cure but it can be managed. A good anti fungal sunblock on the nose every time he goes outside and keeping him in the shade or inside during the harshest sunlight hours will help. Good luck and I hope it isn't lupus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embellish Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Dermatologist Linda Vogelnest who used to work at Sydney Uni has recently moved to SASH in N Ryde. She is meant to be excellent. You will prob need a referral letter from your vet, and then you contact Linda, who consults at SASH on Mondays only I think. It's about $180 for the initial consultation. Linda still works for Sydney Uni four days a week - but at the Camden hospital - she is at SASH Mondays only..... Camden hospital number of 02 4655 0777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firedrop Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I recommend Linda Vogelnest at Sydney Uni - we see her at the Camden clinic. My GSD has seen Linda for many years now as he has an allergy skin based problem. She is fantastic!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Generally you would ask for yout Vet for a referral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auir Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Hi All Just a quick update, Purchased new ceramic bowls, and ordered new sun screen from vetnpet direct that could take a week or so to arrive tho also made an appointment with Linda for the start of next month (she is on leave at the moment) just received the paper work to complete, & going to see my local vet tomorrow and to fax of his history, and then will just be waiting til his appointment. In the interim i will just keep him inside as much as possible, also recently put up another shade cloth screen up the backyard where he likes to play so at least he has more areas of shade and filtered light to play in, and keep applying the paw paw cream of a night If there are any more suggestions let me know thanks once again for all your help cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Baggins Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Could you please post pic, closeup, of his nose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auir Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Could you please post pic, closeup, of his nose? sure no probs, sorry for the bad pic he wouldnt stay still didnt like the flash going off also was taken on my phone not camera cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 That could just be simple sunburn. Any dog of any breed with an unpigmented nose needs to be kept out of the sun. Any pink skin on any animal, not covered by plenty of hair is very prone to sun burn and skin cancer. This applies noses, ears, eye rims, etc on dogs, cats and horses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auir Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 yeah that what i originally was thinking, but the local vet is adamant that is not, also previous sunscreen didnt appear to work, having said that i had to stop using it at times since the sunscreen would dry his nose and out it would crack. I have ordered the filta bac sunscreen from petnvet direct and we will see how that goes. His nose has also gone from being black as puppy, then brown, browny pink, to now pink. I forgot to mention previosuly the vet did do a blood test / sample of his nose (not a chuck out of his nose, just put a needle in and took some blood). That came back as all clear. When we have like a week of rain and alot cloud cover, his nose does get more moist as well but doesnt appear to get better as such. So i guess that would support the sun burn side of things. The other thing i was originally thinking it could be is 'winter nose' but now its summer that should have cleared up. Living on the south coast i wouldnt think the lower UV levels in winter would be that low. http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionsfaqs/f/snow_nose.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Baggins Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 To me it looks like snow nose with sunburn. Does he still have pigment else where? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Ok, from the photo it looked like an unpigmented nose on a merle. If it was black originally then there is a real problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auir Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Ok, from the photo it looked like an unpigmented nose on a merle. If it was black originally then there is a real problem. He is a red and white, so from what i read still prone to less pigment color his nose was only black while a puppy, then went to to a shade of brown, attached is a pic of him from march last year, ideally i would like to see him return to this but if that cannt happen thats okay just want to make sure it doesnt get worse/irrates him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Ok, from the photo it looked like an unpigmented nose on a merle. If it was black originally then there is a real problem. He is a red and white, so from what i read still prone to less pigment color his nose was only black while a puppy, then went to to a shade of brown, attached is a pic of him from march last year, ideally i would like to see him return to this but if that cannt happen thats okay just want to make sure it doesnt get worse/irrates him Reds can have any of the basic pigment colours on their nose because the red gene only masks the the hair colour. So a red will also be genetically black, choc, blue or lilac and that is why the nose can be light. If the nose was black it should stay black because only a genetically black dog can have a black nose. If the nose fades then there is somehtng causing it to fade. The lips and eye rims should match the nose colour. Are they still black? It still could be the bowls but if changing them doesn't work, it needs further investigation. I have no idea why metal bowls cause a problem but sometimes they do. The plastic bowls are made in moulds that are lined with a chemical to stop the bowl sticking to mould. Some dogs have a severe reaction to the chemiacl that still lingers on the bowl despite repeatd washing. Edited January 19, 2012 by dancinbcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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