hot spots on my dogs from lawn?

My dogs keep getting hot spots and it is from our lawn... any solutions to lawn care and this problem?

I'm not sure what you mean by "hot spots"

hot spots are bacteria sores on the skin of the dogs and in our case it is from the grass..but i don't know what to do about it..i am not sure what i can treat the lawn with..looking for some help

...And your vet says it the cause is the lawn?  Perhaps you should follow up with what your vet is thinking (ask about fertilizers, insects, fungus).

One of my dog has had her share of hot spots, and my wife (and our vet) has said that it is most directly related to incessant licking (where the bacteria comes from).  Now that licking has come from a few sources:  bug bite, something she ate that's delicious going out (some gets on her tail), injury from another dog.

It would be helpful to find the root cause, and unless your dog's allergic to grass then there's some more investigation needing to be done.

-Jeremy

Thank you Jeremy,
Yes, i am quit stumped about the hot spots on our dogs.. couldn't get them from licking as they are either on the back or on the side of the cheek? I don't know what my vet is thinking..maybe from wet grass? or maybe there is bacteria in the grass... we do have golphers that are making some lovely holes in the yard.. isn't that fun!
if anyone has any ideas.. i would love to hear
Thank you,
Julie

Our dog hot spots (only on one dog!) came from fleas which were indeed in the lawn. We treated all our animals for fleas (had taken too long a winter break from doing so) which left only squirrels and rabbits as sources in the yard and dosed the dog with benadryl (dunno if it stopped the itch or just made her too sleepy to scratch) for a month or two and then all has been better, even a year later when we once again waited until the first flea spotted to resume flea treatment. A good freeze (rare for us) kills off fleas in the lawn. But in our AL zone 8a climate vet didn't suggest anything else other than flea -> itch -> licking -> sores.

they likely have an allergy and in there itching and damaging the skin end up with an infection.  have you tried benadryl after treating the infection? after eliminating obvious culprits like fleas and ticks.........

what do you feed? it could just as likely be a food allergy and have nothing to do with your lawn. eliminate wheat first. then corn. barley and oatmeal and rice are somewhat less likely dog food componants to rev up allergic reactions and happen to also be the ingredients used in high quality dog foods. 

fyi. your vets gets kickbacksand perks for selling whatever dogfood is in his office jsut like human docs and meds. its not there because its a miracle food its there because  it makes money. 

Leah Sattler wrote:
fyi. your vets gets kickbacksand perks for selling whatever dogfood is in his office jsut like human docs and meds. its not there because its a miracle food its there because it makes money.

ehhhh...no.  No kickbacks.  Just markup, like any other retailer.  And it's there because it's prescription food, needed to combat things like bladder stones and certain food allergies because pet food makers don't formulate these specialty blends.  No, you don't have to get food from your vet, but if you need something special you'll need to make them yourself then (Rice and duck is pretty easy for your allergic dog...).

it might not be a 'kickback' in the traditional sense of the word with big goverment jobs but to me the medical feild has an obligation to the public and if they recieve money to lie, be it from simple profit or from a complicated set of circumstances where some companies and docs stand to profit from a mutually beneficial 'partnership' then it is unethical. kick back for me is a term to apply to unethical, betrayels of public trust monetarily or otherwise.  my point is they smooooge the vets and although its not some big government operation involving huge bids and monies they are essentially being paid to say that this special food is a medicine, and its not, and that betrays the public imo which when involving medicine even for pets is especially disgusting..... my opinion only of course.

I compared the special 'urinary stones' diet for my cat that was outragiously priced at my vets (and he insisted I needed) to iams and another reg. store bought one "for urinary health". according to my research the iams was far and away better and the other (can't remember the brand) was jsut as good.  the one at the vet was primarily corn if I remember correctly, the special 'urinary health diet' just meant the ph had been adjusted as well as some minerals. I remember thinking  ooooh special medicine.

after two stone incidents then switching to iams he has never had any problems.

an old dog of mine had nasty allergies/ahotspots. I got a product from gardens alive called 'bits' which was really just a top dress nutritional supplement....garlic..yeast...etc...fixed her right up.

Leah Sattler wrote:
it might not be a 'kickback' in the traditional sense of the word with big goverment jobs but to me the medical feild has an obligation to the public and if they recieve money to lie, be it from simple profit or from a complicated set of circumstances where some companies and docs stand to profit from a mutually beneficial 'partnership' then it is unethical. kick back for me is a term to apply to unethical, betrayels of public trust monetarily or otherwise.  my point is they smooooge the vets and although its not some big government operation involving huge bids and monies they are essentially being paid to say that this special food is a medicine, and its not, and that betrays the public imo which when involving medicine even for pets is especially disgusting..... my opinion only of course.

I compared the special 'urinary stones' diet for my cat that was outragiously priced at my vets (and he insisted I needed) to iams and another reg. store bought one "for urinary health". according to my research the iams was far and away better and the other (can't remember the brand) was jsut as good.  the one at the vet was primarily corn if I remember correctly, the special 'urinary health diet' just meant the ph had been adjusted as well as some minerals. I remember thinking  ooooh special medicine.

after two stone incidents then switching to iams he has never had any problems.

an old dog of mine had nasty allergies/ahotspots. I got a product from gardens alive called 'bits' which was really just a top dress nutritional supplement....garlic..yeast...etc...fixed her right up.

Good for you:  You have found a lower cost alternative to what someone else has formulated and is charging the "assembly fee" for.  That's kind of the name of the game here.  Sure, we can buy fertilizer, or we can by soybean meal, feather meal, get stall cleanings, etc. for MUCH cheaper.  Is Ringer's, or cock-a-doodle-doo included in your elaborate kickback scheme?  And I'm glad to hear that putting your cats on a urinary tract health diet has prevented further problems.  Sounds like it worked!

Bottom line:  There will always be a cheaper alternative to a product that someone did some work formulating/inventing/combining, and sometimes that works.  Such is the free economy.  My wife is big on giving her clients choices...And I've seen lots of clients go off on their own with the cheaper alternative where it worked, and lots where they had to come back and have the Science Diet prescription version of "the same food" and have that work.

And guess what:  Most pets can't live on the prescription foods indefinitely.  They're there to fix a problem [quicker than over the counter remedies], then the owner is to maintain health by choosing good food choices like you saw at the pet food store (or however they feed their pets).

Use your vet or don't use your vet, that's your choice.  Don't like your vet, find another, they're EVERYWHERE (we live in a small town in Central IL and have two clinics, plus every neighboring town has one), you can find one that fits your style, believe me!  But let's not go vet bashing here, or at least not in a thread where a person who's established that his wife's a vet is going to go read it!    I'm sorry your experience has been such that you don't trust your vet.  If that's the case, your probably shouldn't.  But chalk it up to the PERSON, not the PROFESSION!

Ease up on the conspiracy theories there, don't make me file you among the crazies!

oh I'm definitly crazy  this site says it well (my point about the kickbacks not that I'm crazy ).... its not as mcuh about costs, that is the frosting its about unethical practices and the health of the animals

http://www.mousabilities.com/nutrition/mcgowan2.html

"Could a family Physician get away with "prescribing" strict Corn Chip diets to trusting patients due to Frito-Lay funding his education and paying him kickbacks in his practice?  Veterinarians take the same Oath as a Physician, and are compensated to be entrusted with the health and well-being of our pets, are they not?  If a vet really needs to sell "diets" (as profits may account for well over 20 percent of income), should they not, at least, be forced to affiliate with HEALTHY ones  -- after having completed legitimate nutritional studies, research, and training, so as to avoid such a blatant and costly conflict of interest? "

I get on a real ramage when I feel that people in positions of authority and trust use others. don't even get me started on religious leaders............

<eh, nevermind, deleted>  Just note your sources, research what you're doing and why, and find someone you trust.

-Jeremy

Realizing that this thread has turned into more of a "critter care" item; I've been reading it and debating whether or not to throw my 2 cents in. Well, here they are.

A vet suggested that I feed my constipation prone siamese cat a prescription diet. This cat is incredibly finicky. I didn't want to spend $$ on a food that he wouldn't even eat. So I went to a store that carries many, many diets for cats. Everything from the cheapest cat food on up to the most expensive Prescriptions Diets for specific health problems. I was there for hours, reading & comparing labels.

I was so shocked to see how often ground corn, corn gluten meal, etc. were listed among the top 5 ingredients...even on the most expensive, ailment specific, prescription diets! CATS DON'T EAT CORN IN THE WILD! I have never heard of cats raiding cornfields! I don't understand why there is corn in cat food. I guess it's to make it cheaper, and that's acceptable to me, if it's a cheap cat food. Why it's an ingredient in a prescription diet sure beats me!

After doing my comparison shopping, I decided that feeding my cat corn wasn't going to help him with constipation, and it sure wasn't worth the money. I switched him over to a canned food diet & we add cooked sweet potato or pumpkin to it for additional fiber. He is doing much better. I feed my oldest cat a Senior diet that has no corn...period! It's $10.00 for a 6 lb. bag & it's main ingredient is chicken. She seems to like it just fine.

Agreed - look at the diet.  Fundamental to all aspects of health - including alergy triggered hotspots.  Go to www.dogfoodanalysis.com to begin education process.  Also, Orijen has a nice white paper on canine physiology, etc.  Scott

jenn wrote:
dosed the dog with benadryl (dunno if it stopped the itch or just made her too sleepy to scratch)

Good to know dogs do OK on that! 

It's wonderful stuff, and it probably helped both as an itch-reliever and as a sedative.  It's also good against nausea, better even than its cousin Dramamine although slightly stronger in its sedative effects.  Of course, I never buy the name brand...

Gwen Lynn wrote:A vet suggested that I feed my constipation prone siamese cat a prescription diet...I switched him over to a canned food diet & we add cooked sweet potato or pumpkin to it for additional fiber.

A good friend of mine goes with canned pumpkin, which the cat seems to like more than normal food.