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Last week, I wrote an article for a paw-pal about his paw licking.  Today, I have something to add to it, but it is a little too detailed to be tacked on as an update.

“Hot spots” are acutely inflamed areas of skin irritation.  Ironically, something small like an allergic reaction to flea bites (flea allergy dermatitis) causes a dog to lick almost constantly in an attempt to “cool off” the area, which actually makes matters worse.

As a dog with both long hair AND a thick undercoat, the Pomeranian is especially susceptible to hot spots.

Hot spots, known medically as acute moist dermatitis, generally occur on long-haired dogs or short-haired ones with dense undercoats, like the Siberian Husky.  Hot spots usually occur along the side of the chest, over the hip, or the paws, all areas easily reached by a canine tongue.  They appear as circular lesions with moist, inflamed, raw and hairless characteristics.  They can become quite painful and expanding rapidly with constant attention from the dog.  One that originates as the size of a quarter can be eight inches in diameter within 6 hours.  A secondary staphylococcus infection is likely, breaking down the top layer of skin, causing pus to enter surrounding hair, matting it.

Hot spots are more common during the summer, since rising temperatures mean more time outside with more potential skin enemies for your pup.  If you find one of these “hot spots,” you should trim hair around your dog’s lesion.  This allows air to get to the inflamed tissue.  You should keep the area clean, using a water-based cleaner or Betadine, making sure you rinse away the cleaner after its application.

Mom uses a home remedy involving  Black Tea bags.  Apparently, black tea contains tannic acid, which helps to dry out the sores.  To use this remedy:

1. Soak a bag of Black Tea in hot water.
2. Remove the bag from the water, letting it cool to a temperature comfortable to the touch.
3. Place the tea bag directly on the hot spot for about 5 minutes.

You can repeat this application several times per day.  If you do not have any black tea handy, you can also dry out the sores with Witch Hazel.  Do not let your dog suffer with this.  If you do not see any improvement within 2 days, take him or her to the vet, where they may prescribe some oral corticosteroids and a topical antibiotic to tackle the hot spot.

A “cousin” of the hot spots, acral lick granulomas occur similarly to hot spots, but they typically appear on the “wrist” or “ankle” solely due to the incessant licking by the afflicted dog.  This occurs likely to a compulsive desire on the part of the dog to lick the area without any physical stimulus.

My brother, Tax, has been licking and scratching a spot all day, so I suspect that tea bag Mom just had is not for a gallon of sweet tea!

Tags: acral lick granulomas, acute moist dermatitis, allergy, black tea, circular lesion, corticosteroids, dense undercoat, flea allergy dermatitis, hairless, home remedy, hot spot, inflamed, long hair, moist, paw licking, short hair, skin irritation, staph infection, tannic acid, topical antibiotic, witch hazel

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 3:53 pm and is filed under BEHAVIOR, HEALTH. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.