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Skin scabs

Published on: January 25, 2022 • By: Kcoppola · In Forum: Dogs
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Kcoppola
Participant
January 25, 2022 at 10:55pm
My dog has always had itchy skin but it seems like the scabs are worse. We give her supplements but those dont seem to work. Any suggestions? 20220124_11525120220124_115255
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
January 26, 2022 at 02:17am
Hello!  There are indeed dietary supplements which may help to bind the superficial skin cells together and help prevent infection or to keep the skin nice.  However, in a dog that is already itching, this would not be a recognised remedy.  The area stained brown in the picture does suggest that there may be concentrated nibbling or licking at this site and it is possible that bacterial or yeast infection is present.  The vet should be allowed to assess for this, to try to keep any such secondary infections in check.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
January 26, 2022 at 02:35am
However, the problem here is unlikely to be an infection.  That is not to say that infection isn't present or doesn't need treating if found, but rather that skin infection may be an effect, rather than a cause, of skin disease.  The underlying issue may range from allergy, to mites, to pain or irritation - some of these things are more easily treated than others and again, while some supplements may make a huge difference, they will seldom treat a problem by themselves. Itchy skin is not a one off - often it will recur in a patient.  Like arthritis or diabetes, skin disease is often a lifelong condition that needs to be attended to on a regular basis; the exception to this would be a flea or mite outbreak, which can then be prevented using antiparasitesides.   Furthermore it is almost impossible to tell what the cause is by looking and it may be that your vet would like to do more tests on the two lesions shown before making up their mind about them.  The lower lesion may turn out to have a different cause to the darker one, for example. In short, a vet or maybe even a skin specialist may want to assess your dog soon, in order to keep her more comfortable and to identify what they can do to help, depending on the cause.
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
January 26, 2022 at 02:38am
I cannot be sure of seeing scabs in this photo for example, which is why direct observation will help.
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