| I have a 7 months old Boxer. He is suffering from a severe skin allergy. He gets various eruptions of small spots on his back and upper legs. Earlier they came once in a while but now they just seem to be there throughout the day. There is no itching or redness on his skin and no other symptoms are noticed. Earlier the doctors told me that he is prone to Rickets so I was giving him a heavy dose of calcium. Now his rickets have really improved and the difference can be seen in his legs. Can his skin allergy and rickets be related? Or is it that he has some other deficiency like Iron or Vitamin? The doctors have prescribed anti-allergy medicines for him but they don’t seem to work. Please Help! |
| If your young dog is on an appropriate quality nutritional diet, he should not need alot of extra vitamin or mineral supplementation, which in fact may be harmful. This is especially true when dealing with young large breed
dogs...
For example, an inappropriate calcium/phosphorus balance can cause growth problems and diseases of the bone, therefore we do not recommend the use of heavy supplementation of calcium in young growing dogs. He should be on a diet balanced appropriately for his stage of life without other additives. As well, dogs generally do not need extra vitamin C supplements, or to my knowledge, commonly suffer from rickets. Your pet should be seen by a veterinary dermatoligist as soon as possibe to diagnose and treat his skin condition. A common baseline of testing should be done in a young animal with chronic skin problems, which includes a skin scraping for mites, a fungal culture for ringworm, and perhaps if both tests are negative, a skin biopsy which is a simple procedure and provides a definitive diagnosis. It is very possible since this is not a pruritic (itchy) condition that he is suffering from a bacterial infection that may respond well to appropriate antibiotics and topical therapy such as a medicated shampoo. Keep in mind that a bacterial skin problem may be a primary condition or secondary to some other underlying problem that will need to be diagnosed. Also, it is often necessary to continue therapy for an extended period of time with some skin infections, and if stopped too soon, the problem may not completely resolve or reoccur and be more stubborn to clear on the next attempt at treatment. |
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