Skin problems in dogs: anyone got experiences?

[BoyMeetsWorld]

hi Mumsnetters, we've found a potential dog...a boxer, amazing with children & really needs rehoming as it's family can't keep it & it's Oldish (7) so not many people want it...but it has a major skin issue. The current owners say it had it when they rehomed from a rescue centre & they just bath regularly with t tree. But they can't tell us what exactly it is. I've been googling like mad & would hazard a guess it's demodex mange - looks the same & fits that it came on after immune system down pre-rescue. But of course I'm not a vet & don't know for sure...what if it's sartoptic mange or some kind of allergy etc? It looks like very raw patches all over the tummy & inner legs also a bit on shoulders. No open sores & the hair is growing back a bit but v dry & raw looking though not particularly red. Not v scabby just flaky and the skin is like elephant skin. Does anyone have any experience with dogs ESP boxers with skin conditions? How did you treat them, how much did it cost & was it an ongoing issue or curable? Thanks for your advice

I'd suggest you taking the dog to your own vet for an examination and recommendation. Even if you decide not to proceed with the adoption, please share the findings with the current owner, and recommend they take it to a vet for the appropriate treatment.

I've got two rescue boxers !
The male one has dermatitis that flares up once or twice a year.
It starts with acne like marks on his muzzle then flares over his cheeks with a few patches on his back.
It cost £50+ each time we took him to the vet but that included, antibiotic injection, weeks supply of antibiotic tablets and malaseb shampoo.
We have to put the shampoo on the infected area neat, leave it for a few minutes then give him a good lathering bath. We bath both of them once a month with this shampoo.
Last time we went were also given fuciderm gel to put on any infected patch as soon as we see it flare up.
When he doesn't have a flare up his coat is lovely and shiny, when he gets a flare up he scratches till it bleeds and makes it worse.
Last time we went to the vets, the new vet we saw mentioned changing to a new food for sensitive skins.
I would definately take the dog to the vets as it must be really uncomfortable with a skin condition.

I've been thinking about this overnight - poor dog.
I'm not going off on a rant or trying to blame anyone here, but:
Why had the rescue centre that the current owner got the dog from not had the vet treat it and only rehome it when the condition had cleared/was under control?
Can the current owner not afford to take it to the vet? I don't think just bathing it in T tree is going to clear the skin condition up.
Are you basing wether you have the dog or not on wether you can afford to have it treated?
I think if the dog goes untreated the current owner could be prosecuted by the RSPCA.
Contact your local PDSA, who do free/discounted pet treatment for needy cases were the owner can't afford it.
If the current owner and yourself don't want the dog, please contact a rescue centre that specialises in boxer rescue, there are several all over the country.
I've told you our vets fees based on our dogs condition, the cost of any treatment/ ongoing treatment obviously depends on each individual case.

Let us know what happens.

Hi SPO104 thanks for your thoughts, nice to hear from a fellow Boxer fan! An update: we totally agree with you...we were feeling cross why the rescue (which is a 'proper' rescue) had discharged the dog in this state & why the owners didn't seem to be treating or able to say exactly what it was. No..the cost wasn't what we are basing our decision on - we are happy to take Woof on & treat as we are fortunate to be in a position to afford to but wanted to go into it with our eyes open of what exactly we were taking on. A big concern for me was whether it was sarcoptic mange - anything else I can cope with & I think this dog is well worth the effort but with a young child (4) I didn't want to bring something potentially contagious into our home. To shed a bit of background - they weren't entirely upfront with us & hadn't told us about his condition before we went to view, prob hoping we'd fall in love with him & look past it which we did. ANYWAY...today we did the sensible thing & contacted the rescue centre he originally came from. They were fantastic - knew the dog straight away but got out files, told us all about it's history & apparently a full range of scrapes etc were done whilst there but they were 100% confident what he's got is a bad allergy not mange etc. So they gave a diet recommendation & discharged. Apparently they did home checks for a while after rehoming & diet was being followed but has now obv gone by wayside - it involved eliminating & bringing things back slowly. So we'll prob have to do that but I'd want to get full vets advice on how to do this properly. Very reassuring re: skin condition but now poor dog just needs a settled forever home & to hopefully Suss what allergic to / proper antihistamines if necessary meanwhile...

HI...sorry to just jump in here BoyMeetsWorld.
I've read that you are confident that it is a food allergy.
Can I recommend that you switch to a grain free dry food if you can't/don't want to do a raw diet.
Wheat is the most likely trigger in allergies and is the main one for my allergic Staffy.

If you work out what the trigger/s is/are, then hopefully anti histamines won't be needed. Staffy has not needed to see a vet in almost a year, apart from the usual checks.

BoyMeetsWorld - thanks for coming back, its really good that you are prepared to take the dog and its ailments on!
Our vet thought our dogs dermatitis was triggered by too much protein as we were mixing a little flaked tuna over the Royal Canin Boxer food (we did this as its the only way the female will eat her food after DH gave her some salmon once! she loves fish!).
Royal Canin do a dry food called Dermacomfort for skin allergies but it is very expensive.
When we first took our boxers home and to the vets for a check up, the vet noticed the male had ingrowing eyelashes and needed an op. She argued the point with the pet insurance company and they paid out (even though the dogs had only been insured for a week!), but we still had to pay for full courses of injections, the eye op and for him to be castrated.
Its been well worth it though!
Good luck.