Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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check_ya_slater
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Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by check_ya_slater »

:diaper:

Hello!

I have a 2.5 year old English Bulldog with Spina Bifida. With that being said, she wears a diaper 24/7. I’ve dealt with rashes on her inner legs & rashes on her little nub. But now, she has a sore/rash right at the nook of her leg and thigh. I cleaned the area with Chlorhexidine pads and applied an antibiotic ointment. I’m wondering if anyone had advice on what they’ve used before or how to prevent this or at least stop it from getting worse

Thank you in advance!

Alinah & Ivy
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CarolC
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by CarolC »

Hi check_ya_slater!

I also have a dog who has something similar to spina bifida (a dermoid sinus in her lower back) and she dribbles 24/7 and has to wear a diaper, and we have dealt with some redness. I do not know the exact reason for your dog's redness but I will talk about what I have noticed with my dog. I do not know what kind of diaper you are using, whether it is a disposable, or a washable diaper that you put pads into. My dog wears a denim diaper cover with a Poise pad in it. She is only 8 lbs so I cut the Poise pad in half or thirds. The diaper is snug enough that it keeps the pad pressed against her body. The Poise pad has some kind of gel inside to lock in moisture and dry-weave cover on top so the part that touches her skin stays dryer. With this system, I can give her 2 diapers a day, so she gets one in the morning when she gets up, and then I change her in the afternoon.

She has got redness on her little girl part (nub) and in my case, I think it was because I did not change her in time. There are times when I am 2 hours late changing her, and being in a diaper with a wet pad is the problem. Her little vulva will get red on the inside as well as outside. So it's not just that I have to be sure to change her, but I need to do it on time and not 2 hours late, as we do not seem to have much of a margin for error timewise.

After she developed redness on her girl part a couple of times, I started putting some ointment on her pad. When I prepare her diaper, I lay the diaper cover flat, and press the Poise pad into it. Then I take a tube of triple antibiotic and squirt about 1/2" into the center of the pad where her girl part is going to be. Then I put the diaper on her. I was doing that for quite a while when somebody pointed out that triple antibiotic (Neosporin) includes bacitracin zinc, and zinc is toxic for dogs if they lick enough of it. After that I quit using it for a while, but the redness problem came back. So I continue to put a little dab of Neosporin on her pad with each change. I think that by the time I take her diaper off that she's worn for hours, it is mostly smeared onto the pad, and not on her, but if you worry about the zinc you could always just wipe her little bottom when you change her. You don't want to put too much Neosporin on the pad because I'm pretty sure it won't be as absorbent if the pad has an oily coating of ointment on the surface, you just want a little dab where it will do the most good. I know people talk about antibiotic resistance and not overusing antibiotics. I do not feel like I am overusing it, because her redness comes back when I don't use it, so I think it is doing some good.

Diaper_sm.jpg

I notice when my dog lies on her side, sometimes her urine will bypass the diaper and I will find a wet spot on the kitchen tile. This means instead of going directly into the pad, it is running across her skin, which could cause redness. Fortunately it does not happen all the time and she has been OK, but the more urine runs directly across the skin, the more likely it is to cause redness. My dog is missing one back leg, so there is a hole in one side of the diaper, and that is part of it. But also, I think when she lies in a certain position, the diaper shifts a little and there is an airgap between the pad and her body. This may be happening with your dog. If she lies in a certain position, it is possible the pad is not staying snug against her body and the urine is traveling down her leg into the areas that are getting red.

I do not know if this will help, but there is a brand of dog diapers that offers a "squatty body" size for bulldogs, so you have one that fits your dog better. Maybe it will keep the pad snug against her better. I have not used them, but the compnay has been in business for years, here is the link:

https://www.seasonals.com/products/squa ... dog-diaper

Other ideas I can think of are, do you need a better pad? The pads that come with dog diapers are often not as absorbent as you might need. The ultimate absorbency human pads may do a better job for her. The Poise I buy for my dog are the highest or second highest absorbency. I think many dog diaper pads are primarily for marking, or submissive urination, or dogs in heat, and not for dogs that are fully incontinent. You can tell how absorbent a pad is by getting a measuring cup and pouring water into the pad to see what it will hold. That way you can choose a really absorbent pad. And run your fingertips across the surface to see if it feels wet or dry on the surface when the pad has absorbed a lot.

One other thing is, my dog sleeps au naturel at night, no diaper. I was told it is better to let the skin get some air, and I believe that. This means you will be doing a lot more laundry, because if she is bare-bottom at night she will need new blankets every night. But this may help her red spots heal up. My dog is a good little groomer and it gives her a chance to bathe in her clean crate with her clean bedding, and she washes all her fur and her bottom, etc., which she cannot do during the day when she is wearing a diaper. I think she kind of likes the freedom of being diaper-free at night.

Oh, one more thing. I always wash my hands before I prepare my dog's diaper. This is because I am going to be pressing the pad into the diaper cover and I don't want to get germs on it. I do not think this matters on the leg area, but it might matter on the vulva area. I am not sure how important that is, because to be honest by the time she plays outside I will often see dust and dirt has sifted in the edges of the diaper onto the pad. (My dog is a unique case, she runs by bouncing on her bottom, so her bottom is always on the floor, grass, dirt, etc. Her diaper is a good fit, but dust can get inside sometimes.)

I don't know if any of this will help. I would love to hear more about your dog. Is her name Ivy? (love it!) What kind of diaper does she wear? :D

:gang:
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CarolC
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by CarolC »

P.S. I can't quite picture whether the current rash is underneath her diaper or exposed to the air. If it is under her diaper, the best thing I have found to protect and heal redness is old fashioned original Desitin baby ointment. The reason I ask where the redness is, is that Desitin (the original white ointment) contains zinc, and zinc is toxic if they lick enough of it. If you apply ointment under the diaper where she can't lick it then there is no problem. I had a male golden retriever who wore a belly band (male doggy diaper) 24/7 for 3 years and I tried various things including Vaseline, A&D ointment, and Desitin. The Desitin was w-a-y better than anything else I tried. You don't have to reapply it with every diaper change, it stays on the skin. You'll probably need to reapply it every other day or so. It does a great job of healing. At the time, I actually asked my vet whether it was OK to use on Merlin, and he recommended it. He said they use it and they hadn't seen any problem with zinc toxicity with it. The only time they usually see zinc poisoning in pets is if the dog ate some coins or something like that. Since my dog was covered 24/7, licking was no problem, but if I had been letting him sleep without a wrap at night, then I would have had to clean it completely off every night, so fortunately that wasn't the case. Hope this helps.
:angel:
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FYI
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by FYI »

check_ya_slater wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:53 pm she has a sore/rash right at the nook of her leg and thigh. I cleaned the area with Chlorhexidine pads and applied an antibiotic ointment.
Eileen in http://www.handicappedpets.com/Articles/murphy.htm
The Vet's office recommended using baby diapers for him, when I first brought him home. I found he needed a size large in order to come up far enough in the front. Little boy dogs are built a bit different from little boys! These worked quite well in the beginning until he began moving around more. Then he developed the dreaded "Decubitus Breakdown" in the creases of his legs. Part of that was from the hair growing out where it was shaved off for surgery.

Once the surface seems to be healed, the area beneath that skin will take up to three weeks further. I discovered the elastic in the diapers was contributing to the problem so I began looking for an alternate. Meanwhile, I used an antibiotic ointment to help heal (check with your vet on the best one to use) and added a bit of gauze for padding.
check_ya_slater
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by check_ya_slater »

Thank you guys so much for your help!!

I work at an animal hospital and have picked some more of the silver sulf. I’ve used it in the past and it works but I’m not sure about this location. It’s such a rough spot to work with but I’d do anything for her.

I’ve given her epsom soaks a couple times for the past week and am trying to let her “free butt” whenever possible. I’ve tried dermavet, which is just an antibiotic ointment, a wound and skin spray, and it seems to be slightly improved. She wears Huggies little movers and has worn them since she was about 9 months. She’s done really well up until now. I’ve never had this problem! I’m just beating myself up about it and I feel awful. But I’m not giving up on this yet!!

I rescued my sweet Ivy at 6 weeks from my work when a breeder wanted to euthanize her. She’s been my world ever since then and I couldn’t imagine life without her. It’s been a journey full of learning, laughing, crying, stinky diapers, surgeries and so much more. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m trying to remind myself that this is part of the journey, and it’s nothing we can’t over come.
If you guys have any more recommendations, I would appreciate it. I’ll try to attach some photos of her as well as what the rash looked like vs. now

Hugs & smooches,
Ivy & Alinah
check_ya_slater
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by check_ya_slater »

For some reason I can't attach the pictures directly. But here is a link with all the photos attached plus one of her adorable face.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing
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CarolC
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by CarolC »

That's frustrating about the photos. Sometimes the pictures are too large. A lot of the pics taken by smartphones are pretty high resolution. One option is to resize them with something like www.online-image-editor.com

Or if you know the url of your pic (where it is hosted on Google) it should be possible to display it by pasting the url of the individual photo into a post and then highlighting the url and clicking the icon above the posting screen that resembles a photograph. That will surround the url with image tags.

Code: Select all

[img] [/img]
I would love to see her(!) but when I clicked the link it gave me a Google log in screen. I logged into my Google account but it said I have to be granted access, so I clicked Request Access. I think when access is authorized then Google will send me an email. :)
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CarolC
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by CarolC »

I'm kind of waiting to reply until I can see the photos. Did you get my request on the Google access?

One thing I might suggest is, if the Huggies are irritating her on the crease of her leg, you might experiment with putting them on her backward with the tapes to the back. Sometimes diapers will fit better on pets if they are worn backward.

Again without seeing it, it is hard to know, but could the extra frill on the leg elastic be bothering her? I used preemie diapers on my bunny and I would trim off that extra fringe of paper that was ruffled around the leg holes.

You shouldn't beat yourself up. You had a good system that was working for a long time and there is no known reason why it suddenly stopped working. Maybe they changed something about the diapers. Maybe she grew slightly. Maybe her urine was stronger. Her leg elastic could get wet from urine, or possibly from sitting in wet grass. I don't blame you if you're driving yourself crazy trying to figure it out. I think your idea of keeping her au naturel to let the skin breath is a good idea.
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critters
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Re: Sores & Rash On Spina Bifida Dog

Post by critters »

One of my boys has a weird nasty chin, which probably started with zits. I've been soaking and scrubbing with chlorhex, and I've added Zymox cream to the regimen, just in case any of that might work for you.

:whale:
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