Mr. Blue has been having some weird skin problems over the last couple of weeks. It first started one evening when I was petting his chest/belly, and noticed blood on my hand. I washed and put some antibiotic cream on it, figuring he'd just scraped himself on something. Then about a week ago, it happened again, but in a different spot. Last night, we noticed a tiny red ring, white in the center, on his belly. This morning it was a bloody scab, so it was off to the vets for us. I was really worried it was skin cancer or something. The vet doesn't know what it is, but she said skin cancer doesn't present like that. She also doesn't think it's an allergic reaction to something, because it's so limited. She would expect a wider area to be affected. The recommendation she gave was, first, to bring him in immediately if we notice any bumps forming on his belly, or the minute we see another red ring. In the meantime, she wants us to add 500 mg. Vitamin C to his routine, and said that was supposed to be good for skin problems. Vit. E was also recommended, but he gets that already in his fatty acid capsule. She did say one possibility is an autoimmune disorder of some kind. She said if they ever get to see a bump, they'll biopsy it. What kind of autoimmune disorder could it be, do you think? I'm afraid I was so relieved to hear that she didn't suspect skin cancer that I didn't ask that
I'm wondering now why this vet didn't take stronger action, like a culture or an antibiotic. Maybe she's hoping, as am I, that the Vitamins and antibacterial treatment will take care of the problem for him. She approved of his food (he's now eating "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover"). I really do think their new vet hospital should be called "Mr. Blue's Skin Problems"! They're happy that I bring him in when I see something suspicious; I of course couldn't imagine not doing that! He sure doesn't mind getting a Vit. C tablet wrapped in cheese! Speaking of, I don't ever remember hearing that Vit. C was good for skin problems. I always thought it was just Vit. E. She said he should have 200 mg. of that, but his fatty acid supplement is in IU's, not mgs, so I'm going to do a search for a conversion of these. I know that's not a vitamin I want to give too much of, so I definitely want to be careful!
