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Bumps on dog’s back

23K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Luvmiboxers@6 
#1 ·
Hand Gesture Grey Finger Fawn

Hair Head Hand Leg Human body
My 2 year old bulldog/rerrier mix developed these raised bump in his back over nigh… pictures taken are much more subdued than intial presentation. Bumps appeared raised and after some examination, noted to be at the base of the hair, diffusely over the body. When my other dog payed with the affected dog, some bumps appeared to have bled. Why i applied pressure to some other bumps i felt almost a popping sensation with occasional blood and/or clear fluid discharge. The bumps were diffisely spread out over the back and top of head, neck to the ears. Face, belly, mucosa/mouth were not involved. Given the distribution and acute appearance this is not folliculitis or infectious process. Dog did not appear to be in significant discomfort or itching. Only discomfort felt was when the bumps were popped, the discomfort was transient. Based on online search and presentation, this appears to be allergic reaction. Only significant change was use of new purine dog chow food over last 3-4 days. Treatment: this is a 65 Lb dog, treated with 3 mg/Kg Benadryl 2-3 times per day for 4-5 days. ( recommended is 1-4 mg/Kg). When converted from Kg to pounds, decision to treat with 3 pills of 25 mg each (75mg) twice per day (breakfast and dinner). By day 3-4 of treatment, dog bumps significantly improved. Bumps have crusted over and no longer oozing. No new bumps noted. Anticipate continued resolution of the bumps. Benadryl treatment (last dose) stopped on day 4 since onset of symptoms. Interim diet changed to what the dog previously tolerated, new food in question will be saved for the other dog who tolerated the diet well.
Feel free to share your experiences, questions. Please provide pictures so we can help each other. I have human health expertise, not a vet… but certain experiences can be common between both. Vets can be very expensive, certain things we can do ourselves at home, others are beyond our abilities. It’s important to know your dog and be able to tell when he/she is in distress. In my case the dog was not in significant cardiopulmonary or painful distress, which is why I was comfortable treating him on my own.
 
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
These bumps I have seen before, they are usually caused by an environmental allergy my dogs have gotten like this when we encountered moldy leaves, another cause can be the Lepto vaccine has the dog been vaccinated lately? foliculitis is another cause if a towel was used on the dog after bathing if you rub the hair the wrong way it can imbed the hair into the skin. All the allergy issues I have encountered the Vet told me if it was a food allergy Benadryl and other types of these meds would not help, so it’s more likely external. I get cytopint injections for my dogs allergies
 
Discussion starter · #6 · (Edited)
Hi there… very interesting, thanks for your responses. It’s very hard to gauge cause and effect vs coincidence. So he got the second dose of Lyme disease vaccine x 1 month ago, he got a bath x5 days prior. Is vaccine reaction a possibility, maybe… but x1 month since vaccine I’m reluctant to think that’s the case, although not ruling it out. Will post again if we get a reaction with a vaccine next year. Moldy leaves is an interesting thought, will keep an eye on that in the future, but fact that all this happened only on his back, I’m not sure if Im inclined to attribute the leaves to the reaction. I like the idea of the bath given it happens 4-5 days prior… however our washing technique has not changed, and a clean towel was used. We will certainly post again if this happens within a week if washing him. Also i
Like the idea of folliculitis because of the popping nature of the bumps at he base of the hair follicles, with clear liquid coming out… seems more likely than allergic hives. Lastly, since you guys think this is not food related, we will attempt to give him the food again and see if he has another similar reaction. As of today, it’s day 5 since onset of symptoms… the bumps have completely resolved after giving him Benadryl for 4 days 75 mg twice per day. On day 1, bumps decreased by half after giving him initial dose of Benadryl. Im not sure if the resolution would have been as fast without the Benadryl but he is back to his cheerful normal self. Fingers crossed this was a fluke event.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
My previous boxer would randomly occasionally get these bumps, and Benadryl helped them go away. It's a rash so the skin is tender. Don't pop or scratch them - that's just causing unnecessary discomfort for the dog.
Thanks for your thoughts. The popping reference was mostly to describe and document the presentation of the pathology… since we’ve never seen this before, it was important for us to understand what we’re dealing with. Interesting applying minimum pressure would allow for liquid to come out. As noted by another poster, this happened about 4 days after washing him… given the bumps were at the base of the hair, with serous and sometimes serosanguinous liquid coming out, I’m inclined to agree that this was likely folliculitis. Will keep and eye k. It and see if this happens
In the future as a result of trying him against the hair.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Before you gave the bath was he around sand? Reason I ask that, was what happened with another member on here. Day at the beach, towel dry, pushed sand into the follicles. Raised bumps all along the back.
nope… no sand, just a regular old stinky dog who needed a bath. It’s is possible when I dried him or when we washed him we went against the hair right as pores/follicles were open from warm water. Hard to say if that is truly the case as this has never happened before despite numerous protests baths and use of towels.
 
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