# Why does he have these scabs? (With gross pictures)



## ArchersMom

For a long time now, Archer has had little scabs on his head and neck from time to time. I didn't think much of it because I assumed they were just the result of rough playing with my other dog. But today, I noticed they were especially bad on the top of his head. 

I cut off his hair so I could take a look at the skin. I don't know why the neck skin is red in certain areas. It's possible he did this himself, scratching. Actually, after I trimmed the neck hair, he scratched it, and then it got all bloody. 

Does anyone know what's going on? I'll most likely be calling the vet, but I don't know what reason to give for the visit except for scabs.


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## ArchersMom

And here's his neck after he scratched a bit.


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## Roushbabe

Does it smell? It looks oozy from the pics. It looks like this could be a hot spot. Has he gotten wet recently from swimming or a bath? I would definitely take him to the vet to rule out any kind of infection. There are home remedies to take care of a hot spot - the trick is to relieve the itchiness he's feeling and to also treat the spot. Using Hibiclense soap and Domeboro powder (both can be found at a CVS) will help a lot.


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## mylissyk

They could be hot spots, especially the one on top of his head. The ones on the back of his neck almost look like bite marks. 

The first thing you need to do is shave the fur off the wounds, you don't want any fur on top of it because it wicks the serum off the wound and that spreads it, irritates surrounding skin and makes the wound get bigger. You want to get the wound dry so it will heal, so don't put anything like salve that will make it stay moist. A home remedy that works well on hot spots is Gold Bond medicated powder. Clean it with an astrigent, then dust the wound with the powder.

But before you do that, really shave the fur off so you can get a good look at the wounds. They may not be hot spots, so you want to be sure before you treat it.

The vet is always a good choice if you don't think it's something you can treat at home.


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## ArchersMom

The top of the head scab was dry but my other dog licked it for 5 minutes before I shaved it and sprayed it with vetericyn. I just picked him up a cone of shame so it can heal. He's not very happy


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## Karen519

*The vet...*

Definitely take him to the vet.

I would say he is scratching and there are scabs-may be a hot spot or an infection.


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## ArchersMom

He's had these scabs as long as I can remember. So I don't think it's a hot spot really. And they don't smell. It could be but I want to leave the cone on him and watch it now that I can actually see them. It's very odd,


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## tacrouse

My 7 yr old came home from a kennel in Aug with something VERY similar...I thought it was a bite mark that had started to heal. I started noticing other spots, big and small, and took him in. Turns out it was a very common (though he has never had anything like it) bacterial skin infection easily treated with antibiotics (14 day supply). Vet said they've seen a ton of cases this late summer/fall due to the wet weather. Good luck.


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## mylissyk

ArchersMom said:


> He's had these scabs as long as I can remember. So I don't think it's a hot spot really. And they don't smell. It could be but I want to leave the cone on him and watch it now that I can actually see them. It's very odd,


If he's had them for a while, then in that case a trip to the vet is the best thing. Tacrouse is right, it could be a skin infection that needs antibiotics to clear up.


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## ArchersMom

I made an appointment for Tuesday but hopefully he's all better before then. He's never worn the cone before.


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## mylissyk

Sad face puppy, poor guy.


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## ArchersMom

I'm now 90% sure the one on his neck is a hot spot. And it's actually worse than his head  I did a lot more fur trimming. The head is mostly just scabs. So I'm going to do a home treatment until Tuesday when we see the vet. How exactly do I use the brown listerine? How much how do I apply it


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## K9-Design

Staph infection for sure
Do you have any cephalexin you can start him on?

Since he has it on the head & neck --- ears could be the real culprit


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## ArchersMom

K9-Design said:


> Staph infection for sure
> Do you have any cephalexin you can start him on?
> 
> Since he has it on the head & neck --- ears could be the real culprit


No! What do you mean the ears could be the culprit? And no I don't have any antibiotics for him. Not until Tuesday anyway  I'd rather it be a hot spot now.


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## mylissyk

ArchersMom said:


> I'm now 90% sure the one on his neck is a hot spot. And it's actually worse than his head  I did a lot more fur trimming. The head is mostly just scabs. So I'm going to do a home treatment until Tuesday when we see the vet. How exactly do I use the brown listerine? How much how do I apply it


Use a cotton ball or gauze pad, wet it with the Listerine and pat it on the wound. It's an astrigent so it will dry fairly quickly. Then dust it with Gold Bond powder.


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## mylissyk

ArchersMom said:


> No! What do you mean the ears could be the culprit? And no I don't have any antibiotics for him. Not until Tuesday anyway  I'd rather it be a hot spot now.


I think she means his ears could be infected too.


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## ArchersMom

I just treated one side about a week ago with zymox. It got a little red but within a week of using that stuff he was back to 100%. He gets ear infections fairly often. But he swims almost every day in dirty ponds and things out hunting. So I check his ears every day. I am so over my head with all these medical issues right now! Why can't my pets be healthy?! They're all young too. Is it still safe for me to treat him with gold bond and listerine if this is staph and not a hot spot? At least until we can see the vet.


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## ArchersMom

Well we just had our vet visit and microscope check and it's staph  now Archer has to miss the first month of duck hunting. He'll be pretty sad to be left behind. And I don't know how to prevent this from happening again. He's a perfectly healthy 20 month old dog. How does he get staph? I can't make him wear the cone for the rest of his life but I have a hunch it's because he has skin allergies. But they're likely environmental and not food related.


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## boomers_dawn

Yep, I'm late to the conversation but I recognize hot spots.
Boomer had allergies to different things in the enviroment, grasses, trees, flea bites, we kept him on a yeast free, grain free diet, yeast free can help the ears.

Boomer had the neck issue one summer. He was wearing a nylon web buckle collar and going in and out of the water in and out, wet dry wet dry humid and the vet pointed out the hotspot was around the collar area. The wet collar was keeping and trapping moisture against his neck area. Could that be your case with the neck?

Is it humid where you are? Swimming in ponds almost every day, he probably keeps moisture trapped under his undercoat against the skin too, add pond germs and ... woila. After Boomer started with the hotspots, I took care to towel dry him after swimming, lose the constant collar, and keep the a/c on to cut humidity in the house on humid summer days.

Poor Archer, he looks so sad in his cone.


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## ArchersMom

He doesn't normally wear a collar when we're out but the vet confirmed that it's a staph infection and not a hot spot. I was pretty surprised because it did look so much better after keeping him in the cone and using goldbond for a few days. Now we get antibiotics for a minimum of two weeks and topical antibiotic/steroid spray to help with itching. I feel really bad about the cone  he could almost take it off if my other dog would quit licking the medicine off of him! I might get her a cone to wear instead.


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