Poor Stitch again.... PICTURES ADDED

Stitch apparently has a yeast infection in his ears, and before we found out there was an issue he scratched behind his ears raw, he is in a surgery collar now :(

Aww, poor little guy. Otto hated having to wear that collar when he had his eye ulcer. I had to bribe him with treats to put his head through the collar.Luckily, he would do pretty much anything for roast chicken!

Hope Stitch's ear problem clears up very quickly.

Ear infections bite large, I know. Penny has had her share. Sending good thoughts that Stitch is out of the Collar of Shame soon. Poor baby!

Hrmmmm anyone with experience with hotspots knowing how much it effects them?

I've had a lot of hotspots to deal with a few years ago when we found Snifter had food allergies.

They never seemed to bother him all that much and I never needed to use a cone.

We did often have to use oral antibiotics as well as topical creams to get rid of them though, as they tended to be quite deep with him.

Poor Stitch! Those yeast infections can be buggers to get rid of, so be scrupulous about treatment. Hope they clear up quickly.

Stitch's hotspot. I have attached two pictures one to show Stitch's living arrangement so he doesn't scratch himself to the point of bleeding out. and the second is a picture of the area so I can get confirmation that it looks like a hotspot.

Poor little man. One thing I have had luck with when Phoebe had these mysterious sores on her feet is a product called vetericyn.http://vetericyn.com It is a topical spray and I know Susie has had luck with it on Jack's skin issues. I would give it a shot.

Poor Stitch. I feel sorry for him.

Yes, that's a hotspot alright. Exactly like the ones Snifter had.

I see the area has been shaved, which is important. What medication does he have for it?

They had him on Silverdene/roticone? But the hot spot was getting worst, the vet suggested Neo Predef, and the reviews I have seen for it apparently people swear by this stuff, anyone used it before?

Yes, I love the Neo Predef. It does work great! I keep a bottle on hand for flare ups!

Not used Neo Predef and had to Google.

My only concern would be how effective a powder would be given that the hot spot has largely scabbed over. However those who have used it can surely comment.

We use Fuciderm Gel which I would think can penetrate the crusty scab.

Def a hot spot.

Shaving it down is good. Neopredef is good stuff too. You would think the powder would not work well, but it really does. And, it contains an ingredient that numbs the area a little bit, so that is helpful too. I have used the Neo on many foster pugs that had hot spots. I like to rub it in a little bit.

Another vote for the powder - keeping the area really dry will help to defeat the fungus. Quite often moisture trapped in the coat is the reason for the fungus getting out of hand in the first place.

So an antifungal/antibiotic powder or astringent lotion will usually give faster results on a hot spot than a lotion, gel or ointment due to their drying action making an uncomfotable environment for the fungi.

Once you get the yeast infection treated and healed, diet changes can help prevent future yeast infections.

First and foremost, look into eliminating potato (including sweet potato) as an ingredient in his dog food. They are a huge culprit in causing yeast infections because the starch converts to sugar which turns into yeast. Our three were constantly getting yeast infections in their ears.

About 90% of grain-free kibbe is heavy in potato to compensate for the lack of grain. They need it as a binder. There is some grain-free kibble that uses peas as a binder instead of potato/sweet potato.

We weren't able to find a grain-free kibble we like that doesn't use potato so we settled on a single-grain single protein kibble that works well, and we haven't had an ear infection in a long time.

Once you get the yeast infection treated and healed, diet changes can help prevent future yeast infections.

First and foremost, look into eliminating potato (including sweet potato) as an ingredient in his dog food. They are a huge culprit in causing yeast infections because the starch converts to sugar which turns into yeast. Our three were constantly getting yeast infections in their ears.

About 90% of grain-free kibbe is heavy in potato to compensate for the lack of grain. They need it as a binder. There is some grain-free kibble that uses peas as a binder instead of potato/sweet potato.

We weren't able to find a grain-free kibble we like that doesn't use potato so we settled on a single-grain single protein kibble that works well, and we haven't had an ear infection in a long time.

Kendie, what are you feeding?

Stitch is recovering well from his first hotspot and is out of his donut collar with no scratching the area. This little spell made us realize how poor our vets customer service was, we have made a switch of vet's.
We had gotten a Wellness plan with the prior vet for lilo and stitch, which covered the usual stuff like visits, blood work, heart worm checks. But what we found out was in order for the vet visit to be free, we had to drop our pugs off there, and the vet would see them when they had a chance, we were not allowed to accompany our pug to the vet, or we were charged for the visit.... This is a bit confusing to me, because I was under the impression that when you purchased a wellness plan for 34 dollars a month per pug that you were getting a premium service.... not sure how vets can fully diagnose a dog without the owner telling them what is going on? Not to mention that the wellness plan had no coverage of emergency issues, only a 10 percent discount.
Not to mention that there prices were terrible, they charged me 40 dollars for neo-pedref powder, after some research the vet near our house that has good reviews only sells it for 20 dollars? and its only 17 dollars online? I can't seem to understand how anyone with a pug could afford the kind of pricing they have.
So needless to say I dropped the wellness plan and the vet, and moved to an animal hospital called Southern Oaks, we have been in there twice, and have received first class, polite service, even had the staff behind the counter coming out to play with lilo and stitch while we were waiting for their Rabies vaccinations to be done.
We are researching pet insurance for lilo and stitch, and the new vet has a credit line for animal expenses, so with the card, and insurance it would make it much more affordable in case of a serious emergency.

Do you all think I was wrong in how I handled our old vet?

Stitch Chan wrote:
Do you all think I was wrong in how I handled our old vet?

Absolutely not! We are the only person able to advocate for our pets. We must have trust and respect going both ways with a vet in order for it work. If you have to question their actions, then there is no trust.

Glad to hear Stitch has survived his hot spot and no more donut collar.

Don't think you were wrong, at all. I would have done exactly the same thing!

Glad Stitch is feeling better!

Renee wrote:

Stitch Chan wrote:
Do you all think I was wrong in how I handled our old vet?

Absolutely not! We are the only person able to advocate for our pets. We must have trust and respect going both ways with a vet in order for it work. If you have to question their actions, then there is no trust.

Glad to hear Stitch has survived his hot spot and no more donut collar.

Amen! I fired the vet group that Penny had been seeing since she came home with me for lousy service and not listening to me. Our pugs can't talk; we are their voices. Poo on a dogtor that won't listen. .

And hugs to Stitch

GingerSnap wrote:Kendie, what are you feeding?

Sorry, Ginger, I'm not on PA as much as I used to be. We feed California Natural, usually Lamb and Rice, but will switch up the protein once a year or so for a few months. That's for Bruno and Chester anyway. Since Leo's kidney stone emergency earlier this year, he's on a strict U/D diet.

Pugsaunt wrote:

Renee wrote:

Stitch Chan wrote:
Do you all think I was wrong in how I handled our old vet?

Absolutely not! We are the only person able to advocate for our pets. We must have trust and respect going both ways with a vet in order for it work. If you have to question their actions, then there is no trust.

Glad to hear Stitch has survived his hot spot and no more donut collar.

Amen! I fired the vet group that Penny had been seeing since she came home with me for lousy service and not listening to me. Our pugs can't talk; we are their voices. Poo on a dogtor that won't listen. .

And hugs to Stitch

Adding my agreement. You did exactly the right thing. Always trust your instincts, like you did with your kids before they learned to talk back to you.