Hello everyone, This is my first post on this website as I am having issues with my four month old frenchie. Her muzzle and lower lip has bumps on it which progress in severity throughout the day. In the morning they are bumps, and by the afternoon (after the irritation of food and play) they end up to look scabbed. If she plays hard enough, they do bleed. Of course I have contacted my vet, but they are unable to see us until the end of the month. In the meantime, she's seen pictures and told us to try Reactine because she believes it is an allergy. The bumps appeared a few days after I began walking her outside (we live in Canada it's only just started warming up!). It's been 3 days of the meds and they haven't helped. I've done some research and I believe it to be acne. She doesn't seem to be in any pain or distress, nor does she bother it by scratching, but nonetheless I do not want it to get infected or leave scars. I am trying my best to keep the area clean and dry. I welcome any ideas or advice. I hope one day in the future I can do the same for another frenchie parent! They're a very unique breed and not everyone understands
My best guess would be allergies regardless if she is showing obvious symptoms. Hopefully you can get her to a vet though ASAP and get a diagnosis and get it treated. Best of luck to your pup. Let us know what you discover please.
Allergies are a pain. The reaction can be to anything from food ingredients to grass to household cleaning products. You can have allergy testing which is the quick way of sussing out what is causing the problem, or you can do it by process of elimination.
Could be an allergy, but I once had a Cavalier puppy that looked like that. My vet diagnosed it as pyoderma - I think that is a staphylococcal infection in the hair shafts. You can't be far from your appointment now - did you email this photo to your vet?
Thank you all for your replies. As an update, I tried my vet's allergy med route for 5 days, and it didn't seem to improve whatsoever. A few nights ago it was, in my opinion, very severe, so I emailed her again with some photos. She agreed it was quite nasty. She prescribed me some antibiotics which I picked up and have been giving her for 3 days now. Do I see an improvement? Maybe. But she is a puppy and it's hard to get her to stop irritating it with toys. She's also a messy eater. So my thought is that any sores are going to take longer to heal. I am seeing her on the 31st, in person finally. She said if it doesn't clear up by then we will take it from there. I'd really like for her to take a sample and send it to the lab. Depending on how she handles this issue going forward, I think it may be time to find a new vet yet again. Waiting nearly 3 weeks for an appointment for my baby is unacceptable. And this trial and error stuff with medication also doesn't sit well with me. If it doesn't clear up and lab results come back normal, I'm chalking it up to acne or allergies. I've made the decision to slowly switch her to a raw diet which I am hoping will improve her skin condition. I will post an update next week as to what the vet has to say. thanks everyone
Are you cleaning her face after each meal and playtime? Use a warm wet washcloth to just lightly remove any foreign sustance. Don't rub at the postules. That might help reduce the inflamation and let the antibiotics do the trick. I agree that waiting 3 weeks for an appointment is extreme.
yes i always clean her face after every meal with a wet washcloth, even prior to her skin issue. With her flat face it isn't really an option not to!
I only use water on a paper towel. I don't even use pre-moistened pet wipes because I had a previous dog that after years of use around the bum area developed very dry skin, which I attribute to those wipes.
So we had the vet check up on the 31st and I'd like to update those who are interested and anyone who may have issues similar in the future. to be honest, the check up was a big nothing burger. The vet said, that after comparing the photos i had previously sent, and her current state, the bumps now look dry and smaller in diameter. I told her that she's seeing her at a time of day when they are not at their worst (5pm -- by night time they usually look a little worse). She could not tell me if it was the antibiotics or just time that seemed to help. She did not see the need to do any further testing - and i did not push her. Perhaps my mistake. She said she chalks it up to either allergies or acne. I inquired if i should proceed with allergy testing, and she claimed that such testing only provides for dust, mites, or pollen. She said that if the test comes back as having an allergy for either of these, my options are either to remove such things from her environment (next to impossible) or give her weekly injections specially formulated to her allergies and genetics. The injections would help ease allergic reactions/symptoms. She said that even if i would like to proceed in that route, in her experience it isn't usually effective. Personally, i do not like the idea of subjecting my dog to such frequent injections and chemicals/toxins. in the end, we agreed that i should give her some time to heal and monitor her skin. She said skin can take a couple months to heal, so as long as it isn't getting worse, don't panic. And to be fair, since that one photo of her rash being very inflamed and reddish pink, i have not seen it again to that severity. in the meantime, i am switching her to a raw diet (something i did not tell the bet because unfortunately they frown upon it). My plan is to get her nutrition tested in a couple months to ensure she's getting all her vitamins met. From what i read and hear, switching to raw tends to clear up many health issues from a whole-body perspective. If you have any questions or comments they are welcome thank you to everyone for their input. This forum was more help than her hundreds of followers on instagram
Thanks for up-dating. So many don't. I'm surprised your vet has said that they can only test for environmental allergies, but it sounds like you are already taking a proactive approach by switching to raw. Let us know how you get on x
As Chris said, thank you for the update, Zelda. Regarding a raw diet, I have been a raw feeder since mid 2011 so if you have any queries please do not hesitate to ask and I will do my best to advise you. The following link is a good basis for a raw diet - it was what guided me and I have tweaked it according to what is available where I live. https://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?p=2108670#post2108670
