[Eochs]

About 10 days ago my dog showed 2 round bumps, one on each side of her torso. They looked like bug bites, with a tiny red spot in the middle. She wasn't licking or biting at them. The next day her tummy and chest became very red and itchy. We started her on hydroxixine thinking it was just an allergic reaction. The 2 bumps on her sides started to recede, but after a week of itchiness we took her to the vet. A demodex scraping was negative, so they took a hair/skin sample to do a ringworm fungal culture. While we wait 10 days for the results we were given clavamox (antibiotic), re-sortin (antibiotic ointment), and a medicated shampoo to give her every few days. We are also giving her echinecea (sp?) as I read it could help.

Is there anything we can do just in case it is ringworm? We won't have the results til the 20th, and on the 28th we leave for out wedding/honeymoon. I am terrified that none of the pet hotels will take her if she has ringworm, and want to try to head this off at the pass. I have lamisal antifungal cream, is it safe to put on the spots if she doesn't have a fungus?

Any ideas on boarding? Please help, the waiting is killing us!

 

[GottaLuvMutts]

I don't know if this is technically ok or not (never bothered to check with the vet), but I used Lotrimin to treat my dog's ringworm, or at least what I suspected to be ringworm. This is an over-the-counter cream generally used to clear up ringworm and other fungal infections in humans. Before I used it I looked up some common ringworm treatments for dogs and found that the active ingredient in Lotrimin (clotrimazole) was the same. I used it a couple of times a day and it cleared up my dog's infection in a couple of days. You might want to check with your vet first, though, because the recommended dose could be very different for humans and dogs.

Antibiotics will clear up bacterial infections nicely, but ringworm is a fungus! In fact, by killing all the bacteria on the skin, good and bad alike, you may be helping along the ringworm!!!

 

[Eochs]

Thanks for the advice. Yesterday and today (since starting with lamisil) the redness on her tummy and chest has gotten like 80% better. The 2 slightly hairless spots look slightly better. To be honest they would probably look even better without the scabs and extra hair loss from the demodex scrape and hair fungal culture the vet did. She is also much less itchy overall. I have some real hope now that we can clear this up and not even have to tell the boarder there was ever a problem.

The pustules on her tummy are receding a bit also, and we have stopped the hydroxizine for now