Folliculitis

[Snowshoe]

Poor little Mr. Oban, now he has Folliculitis. What's your experience with it? I've googled and not found information on the part that perplexes me, which is that only his guard hairs are falling out. He hardly has any left, just a bit on the end of his tail. Because he still has his undercoat he doesn't look too bad and he feels nice and soft. But it's a pretty strange coat for a Lab.

Other than the hair loss he's on the mend from the outbreak of pustules on his groin, tummy area. Hair is coming back in that area. He had pustules down his back too but not as badly there. His dandruff is quite bad but not as much as a few weeks ago.

We had another holistic Vet appt. on Thursday and his weight is now up to 72.3 pounds and that's a good weight for him. There is very little hard muscle on him though and with muscle he can look the same but weigh more. But at this weight his ribs don't show simply because he inhaled.

Poor little boy but he feels good and had a play with a friend the other day and is back to his old self in spirit.

[charliebbarkin]

I am really sorry Oban is having such a rough go of it. Poor Oban and you!

Would you be able to do a prey model raw diet? I think it would help.

Also try looking into adding powdered alfalfa. I swear it rid Charlie of his chin acne and dandruff. We haven't used coconut oil since Februaryish and no dandruff still.

Let me know what you think

[Snowshoe]

Thanks. Yes, we are working towards a raw diet. We had a bit of regression on the diet, minimal really, but when I tapered off the digestive enzymes I started seeing some undigested food. Just the vegetables but I'm cooking them and still saw some strands of sweet potato. I'm not just looking at poop, I'm poking it apart to see what's in there. I consider this a minor setback, he wouldn't be gaining weight if he was really bad but we are going very slowly. I only try one new thing at a time and only in two days so I can be sure to check the poop for it. He is back on the digestive enzymes.

The Vet gave me some options for wiping him down. We are using 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water and it really helps. But she said another to try is oatmeal all mushed up wet in a nylon panty hose. Or 50/50 witch hazel/strong black tea. My sister had styes on he eyes when she was a little girl and holding a cooled, used tea bag to the eye was the accepted remedy back then. What a surprise to hear tea suggested all these years later. I just did the tea thing, seems to help the itch.

[Kathy W]

Has Oban been swimming at all or in creek / waterway ? Folliculitis is usually caused by bacteria or fungal infection . Article below is from Mayo clinic ... do not see why it would not be the same for an animal ......

" Certain types of folliculitis are known as hot tub rash, razor bumps and barber's itch. "

Folliculitis Definition - Diseases and Conditions - Mayo Clinic


Glad to read Oban 's weight is up and acting "his old self "

edit to add ... oatmeal soap less shampoo dried Max's skin out ( bottle from vet )

[POPTOP]

Poor Oban! One thing after another.

No experience. Wanted to send along good thoughts and healing prayers.

[bett]

vangie had a horrid case on her nose.vet had no clue,she had biopsies,slides and finally antibiotics for ten days.no doubt in my mind that eli grabbed her and bacteria got in.when i brought her to the vet, a dopey woman actually backed up and said "get her away from me", truthfully, she's lucky i didn't bash her in the mouth. i think a picture was posted so do a search.she was pretty scary looking.

[Snowshoe]

We will never know for sure what caused it. Oban could be in water every day but since this I have kept him out of even his favourite puddles, let alone the pond and creek. Coming just after his inflammatory bowel disease episode it could be he was susceptible in his weakened condition. It might also be related to his allergies which are surging since he is not on any meds right now.

Vangie. I knew some doggy here had it but could not remember who. On her nose, hmmm, not really anything but all short hairs there so you can't relate to the part about only losing guard hairs I guess? She only had it on her nose?

[Tilly]

Sorry to hear about the folliculitis, better news about the wright gain and his spirit is back - hoping he continues to improve. Sending good thoughts.

[bett]

We will never know for sure what caused it. Oban could be in water every day but since this I have kept him out of even his favourite puddles, let alone the pond and creek. Coming just after his inflammatory bowel disease episode it could be he was susceptible in his weakened condition. It might also be related to his allergies which are surging since he is not on any meds right now.

Vangie. I knew some doggy here had it but could not remember who. On her nose, hmmm, not really anything but all short hairs there so you can't relate to the part about only losing guard hairs I guess? She only had it on her nose?

only her nose but what started out as one bloody bump became a distorted bunch of bloody, oozing bumps. her actual nose was distorted and i sent a picture, as the vet's office was closed and he called and said "no food, bring her in, gotta biopsy" and that was after being on some skin antibiotic for a few days. he was baffled. i am convinced that eli the shark who bites the living daylights out of her did it . biopsy, skin scrapings and folliculitis.
my son once had it from being in a hot tub-all around the waist where his suit was. one dr thought spider bites and as soon as the dermatologist saw it he said "were you in a hot tub?" he called it "hot tub folliculitis" from chemicals not being done right, and the waist band rubbing.

vangie lost all the hair, had a horrid scar across the bridge of her nose, which was so swollen and deformed. took weeks to almost go away. if you look carefully, you can see some scar but really, i never thought it would look this good.
and she wasn't a happy little girl either. and vangie has the high eosinophil count tho the last two blood tests were normal with me switching around novel proteins every month and .5 pred every 5 days. so she's pretty normal.

[Scoutpout]

poor little guy, so good to hear his digestive system getting the nutrients back in him so he can gain weight. That follicullitis sounds nasty. Are the wiping down concoctions to help with that or to help with his allergies? I expect that its all tied together, poor fellow was probably soooo open to any and all infections with his gut being totally out of it. Did the holistic vet say to expect some improvement with the folliculitis as his overall health improves and his immune system gets stronger? I hope you can get him through his worst allergy season without anything going totally haywire. Not that I want it, but praying for an early cold winter for him!