Fungus

by Danny Jo Seymore
(Heber Springs,Arkansas,U.S.A.)

I think my dog has a yeast fungus or some kind of fungus.He is constantly licking and chewing on his paws. Parts of his paws are yellowish and kinda hard.I feed him grain free Acana dog food. What can I put on his paws to cure or help this problem? Thank you in advance Dr. Per.

My Comment:

Hi Danny

My first thought is allergy. Most dogs having allergy is most affected on the paws, round the eyes, ears and the anal area.

So, if he is itching on his body or/and have some kind of ear irritation the allergy would be more likely.

Normally I tend to use some kind of ointment on the paws if no other signs of allergy is present. I tell the owners what to look after in the future, but initial an ointment containing some kind of steroid.

This will remove the skin irritation and we see if this is sufficient.

If the paws is more moist and the skin swollen, I often do a test for Demodex or/and Malassezia (yeast fungus) to see if there is any.

If I find Malassezia we have here in Sweden a shampoo to use (Malaseb) severall times a week for a period of time.

So what you could use is difficult. Perhaps you have some thing to get without prescription which could be anti fungal and/or antiseptic - try that.

But, if any tendency to skin irritation, itching or ear problems this might be a more systemic problem.

Fish oil is always useful to try or Douxo ampules (which rebuild the skin structures) is never wrong.

All the best to you Danny

Per Schonbeck