Dog Skin Reactions: Cookie’s Mysterious Bumps

Dr. Nancy Kay wrote a great article, Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There, pointing out the fact that both doctors and veterinarians often feel obligated to prescribe something even though the situation does not call for it.

Why would this be a problem?

It reminds me of an episode of House MD, where a teenager went to a doctor with a mild cough. The doctor felt he ought to do something and so he prescribed cough medicine. A pharmacist, however, messed up and gave him gout medication instead. All hell broke loose and the kid almost died.

Of course, this was an extreme case for a TV show. Prescribing something by all means, though, still doesn’t come without a price. All medications come with side effects. With the over-use of antibiotics, we are literally begging for resistant strains.

Not every situation requires a prescription.

From an owner point of view, I fully agree with that. I am always quick to see a veterinarian but I’m also always slow to resort to drugs.

Cookie’s story

Last week, when giving Cookie her nightly belly rub, I noticed some kind of bumps on her belly and thighs.

I don’t like finding bumps of any kind.

I went to fetch a flashlight, which caused a lot of confusion among the dogs because it was something that didn’t belong to the routine.

Upon close examination, I saw those indeed were bumps. There were no heads on them. What caused them and what were they?

I decided to apply some betadine solution and monitor. 

At the veterinarian

The next day was Friday before a long weekend. Bumps were still there, unchanged. What were the odds, with our luck, these few innocent-looking bumps exploding into something nasty? In our case, pretty good.

I did not necessarily want to medicate but I wanted to make sure we’re not in for some unpleasant surprise. I called out vet, described it and he said that if we can make it, to bring Cookie in for a look-see. So that’s what we did.

He examined the bumps and concluded that Cookie has a bit of staph infection going on, probably from running through the bushes and brambles. (I was suspecting the swamp she likes to run through myself) He felt it should be self-limiting and the betadine treatment should be just fine.

I was happy that we had a better idea of what this was and I was happy that we didn’t need to medicate.

One of the things I love about our vet is that he doesn’t push a prescription when it is not in the best interest of the dog.

Better safe than sorry

On my part, I did get to do something.

I had it checked to make sure it is not anything sinister brewing and I got to treat it with betadine. Beyond that, it was a job of Cookie’s immune system. After all, that’s what the immune system is for and a little exercise is only good for it.

After four days, Cookie’s bumps cleared up completely.

Now it’s a rash

Then, the next day she spent at the farm. When I was checking the belly, I found that her belly, groin, and thighs were covered with large red patches.

These were no longer a few bumps, this I would call a rash.

My main question was whether this is a new reaction to something or the next stage from the bumps. This could hardly be from jumping through bushes and it t looked quite menacing. However, it didn’t seem to bother Cookie, just me.

Talking to the vet

Next morning I was calling the vet describing my findings.

His first thought was poison ivy.

Dogs typically don’t get reactions to Poison ivy because their fur protects them from the harmful chemicals contacting the skin. On the belly and groin, though, there isn’t much fur to speak of.

Another plant, which, according to our vet, is even more likely to cause contact dermatitis in dogs is Wandering Jew.

The main question of whether Cookie’s body can deal with this on its own or would need some further intervention. By the end of the day, though, the skin looked better, though some new bumps started showing up. The redness was going down.

When I looked up what Wandering Jew looks like, it seemed very familiar.

Both hubby and I could have sworn that this was the plant growing all around the friends’ house. Though it’s been there all along and Cookie didn’t have any skin reactions in the fall, even though all dogs love to explore through it looking for mice and things.

When we talked to the friend about what’s happened and examined their plant more closely, it turned out it is not a Wandering Jew.

However, we found out that this year they’re having an explosion of Poison ivy, suddenly growing everywhere.

It’s Poison Ivy

So there is likely our culprit.

The good news is, that now we likely know what’s going on. The bad news is, how the heck do we protect Cookie from it?

The best strategy would be to remove the offending plant. Well, it is not our property, it is large and the damn thing grows everywhere. So that is not likely to happen.

The second best strategy is to keep the dog out of it.

That’s not going to happen either, short of having Cookie on the leash or tied up the whole time. She spent enough time tied up, we’re not going to do it to her. Plus the best part about the trips to the farm is the freedom to run around, play and explore. How could we take that away from her?

Covering her body with something like a t-shirt would create a protective barrier.

I’m quite sure it wouldn’t stay on very long, plus she still needs to pee and poo and if you expose the belly enough for that, how much protection is left? Though the groin and thighs would stay protected. We’re looking into some doggy pants, but most of the same concerns remain.

The strategy

The best thing we can practically do at this time is to wash her belly after the day at the farm, to remove the irritant.

The last time she was at the farm it seemed to have worked. But maybe she just managed not to go through the poison ivy this time. So we’ll see.

Freedom or safety, that is often the question.

For now, we’re going with freedom because we are sure that’s what Cookie would choose. As long as the reactions aren’t too dramatic, or we can keep them in check by washing the belly, that’s what we’ll do. Hopefully, this will get us through until the move. And hopefully, we didn’t have an explosion of Poison ivy on Jasmine’s ranch too.

Did you run into a similar problem? How did you solve it?

Related articles:
Common Dog Misdiagnoses: Skin Issues

Further reading: