Hi,

My lab (1 year old) is has had a rash on his belly for about 3 months now and it's got so bad he is scatching his fur off!
He has been on anti biotics, sray, special shampoo etc but this hasn't helped. The vet has sent off a blood sample to try and establish the cause but this has come back insufficant.
Any idead what I can do next?!!

Thank you!

Could he have developped an allergy to something?

When mine was a pup she had a reaction the wool in our carpet...

Have you started using a different washing powder, changed furniture/carpet etc recently?

What food is he on?

hi have you been useing any carpet cleaner my lab developed a rash due to me useing shake and vac on the carpet is it possible you could train im to rest on the bedding that the vets use its very good and seems to help dogs with rashes

at the moment he is on raw meat and it was no better when he was on Biscuits so trying everything, I'm going to tchange the washing powder and see if that helps, thanks

What biscuits was he on?

gosh - there are so many things that could be causing this

contact allergy, food allergy, stress...

We jumped through all the hoops last year trying to figure out what was causing a skin problem was that Brude was suffering from, but I think we've now pinned it down to an allergy to fish - as he was having salmon kibble at the time, and has since had an outbreak of flaky spots again after my father fed him pilchards :roll:

Try bathing him in dilute Savlon, and only let him lie on a clean towel (preferably washed in non-bio) and see if that gives an improvement. If necessary cover the carpet in old clean sheets for a week or so and monitor the situation

My friend had a bitch with a bad rash - turned out it was a grass allergy, i guess from running thru the long grass in the park. She had anti-histamines, and was fine :)

if you're giving antihistamines, buy piriton in 500's from the pharmacy - it's a heck of a lot cheaper! (just ask your vet for the dosage)

could be fungal or a bacterial infection? But I'm guessing you have already tried the shampoos and stuff so maybe they need to take a skin scraping? they can see if it is one of them and then the best stuff could be used or at least rule it out as a cause.

My dog gets bad skin on his stomach, which he then itches and gets infected. It was down to fish which he loved having in his kong, it took a couple of months avoiding it for it to clear up nicely and he's only just started to get a good covering of fur again on his tummy 3 months down the line, so I'd persevere on with the food change.

He's got a suspected fungal infection at the moment on his back and although it's not causing fur loss we are now on the shampoo stuff too. He dislikes baths but stands their nicely when we bath him, we have got to do it weekly for 4 weeks and he has to stand with the treatment on for 15 mins, he hates going upstairs now :lol:

Hope you get sorted. My dog loves splashing in water when we are out and I'm sure this has got lot to do with it too, so we are trying to keep him out of water when out walking as much as possible. He's actually staying white at the moment instead of a muddy grey colour :lol:

Hi,

My dog has been back to the vets this morning after another lots of medication for his skin. It's not a rash anymore and doesn't seem to bother him when he has his lampshade on only when we take it off he goes straight to sibbling his skin and fur pulling it out and making it sore.
He's now had a skin scrape, a blood test, two lots of anti-bi's, shampoo and now the vet has put him on another lot of anti biotics and referd him to a dermatologist?
I dont mind paying for the dermatolagist but this is the thirs lot of aniti-bi's and i'm wondering if the vet has done it just for ££?
Any help would be appriciated! He's 15 months, a lab and is never left for long periods so can't be anxitity

Thanks

my lab used to haveit this reacurring thing very grose she wud get a rash then her skin would litraly go yellow and drop off it was realy kimging and weeping it reaccured 3 times and cost mea fortune but then the vet said to make it cheaper for me just try the piritone from pharmacy and i did, that was 3 years ago and it hasent been back

Do you think it’s behavioural and the fur loss/ rash are just caused by him itching/ biting?

Have you tried the bitter spray? (Not good on broken skin though) Also have chew toys left out for him at all times, labs love to chew.

It's a hard one. I found the problem with my dog (fish) but the dog I had before spent a lifetime at the vets for skin conditions and we never got to the bottom of it.

This sounds very similar to what Zack suffered with. To this day I don't actually know what it was, and now I never will. Please read my thread about being careful trusting your vet. My advice would be:

Do as much research yourself as possible on the internet
Get a second opinion from a different vets (different company)
DO NOT let them just put him on steroids. Although it may appear to sort the problem, it only subsides it and has lots of very bad side effects.

Thanks fo rthe advice, I am being to think it's behavioural but he is with my husband all day as he works from home and has so many chews/toys and long walks so I don't know why!
I'm going to let him see the dermatologist but after reading Gazb's thread will be very careful about what he says, I'm going to try him on the piraton aswel and also E45 cream now it's not broken skin, Will keep you updated!

Thanks

My old dog Sooty (collie) had a bad skin condition. All down his belly and around the base of his tail. We used lanacane powder on it for about a week and kept him in a buster coller so he couldn't lick it and it cleared up. :thumbsup:

My friend's 20 month old lab recently had blood tests, scrapes and biospies on her rash on her tummy and feet. The result was that Lottie is allegic to dairy produce, cereal, dust mites and something else.

My friend stopped giving her weetabix with milk for her breakfast, bathed her in some special shampoo prescribed by her vet and within a week or two, Lottie's rash was 100% better. She's not impressed with the toast for breakfast though.:hihi:

Good luck with your dog - I hope it's as easy to cure as Lottie.