Red bumps, itchy skin, red, flaky nose wrinkle

Hello! I am hoping someone can give me some insight on some or all the health problems my pug is having. I feel like I have tried many things, but looking for some other ideas. We have had her to the vet several times and nothing seems to help long term.

Red bumps: She has red, pimple-like bumps on her stomach, arm pits and in between her anus and tail area. The vet said some are infection and the ones by her anus are anal gland related. We had her glands expressed and didn't seem to help. We have had her on several doses of antibiotics and it eventually comes back. The vet doesn't want to keep giving her antibiotics, so she has us using a hypo allergenic medicated shampoo. I have also switched to a hypo allergenic laundry detergent. None of these seem to cure the bumps, and redness. She has recently started liking and biting her ankles. We have used Benedryl, but this doesn't fix the issues, just gives her short term relief.

Nose wrinkle issues: She has issues with yeast infections in her nose wrinkle. We have used the Malaseb cleaner, but that wasn't strong enough. The vet had us use a stronger leave-on solution. We stopped using it because she hates it and it seems to hurt/burn her skin. The wrinkle area is red, swollen and now the skin seems to be flaking off.

Does anyone have thoughts on these issues? I would greatly appreciate any advice!

Poor puggy, have you looked into food allergies? There are members here that know way, way, more then I do on the subject. Hopefully they'll chime in here. My Anna can only eat Nutros Natural Choice, Lamb and Rice formula. If she gets into cat food, or someone gives her "bad" treats (ahem, my mothers husband) Then she'll break out into pustules and lose fur.

This thread might be a good place to start. http://www.pugauthority.com/t2911-dog-food-ingredient-definitions

Welcome to Pug Authority, there is a ton of good information and well educated members here.

Sounds like bad allergies. The first thing I would do is get her on a high quality, limited ingredient food such as Natural Balance duck and potato. Don't allow anything but that and the treats that go with it including bones, bully sticks, etc. It will take a few weeks to see a difference. If that doesn't help, switch to a different allergy food like a fish and sweet potato. You can give a 25 mg Benedryl every 8 hours, I have my pug on them always. Fish oils in the diet can help and there are allergy meds you can look into also.

How old is your pug? What does he/she weigh and how long have the issues been going on? There are a bunch of people here with pug and allergy experience who will be happy to help. Unfortunately if it is allergies there is really no cure, just treatments to make your pug more comfortable.

Wow, thanks for the quick responses! It gives me warm fuzzies to see people care so dearly for their special pups!
Story is 4 years old. She was the runt of the litter. We adopted her 2 years ago. She weighs 19 pounds. When we got her she was eating Beneful-ugh! We quickly switched her to Iams which wasn't filled with corn at the time, but we should probably get her on a better food.

Oh, and she's been having most of these issues about a year.

I would go with a 25 mg Benedryl every 8 hours, an "allergy" food and a bath in a hypoallergenic shampoo at least once per week to start. If that keeps her comfortable I'd give the new food a few weeks and see where you stand.

Welcome to the forum, it's great to have you join us.

Hello, welcome to Pug Authority.

What you describe sounds like classic food allergies.

There are some really, really good threads on here about dealing with allergies. Including an in-depth thread about elimination diets, which you may need to do if things don't get better.

I will second what has been said here about switching food.

Number one recommendation: get her off all grains. Look for a food that is grain free. You can try Wellness, Orijen, Acana, or Natural Balance (to name a few that are high quality). If you can switch off kibble all together, that is even better. Many, many of the pug owners here feed The Honest Kitchen (www.thehonestkitchen.com). The food is dehydrated raw. They have grain free formulas, and many of us have had really good success with them, including me. It may take a while to see a difference, especially as she will need to get all the toxins from the old food out of her system.

For her nose roll, try keeping it clean and dry. Some people use baby wipes. The malaseb wipes can help. I use a little betadine if the nose roll gets very bad. I'll also put some A&D ointment in there, let it sit for a bit, then wipe it out.

If it is in the budget, you may consider seeing a veterinary dermatologist. I know someone on here said she had good success with that.

Good luck and don't give up!

Yep it sounds like food allergies. Been through that with my Tilly. You've been given great advice so I won't say any more.

I will echo the suspicion that it is food allergies. I've seen so many dogs with the same symptoms that are miraculously cured when they switch to a better food.

If you can, try and go to a raw or dehydrated raw food. Stay away from chicken and go for the less popular protein sources such a duck, venison, rabbit etc. You can switch pretty rapidly if you add a tablespoon of raw pumpkin to each meal. (Pumpkin is good to add at every meal, ongoing.)

If you can't do raw, try canned and, at last resort, go with a limited ingredient dry. Dry has the least nutritional value of the varieties of food due to the amount of processing and additives.

I think you'll see a change in 6-8 weeks. Meanwhile, Benedryl is a good option to add to get the reaction slowed down so her immune system can fight the root cause.

Canine allergy central here. I'd echo what everyone else has said, except to add that I'd avoid not only chicken, but also beef. If you do go with a kibble, then go for a fish based or other different protein from chicken and beef. I'd also be adding fish oil to the food to help with immune boosting as well as the skin and hair issues.

And it can take several weeks on a new food for significant change to happen.

I'm a raw feeder, but realize not everyone wishes to go that way.

And just so you can do some comparison--not sure which Iam's you feed--these are the ingredients for the Iam's Premium Protection Adult food: I've highlighted the ingredients that are a concern to me:

Chicken By-Product Meal (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Potassium Chloride, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fructooligosaccharides, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Calcium Carbonate, Flax Meal, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Vitamin E Supplement, Dried Chicken Cartilage (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), DL-Methionine, Vitamins (Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Beta-Carotene, L-Carnitine, Marigold, Citric Acid, Rosemary Extract.

Chicken by product meal--that could be just about anything from the chicken. By-product usually means "not normally used as food". LOTS of grains. the second ingredient is corn as are ingredient 3 and 4. Flax meal, while it can be beneficial is a grain. Egg product can be an issue--I have two dogs with allergies to eggs. Brewer's yeast is an issue for me, frankly as I have dogs with yeast issues to begin with so don't want to add that to the mix. And salt is pretty high up in the list as ingredient number 12 or 13.

Chicken Flavour? What the heck is that? And what was used to make it 'chicken flavoured'? and lots of ingredients that end in -ride/ine and ate--that always concerns me.

Hi and welcome! You've come to the place to get absolutely the best advice on this! Just goes to show you can pay a lot of money for vet advice and it's not helpful at all, but come to a specialist Pug forum and you'll get the RIGHT advice for free! If you follow what everyone here has said I am sure Story will be well very quickly. Please let us know how you get on.

I hope you give us updates on how Story is doing. It would be great to find out its a simple food allergy thats easily fixed!

As others have already said..... get her on different food. My female pug has food allergies, and she gets red bumps and pustules all over her belly, armpits and legs if she gets certain foods. I would try a protein that isn't as familiar such as duck or fish. There are lots of foods that you can easily get such as Natural Balance (at Petco or many feed stores), Wellness which can be found at Petco and Petsmart, Blue Buffalo at Petsmart.

Plus, remember if you give treats, those could be causing a problem as well. Natural Balance has treats that are fish and sweet potato.

Hi Story and your mommy and daddy. Welcome to Pug Authority.
I am the one you met at the Pug-A-Dazzle and told you to come here. I just knew you would get loads of advice and suggestions. I hope in a few weeks you will have gotten rid of the red bumps etc.
I forogt that on the forum I am pugmom and not pug grandma. LOL All the local MN people know me as pug grandma.
Please look around on this forum. I am sure you will find loads of interesting things. Plus wonderful pictures of pugs and many, many truly dedicated pug loves and caretakers.

I do tend to be more of a "lurker" than poster.

Elaine

Thank you so much for all the advice! I feel so terrible I never thought of food allergies. I feel even worse however, that over the numerous vet visits-the vet never mentioned it could be food related!! Apparently there aren't many vets trained in food allergies...could that be directly related to the good old paycheck (wink, wink)?! I feel very confident after what I have read that this is food related. I look forward to my sweet little girl feeling better soon!
I decided to go with Orijen's grain free fish formula, Fromm's lamb with cranberry treats, and for something to chew on a Buffalo Paddywack.
I have been giving her Benadryl every 8 hours and her nose wrinkle is already improving!
I will send an update next week.

Thanks again, and thanks to Elaine from MN for referring me to this site!!

hpederson bergstedt wrote:Thank you so much for all the advice! I feel so terrible I never thought of food allergies. I feel even worse however, that over the numerous vet visits-the vet never mentioned it could be food related!! Apparently there aren't many vets trained in food allergies...could that be directly related to the good old paycheck (wink, wink)?! I feel very confident after what I have read that this is food related. I look forward to my sweet little girl feeling better soon!
I decided to go with Orijen's grain free fish formula, Fromm's lamb with cranberry treats, and for something to chew on a Buffalo Paddywack.
I have been giving her Benadryl every 8 hours and her nose wrinkle is already improving!
I will send an update next week.

Thanks again, and thanks to Elaine from MN for referring me to this site!!

We feed every one of our dogs a different food due to allergies. Sounds like you are on the right path to getting your puggie well. Welcome to the forum and I look forward to getting to know you!!

I could have written your post a few years ago and wasted 8 years and thousands of dollars on vets, a dermatologist, allergy tests, injection serum and medications before finding the very simple solution. Eliminate grains. My pug went from almost dead to living another 5 years! And it sounds like your puglet is exhibiting the signs of allergies at exactly the right age for it to be a food allergy. Your choice of new food is a good one and I suspect it will solve your problem. If not, we can work with you on an elimination diet to see what the intolerance is.

And BTW, most vets know squat about nutrition and even the allergy specialists are in denial. Could it be that it's because they don't know what they don't know - because their nutrition courses are taught/sponsored by the mainstream kibble manufacturers so also stock their products in the vet clinics? Grrrr.

hpederson bergstedt wrote:Thank you so much for all the advice! I feel so terrible I never thought of food allergies. I feel even worse however, that over the numerous vet visits-the vet never mentioned it could be food related!! Apparently there aren't many vets trained in food allergies...could that be directly related to the good old paycheck (wink, wink)?! I feel very confident after what I have read that this is food related. I look forward to my sweet little girl feeling better soon!
I decided to go with Orijen's grain free fish formula, Fromm's lamb with cranberry treats, and for something to chew on a Buffalo Paddywack.
I have been giving her Benadryl every 8 hours and her nose wrinkle is already improving!
I will send an update next week.

Thanks again, and thanks to Elaine from MN for referring me to this site!!

Oh, I'm so glad you think this might be it! I hope Story feels better and better.

You've gotten some great advice from some very knowledgeable people. Allergies were my first thought, too, and it sounds like you are well on your way to addressing that issue. Don't be afraid to give Benadryl until the allergies are better. Dogs tolerate/metabolize Benadryl much better than humans and can take Benadryl as long-term therapy if necessary.

Good luck!