"Vet 1 said the grey
circular spots on
his belly and body
are due to ageing,"
the lady disputed
this finding. She
would bring her dog
for check up only
when she's back home
from the U.S where
she was an
undergraduate.
.
I had said that such
grey spots are
present in some
white-skinned dogs
and are natural as
they are born with
them. As to them
caused by ageing, I
am not sure.
Sometimes the owner
did not notice the
grey patches when
the dog is a puppy.
These grey areas are
not inflamed when I
saw them."But the
grey circles keep
increasing in number
compared to last
year," she also
pointed to 2 grey
circles behind the
eyes and below the
ears. These were new
developments. How
and why do they
exist?
"Some are due to the
application of
creams for a long
time to treat skin
diseases," I said.
"The cream causes
hyperpigmentation or
black pigments to be
deposited under the
skin. Some are due
to continuous
scratching by the
dog as in the skin
below the ears. The
two ears are red and
some edges have
crusts. The redness
gives a clue that
the dog scratches
them to relieve his
itchiness.
"Skin diseases like
generalised ringworm
are expensive and
hard to cure," I
said. "The
increasing number of
grey spots could be
due to the
application of
shampoos or creams
to cure the skin
disease by your
family members when
you were overseas.
After some time, the
skin disease get
cured and the result
is the grey circles.
Another spot of
ringworm appears as
you can see a fresh
red bleeding
circular one on the
right beside the
inflamed armpit. So,
when you come home
once a year in
September, you see
more and more grey
circles in this old
dog!"
The explanation
seems credible to
her.
To show and tell, I
switched off the
room lights and
shone the Wood's
lamp onto the right
armpit. "Not every
ringworm-infested
hair will fluoresce
in green," I said.
"Around 70% will
do." Well, she saw
the shiny green
hairs scattered
around this right
itchy armpit.
In addition, I put
some hairs from the
bleeding circle
behind the right
armpit and showed
her the fungus in
the hair shaft,
under the
microscope. So, the
evidence was there.
I also scraped the
skin and crusts of
both ear edges till
they bleed. But no
skin mites were
seen. My explanation
was that the dog was
on FrontLine spot on
and the mites could
have died but not
eliminated.
"Normally 3 skin
scrapings or more
should be done." As
the dog's ears were
bleeding, the lady
wanted to wash her
hand stained by the
blood.
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Self treatment of
generalised ringworm in an
old dog for over 10 months.
Grey spots appear in
increasing numbers as
ringworm lesions heal. The
dog also had anal sacculitis
with thick brown fluid
expressed from the sacs |
|
 |
It takes a lot of
time to show and
tell. "Much of the
lack of recovery is
due to the owner not
following up one
month later with the
vet and not
de-contaminating the
environment or
checking the dog for
new infections," I
said. "They go to
the groomer monthly
as in your case but
will not consult the
vet. I can
understand as there
is the financial
considerations."
"The groomer
provides free
transport and so my
dog sees the groomer
monthly," she was
surprised that the
dog still had
copious volume of
grey anal sac
secretions which
were expressed by my
assistant. She
presumed the groomer
would do it.
"You can get a dog
transport man to
bring your dog to
the vet for the
one-month follow up
on generalised
ringworm," I
advised. "When the
dog's body is
infected widely, it
is a very difficult
disease to cure but
there are successes.
It is an expensive
disease to cure if
it is widespread."
Success in treatment
of generalised
ringworm elicits
referrals but the
vet needs to spend a
lot of time
communicating with
the owner and
delivering results
of cure. A good
clinical outcome
depends much on the
owner's compliance
actually, in
medicating and
shampooing the dog,
following up and in
decontaminating the
environment! The vet
has to follow up but
most of us don't
have the time to
keep following up!
So, the owner goes
to the groomer who
provides "free"
transport and
shampooing and ear
cleaning.
I emailed the
lady to get her dog
home:
|
Kong Yuen
Sing
<99pups gmail.com="">
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unable
to
contact
your US
phone
directly.
Sam can
go home
today
Friday.
You need
to apply
amitraz
wash and
give
medication
before
you go
back to
the US
to study
vet
medicine.
follow
up 1
month
later is
advised.
Dog
transport
man
available.
skin
scraping 2
sites of
left and
right ears
crustiness
- no mites
but
Frontline
had been
used.
microscopic
exam
ringworm +ve
UVL armpit
(right)
fluoresce +ve
Coming, flying
over
Sent from my Sony
Xperia™ smartphone
TOA
PAYOH VETS
I can’t imagine focusing long enough to research; much less write this kind of article. You’ve outdone yourself with this material. This is great content.
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