I'm not talking about the fun places to explore this Halloween. I'm actually referring to the dreaded hot spots that our tiniest fur baby gets. Poor Josie has terrible skin allergies, that cause her to lick and chew all the time. Which in turn makes her skin sore. So how do we treat it?
Halloween Hot Spots
Gluten, insect bites, and dry skin lead our sweet girl to chew and chew. She then flares up with hot spots. We took gluten out of her diet, and she wears Seresto collars at all times. However, the collar doesn't prevent flea or other insect bites, it only keeps them from living on her. So her skin still itches. Then she chews and scratches until a hot spot erupts. It breaks our hearts when she has them so we have had to find other ways to help heal her skin.
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| Look at my Tootsie Roll! She doesn't deserve itchy skin! (By the way, this was Liam's very first Halloween costume. I did a little cutting and sewing and made Josie her first Halloween costume from it.) |
Medicated Baths
The first thing we did was get her medicated shampoo. It has anti bacterial and anti fungal meds in it. When she has a big hot spot or a few, we have to bathe her every two days for a couple of weeks. While it helps, it wasn't enough. You see, you wash her with it, and leave it on for a few moments. But that alone didn't seem to do enough. Her fur was dry as well as her skin on the patches that were healing. She needed conditioner. But do they make such a thing for dogs?
Yes. Yes They Do!
GNC Pets actually makes a medicated conditioner for fur babies. Like the shampoo we use, it's anti fungal and anti bacterial. After her shampoo is rinsed off, I rub this cream rinse into her fur and skin. I rub and massage her for five minutes, then rinse her off. You can feel the difference in her fur after the first use! Her skin? Well he healed spots aren't dry and flaky. It's just new, soft skin. And her ht spots are healing faster as well. I was really impressed with how well it worked. Even Liam commented on how "nice she feels!"
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| Josie refused to sit for another picture. But Bayleigh loves the camera :) |
Smells So Nice!
Oh, and it's lavender scented too. This was huge for us. Liam would complain after Josie's medicine baths that "she stinks like medicine." It's true, she did. The shampoo smells awful. However, the GNC conditioner smells fantastic. So not only does it help her hot spots, and dry skin, but it smells amazing too. Josie loves getting her "pretty massage," with her GNC Pets conditioner. So if you have a fur baby with hot spots, then head to Chewy.com and grab some.
