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Hi there,

 

Just wondered if anyone might be able to help with our dobermann? Although not a hunting dog as such, she spends a lot of time out and about in wood and shrubland. She also keeps getting urticarial reactions- the latest is her fifth and she has had 4 in the past two months. She is high energy with a keen prey drive and spends a lot of time on the chase for rabbits and small animals.

 

We believe it to be something she is coming into contact with but cannot actually work out what! The pattern is never the same but always affects her chest, neck flanks and just recently her legs and underside of "armpit" area at the front.

 

She spends 24hrs beside herself with the itching and discomfort. The areas then blister and scab over but she also loses an immense amount of fur. Altogether it takes about 2 weeks to resolve completely and return to some semblance of normal.

 

here are some pictures...

 

dec08165.jpg

 

dec08168.jpg

 

Grateful for any clues from others with shortcoated dogs who might know what is doing this.

 

TIA

Nell and itchy Maple

Edited by little nell
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Hi there,

 

Just wondered if anyone might be able to help with our dobermann? Although not a hunting dog as such, she spends a lot of time out and about in wood and shrubland. She also keeps getting urticarial reactions- the latest is her fifth and she has had 4 in the past two months. She is high energy with a keen prey drive and spends a lot of time on the chase for rabbits and small animals.

 

We believe it to be something she is coming into contact with but cannot actually work out what! The pattern is never the same but always affects her chest, neck flanks and just recently her legs and underside of "armpit" area at the front.

 

She spends 24hrs beside herself with the itching and discomfort. The areas then blister and scab over but she also loses an immense amount of fur. Altogether it takes about 2 weeks to resolve completely and return to some semblance of normal.

 

here are some pictures...

 

dec08165.jpg

 

dec08168.jpg

 

 

First thought was mayb e giant hogweed, do a google search, see if it looks familiar, regular hogweed can also have a similar effect. If it is giant hogweed tell the council and they should come along an remove it

 

Grateful for any clues from others with shortcoated dogs who might know what is doing this.

 

TIA

Nell and itchy Maple

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Thanks for that- will check when next out whether this plant is any of the areas. I cannot recall seeing it though and presume it will die back over Winter. :unsure: According to some of the articles standard hogweed can actually be eaten as a vegetable! Don't want to mix them up that's for sure. :icon_eek:

 

We have already done an exclusion diet now for one month, she is raw fed and has minimal medicine intervention unless really necessary. She is on antihistamine and herbal supplements as advised by a holistic vet. B)

 

I am sure it is a plant/tree contact that is doing it- has anyone had similar reactions from dogs that are forever leaping through brambles, bushes and undergrowth after bunnies?

 

Maple has been succesful in catching rabbits on three occasions now! One she insisted on making her meal of the evening there and then till I could get her in to remove it :whistling:

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Lovely Dobe, quality bitch!!

 

If she were mine, I would NOT walk her anywhere near grass etc.. for a good couple weeks, road walking ONLY, and only then when she is back to normal, if she doesnt react in that time then it probably is a contact allergy of some type. At the end of a couple weeks, I would LEAD exercise her and watch which plants etc.. she comes into contact with, make a note and see what happens, its an elimination game I would of thought and thats how I would do it. Best of luck.

Dawn.

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Difiniatly looks like somekind of allergy or my guess would be plant stings as your dog does have short fur & the areas infected seem to be in balder areas

 

my sisters staffie gets exactly the same problem and we allways just thought it was some type of allergy or weed stings as her dog is a shot haired dog like yours, she does not seem to get it over the winter months so it does lead you to think its diffiniatly someype of plant causing the damage.

 

She usually just puts loads of sudocream on the infected areas and leaves, i think the only other alternative is try not going to the same area where this seems to happen to your dog or do loads of road walking.

 

Good luck with the dog, A lovely specimen if i do say so :)

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Thanks for the compliments. She is a real character too- her nickname is "the minx".

 

We have tried to limit where she goes but she is so high energy it is hard to limit her to just road walking. Tiring out her brain takes some doing! We have quite a big garden but only reacts when she goes into areas my husband takes her. As she comes back with thorns and stuff stuck in her I can only presume she is going deep into bramble and thicket undergrowth whilst running in the woods.

 

This is what she looks like when she is on top form

 

IMG_0985.jpg

 

Maple25Oct08.jpg

 

 

 

This was her first ever reaction back in Apr 08...

 

MapleMar08003.jpg

 

The normal course for the rash seems to be

Intensely itchy for two to three days. Hot and angry looking. Then they seem to blister, and scab over. A few of the spots do get pus filled but nothing drastic. When the scab comes off she is bald in that spot for a good few weeks till it comes back.

 

 

Thanks for all the help- it really is a puzzle trying to work out what it might be :blink:

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Guest foxyjo.

She's an absolute beauty!!

 

I'll probably get shot down in flames for this, :icon_redface: but something for you to think about...

It looks and sounds exactly like a reaction to contact with urine that I've seen once before. I'm not suggesting that your girl is dirty, but maybe is brushing past a place where something is marking it's territory perhaps?

I knew exactly what had happened when I was dealing with the rash I talk of, and I scrubbed it with Hibiscrub a couple of times a day and gave piriton tablets, (anti hystemine). But it even left bald patches as you describe for a good couple of weeks...it probably isn't this, but I thought I would mention it as it sounds identical.

Good luck with your girl anyway, she really is lovely.

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Thanks for the thoughts. :) Never considered it could be from a wee reaction?! Only things I can think of round here are foxes, rabbit, and other dogs. It is open shrubland on the edge of the plains and there are a lot of thistles and sticky plants that leave little ticklike stickon seeds.

 

The lumps are now scabbing over and then falling off. Some remain red and hard under the skin but no heat from them or pus to be seen. I guess some will take longer to go like they always do.

 

Only extra thing I noticed this time is that she has some deep long scratches in the areas where the lumps appeared worst. She does go hurtling through undergrowth and we have a lot of sloe bushes, gorse and brambles round here...not sure if that might be triggering a reaction :unsure:

 

She has some company though- so walks are less in the woods than usual. We are fostering a sick dobe at the moment as well, she has lost about 15kg weight so are trying to get it back on as quick as is healthy. So far no problems with them getting on, our dobe has been making sure the newbie knows it is her turf without any aggression- which is a relief with two intact bitches, and one in season (ill one)!

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Thanks for the compliments, but no we cannot take the credit. We chose her breeder after tons of research into health, temperament etc. I believe she has one Amazon dog on her dams line as a great grandparent but the rest is Khaneve and there is a lot of Euro blood (Royal Bell) on her sire's side.

I know several of her litter sisters/brothers are doing well on the show circuit but we got her as a pet in the first instance and are loving every minute of being owned by her.

 

Her skin is almost back to normal now. The homeopathy seems to be working to stop the worst of the after effects of the rash... so no hairloss this time and it seems to have returned to normal a lot quicker too. She has the odd hard lump still in places, but no where near as many.

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