15 replies to this topic

[Anniko]

First of, this dog belongs to a relative who lives in rural Romania. We are visitng them from Texas, and had no idea the dog was like this, so do not blame me for this. Itś not a border collie, but the vet here doesn`t even deal with dogs (just livestock) so I`m hoping the forum can help give ideas for diagnosis/treatement. If it counts for anything, it IS a very smart dog.

So, problems:
Bleeding and raw ears with discharge. Can´t heal because the dog keeps scratching them.
Discharge in eyes, looks light greenish or white
Fur loss from back, no fur on neck
Thick leathery skin on neck without fur
Constant yellow diahrea
Cut on back that wont heal
Possibly has fleas, I didn`t see any but its always scratching itself

Already tried:
Neosporin or other antibiotic creams on ears and cut on back
Thicker, padded collar. Just now realized it says ˝not for tie out.˝ Not sure if I can get another one here that is for tethered dogs (everything else we brought from the U.S.)
Antibiotic cream for human eyes
Change in diet (I brought over a box of Rikki`s premade raw). They usually feed the dog a mix of milk, ground corn, and cooked chicken bones. Possibly the worst diet imaginable for a dog.
Treats with omega3 fish oil
flea collar (that I removed after only a day because I´m afraid it will irritate the dogs skin more)
Flea meds that you put onto the dogs neck from a little tube
Spraying the dogs area with a flea/parasite killer
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So, ideas as to what is causing this and how to help?

[Sue R]

My first thought would be mange (sarcoptic in particular, or demodex).

Poor dog.

[juliepoudrier]

I agree with Sue. Is there any way you can get your hands on some ivermectin and treat this dog topically? My second choice would be allergies; the limited ingredient diet she's on would make it easy to eliminate parts, but if they aren't persistent in trying to figure it out, then it's probably not worth trying.

Do the owners want to try and help the dog? Are they able?

J.

[Sue R]

I agree with Sue. Is there any way you can get your hands on some ivermectin and treat this dog topically? My second choice would be allergies; the limited ingredient diet she's on would make it easy to eliminate parts, but if they aren't persistent in trying to figure it out, then it's probably not worth trying.

Do the owners want to try and help the dog? Are they able?

J.

Ivermectin might be something readily available from the large animal vet.

Whether or not the owners are able and wanting to help is a big issue. This might require assistance for a period of time to eliminate the problem and prevent/care for recurring issues.

Best wishes!

[Anniko]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Whether the owners are willing or not, I'm living here for the next three weeks and I or my mother can pay for whatever she needs (if only we can find it here). Considering that the owner is my grandmother, she'll probably go along with it.

I'll try to find ivermectin...maybe in a nearby town. A neighbor (also relative) says they may have something for mange, so I'll see if that works. For how long and how often should I treat the dog? I'm sure the mange stuff has instructions on it, but in case it doesn't some guidelines would be helpful.

Whatever she has, it doesn't seem to be spreading. The hair loss on her neck might be partially from being tied out so long without a good collar.

If it's food allergy, it should go away now that she's eating the premade raw I brought over.

Good news: The dog acts happy and runs like heck even though it's nine years old. Tried to teach it to come, and instead it learned that if it ran away and back while we were walking in the forest it would get food. So it spent the rest of the time running up and down the trail until i ran out of treats.

[Sue R]

I'm not a vet but ivermectin should probably be administered at least twice, either orally or topically, depending on what's available. The side benefit is that it is also a wormer and might help this dog in that way.

You might try a Google search to find the dosage and administration. Again, perhaps one of the local large animal vets has it available in one form or another.

[terrecar]

With that diet and some of those symptoms, I'd also consider zinc deficiency. I'm not a vet and could be totally off base, but that is the first thing I thought of (after mange and flea bite dermatitis). I'm glad you've improved her diet and glad she has you there. Could ear tips be from flies/fly bite dermatitis?

ETA: Wouldn't hurt to try Lincoln Biotech ZinPro dog biscuits or something similar to supplement zinc in addition to treating with ivermectin as advised by others

[Sue R]

Those are some great ideas! With that limited (and pretty awful) diet, nutritional deficiencies would not be surprising.

I met a pair of Anatolians - one was fine and the other, a littermate brother, had horribly nasty ear tips. The gnats or flies would bite his ears, he would scratch, they'd be bloody therefore attracting more insects, and it was a vicious cycle. Perhaps some fly-repelling ointment might be helpful (here in the US, Swat is one that is used around horses' eyes to repel flies - and it might be usable on small wounds).

Good luck!

[Anniko]

Update:

For all the problems this dog has, it seems like her tail never stops wagging. Everytime I take her for a walk the tail just keeps going and going.

So, I wasn`t able to find someone with ivermectin...and it doesnt help that eveybody here speaks Romanian or Hungarian (which I speak but cant read well) but I did bathe her with the other mange stuff a relative gave me. For all I know it could have ivermectin but just with a different name. I can`t see any visible change in her skin...Maybe the hair on her back is growing back some. Her ears arent getting much better, no matter what I try putting on them she just scratches them open as soon as they start healing.

Maybe her eartips were like that from flies as somebody said because I did see flies on them. I`m still looking for some kind of fly repelling oitnemnt, but for now I put some liquid stuf on it that hardens to protect cuts. (Forgot what it`s called because I`m practically forgetting how to speak English from being in Romania so long). It`ll probably keep the flies off as long as she doesn`t scratch it open.

Next I`m searching for a pesticide to kill something that translates into ˝chicken lice˝ (don`t know english name) because apperently that`s also a problem here.

[Anniko]

Another Update...in case anyone's curious what happened to the dog.

It was the flies that were biting her ears, and it's gotten better after I found some fly-repelling ointment.

My grandmother's not about to take the dog for walks, but she's agreed to keep putting the ointment on her ears and feeding her canned dog food.

[WildFlower]

Sounds like there has been some improvement for the dog then!

[bcnewe2]

Made me tear up to just look at the poor dear,
I agree with all the mange ideas and throw in secondary infection for the rest. Fly bites that are infected on the ears.

I'm so gald you are there helping her. Sure hope you get her a bit better before you trip ends

[Sue R]

Good to hear this!

[TrulyReady]

The eye discharge is probably also fly related. If they are around her ears I'm sure they are around her eyes as well. Is the hair loss localized to just her neck? Is she complusivly itching? I would't think Mange would be so perfectly localized, because her back, legs, hear etc seem to have more normal hair. Maybe allergy related?

[waffles]

Since your grandmother can't walk her once you leave, is there a way you could fence off an area for the dog so it can move around better without being tethered?

You are amazing for helping this dog!

[Anniko]

Sadly, I just left Romania and am back home now. (Good to see my own healthy pup though

Yes, the hair loss is localized- her neck is completely hairless and her back has a near-bald spot. She does itch (scratching her ears open for ex), but not continuously. The skin over her whole body is really thick and rough, I don't know if it's like that because of something or just genetics. I think the lack of fur on her neck is from being tethered all her life and pulling against chains (obviously replaced by a collar now). I don't know about her back...it never went away but it didn't get worse either. I put the fly stuff on her back just for good measure but her back wasn't raw or bitten, just hairless.

There is actually a very large fenced yard, but the dog is an escape artist (it can open the metal gates, remove all sorts of objects, jump 5 foot fences, dig). They are afraid it will go rooting up other people's fields. The dog is very good about always coming home and I've never seen her dig for entertainment, so honestly they could just let her go every night, but they are completely unwilling to consider it.
I got her a long 60ft tether so as long as they don't shorten it, it should be okay.

The eye discharge appears every morning and then presumably gets rubbed away during the day, but since flies wouldn't bite during the night, I don't think that's it. I'll ask my grandmother to put a bit of the fly ointment right under her eyes and have her check for the discharge to see if it worked.

Thanks for the suggestions!