The Dogs Bloggers

Starting With A Dog’s Medical History Is A Window Into Possible Causes Of Skin Disease

Skin problems are one of the primary presenting conditions in a pet health medical practice. Many canine epidermal rashes are close in appearance, yet have multiple possible triggers, so an in office exam alone may not supply the answers requisite to specify a specific treatment. In addition to the dermal exam one of the most significant diagnostic approaches is the taking of a dog’s medical and skin history. By asking a specific set of questions about a dog’s skin history, a doctor can use his or her experience to reduce suspected causes of the difficulty. This will save the owner time and help to avoid costly tests by reducing the extensive list of possible dog skin conditions.

Most pet health professionals begin the office visit with a written list of questions. The veterinarian will then comb through the answered question with you and then will ascertain any actions that should be taken. Classic inquiries include:

1. What’s the breed of dog? There are thoroughly researched cutaneous problems that have demonstrated a higher incidence in certain canine breeds. Note that the relevance of this information can vary by region. For instance, a few breeds have a higher incidence to atopy, which are inhaled seasonal allergens including Basset Hounds, Beagles, Boston Terriers, Boxers, Bullterriers, Cairn Terrier, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Dalmatians, and German Shepherds.

2. Do you know the age of the patient? Certain cutaneous conditions are seen in younger dogs like congenital conditions. Others are due to a malfunctioning or immature immunological reaction, which isn’t strong enough to avoid Problems to develop such as mange. Middle age dogs are at the mercy of food allergic, while older dogs are frequently subject to skin melonoma.

3. How long has the dog suffered from the difficulty? Sicknesses that appear all of a sudden are associated with parasitic sicknesses or a food allergy. Ongoing skin lesions like itch can be due to food or dermatitis. Problems that have gone on for years without other Problems, allow issues such as hormonal conditions to be ruled out. Dog baldness without other symptoms can be hereditary or a problem called follicular dysplasia. Depending on the cause identified, a veterinarian can test for scabies, food sensitivity, or infection.

4. Where on the body did the issue begin? Location is often point to certain causes of a possible cause. For example, problems on the ears can be due to summer or seasonal allergy, dietary allergy, mange skin polyps, and secondary infection. Issues on the legs are usually caused by inhaled allergy, food sensitivity, mites such as mange, vasculitis and pemphigus (pus filled spots). Issues on the head include mites, seasonal allergens, food allergy or fungi.

5. What are the symptoms? Symptoms such as itchy skin are related to many skin diseases and aren't especially helpful in determining the cause. Also, owners may mis-interpret pruritis (itch) as being worse than it is when it is really isn’t as bad.

There are plenty of more questions, including seasonality, other changes in behavior that aren’t related to the skin such as the avoidance of food and behavioral change, changes in routine, the presence of other cats or dogs and whether or not the owner has any skin problems that would have been passed from a family member to the dog. The bottom line is that by doing a thorough job by responding to a few insightful questions from your vet can lower the cost of treatment and get your dog on the path to a positive outcome.

Cathy Doggins is the author of many pieces on canine health. She's the leading contributor to the Internet resource, the Dog Health Guide, Cathy is dedicated to canine health care and has penned published on canine skin disease.

My Boston terrier’s cherry eye came back, what should I do?

I posted a ??? yesterday about my puppy getting cherry eye & it going away, but it has came back, the answers I got told me to treat it if it comes back, I’m just a little confused…. is cherry eye something that comes & goes on it’s own??? I just don’t want to have surgery done on her if not neccessary, but then I don’t want to not do it if it’s going to be a life long frequent problem….. can any one give me a little more info on this???? thanks alot

You should go back to your breeder and explain that your Boston is experiencing this problem. Not that I expect them to refund you or anything, but any good breeder will want to know so that they can watch for this condition in the other pups from your dog’s litter. If this isn’t a freak occurence, then the breeder will want to sterilize the dam or stud to prevent breeding unsound dogs.

Now, if you purchased your dog from a pet store (can you believe people still do that in this day and age?), then chalk it up to a lesson learned and pray to God that this is the worst thing that will happen to your dog, health-wise. Puppy mill dogs usually have far worse problems than “cherry eye.”

This condition, officially called glandular hypotrophy, unfortunately is something only a veterinarian can fix. It is true that the causes are not 100% fully known, but that is only because of the enormity of factors involved. It is accepted to be genetically passed on but can also occasionally occur due to an injury. Surgery is replacement of the gland of the third eyelid. It is most common in smaller breed dogs with prominent eyes, such as your Boston, and including the pug, pekingese, lhasa apso, shih tzu, and will occasionally show up in mastiff breeds that have droopy eyelids, like the English bulldog, the English mastiff, the Neopolitan mastiff, and the dogue de bordeaux.

Here’s the wikipedia page on cherry eye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_eye

Good luck to you and your dog!

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