Answers for Hot Spots on Your Dog

DULUTH - Moist Pioderma, also known as a wet skin infection, could occur on your dog this summer."Hotspots occur when there is already irritation to the skin either allergies or been outside playing and have abrasion on surface of the skin," Dr. Amanda Bruce of PetCare of Duluth explained. A hot spot will be a red spot on your dog's skin that looks wet and painful."Dogs that have allergies already have some low grade inflammation to their skin already so they're predisposed to the bacteria. Dogs that have allergies are always going to have a predisposition to having hot spots," Dr. Bruce said. Most of the time these spots happen in log haired, thick coated dogs and treatment for them is pretty straightforward. "Typically we will clip the area we want air to be able to get in there," Dr. Bruce said. Then the vet will scrub it with something antibacterial to sooth the skin surface and add some topical ointment that has sterioids to decrease inflamation and redness. "And then we'll put them on an oral antibiotic to pull that staph infection back into check," she continued. Typically you will see improvements in 24 hours, but will want to keep your dog on antibiotics for a couple weeks to get the infection under control. "One thing you could do if your dog was prone to hot spots and you really wanted to swim with your dog, I would recommend clipping it short so then the skin could then dry out easier," Dr. Bruce explained. And some areas build up moisture more than others. "If your dog is prone to getting hot spots around the collar, it probably is a good idea once their inside for the evening to take their collar off  because that's going to contribute to moisture building up under there, and skin not being able to breathe underneath," Dr. Bruce said. By far the most of hot spots occur in hot humid summer weather where there is moisture against skin that wouldn't typically be there.