# 4 Month Old Pup German Shepherd Rash



## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope all is well. Before reading this I must warn you... Please be aware that this is my first time fully owning a dog. He picked me to be his master/owner, which I know can bring much joy to ones life but I worry so much about him as I want the best for my little guy. It's as if I'm a new parent and every experience is completely new to me and I'm not sure what to do. So please bare with me. Here goes...

I am in need of some help... My 4 month old puppy has some type of rash on his belly (Near his family jewels) and right where his front and hind legs meet his body (armpits?) 
He has these little pink/red dots/bumps around these so called "hot spots" 
When he begins to scratch himself he goes to town to the point he starts whining. I try to keep him occupied with something else so he leaves it alone but its tough watching him like a hawk.

I've taken him to the vet and I was informed he might be allergic to Chicken so change it to Lamb? I thought it was fleas at first but I never seen fleas do this much damage. He recently got his first treatment for fleas and will get another in February.
What could it be and how am I able to help him out? Change his diet? Is it too hot or too cold in the house? We have hardwood and tile all over the house, no carpet just a rug here and there but we steam clean everything with hot water, no chemicals. Everything that happens to him I feel is life threatening so please help me!
I snapped a few photos of the rash if anyone is interested. 



















History if needed:

I've owned the dog since 3pm December 18th 2010. So its been 3 weeks and those three weeks have been like a roller coaster. On the third day of bringing him home he didn't eat much nor did he want to drink water, he threw up outside twice then once overnight. I immediately thought it was ParvoVirus, took him to the vet he got some medication but he wanted to see his stool to see if he had worms. He didn't go bathroom for a few days while on the meds, was eating boiled rice and boiled chicken breast during that time then finally after praying so hard for his health he pooped found roundworms! Found something that looked like an elastic band that he was chewing on, I immediately grab it and bring that to the vet along with his stool that morning He got his first deworming pills and got his second a few days ago. I was upset at the breeder as she told me he had everything done up to date but I quickly didn't care about that I just wanted my dog to live!

He also had, what I thought was some type of ear infection as I understand its common among German Shepherds. His right ear was half way up the first few days I brought him home but then went right down until I brought him to the vet a few days ago to get his second deworming pills. He has a little bit of fur inside his ear that got clogged up so the vet gave me some ear drops and it should go away... hopefully. The vet looked into his ear the first time I noticed it but said there is no ear infection. I was informed by him to clean his ears with gauze so no dirt falls down and causes an ear infection which I have been doing gently since. 

The breeder fed the pups some Costco puppy food, which I believe is equivalent to McDonalds, no offense to anyone who uses that, I just want top notch for my dog. The vet mentioned, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canine, Iams (in that order) are all good. Which one is best out of all? Or should I be cooking him food? I don't like the idea of trial and error with my puppy as I don't want to hurt his stomach by giving him different types of food then another rash breaks out or something worse! But I guess process of elimination is the only way?

That's pretty much everything for now. I don't want to bother you all by giving you his life story minute by minute, although I am able to provide that as I catalogue every little thing he does for reference (Yes, I know, I'm crazy and paranoid) 
My parents had German Shepherds when they were raising my older sisters and brother back in Poland but they had a very large property so their dogs pretty much ran wild and they never really got sick. From what I was told it was different with dogs back then it seemed they were more healthier for some reason. 

If anyone needs more information or has some suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks
Cheers
Mike


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

Hi! I don't know what the bumps are from. If they are from fleas then it sounds like you are taking care of that. As for the foods the vet recommended...I have to be honest and say that all of them are NOT good foods. I would look into feeding your dog Orijen, Wellness, Canidae or even Blue Buffalo. I'm sure someone will post a link to the foods so you can compare them. I can't remember the link off the top of my head...but if you also search here on the forums for foods to feed your dog, I'm sure you will get a lot of information.  And there are a lot of people on here that do the RAW diet as well.

For the bumps/rash, I would get some Vetericyn and spray it on the areas that are causing him discomfort. The stuff is amazing. Its safe enough for us to use as well...which I have.  And its safe enough to use in the eyes and ears. I always have a bottle on hand not only for myself, but for our dogs and our horses. 

My dog is allergic to chicken products so I had switched her to Blue Buffalo Basics Salmon and Potato formula at around 10 months old. All the problems she was having went away within the first couple of days. She very seldom scratches and her coat is shiny and healthy. 

I hope you can find something that works for your puppy! Good luck!


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## lizzyjo (Jan 6, 2011)

I have one thing to say... What a crappy breeder. The puppies were wormie and fed them trashy food....what a mess


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

Pattycakes said:


> Hi! I don't know what the bumps are from. If they are from fleas then it sounds like you are taking care of that. As for the foods the vet recommended...I have to be honest and say that all of them are NOT good foods. I would look into feeding your dog Orijen, Wellness, Canidae or even Blue Buffalo. I'm sure someone will post a link to the foods so you can compare them. I can't remember the link off the top of my head...but if you also search here on the forums for foods to feed your dog, I'm sure you will get a lot of information.  And there are a lot of people on here that do the RAW diet as well.
> 
> For the bumps/rash, I would get some Vetericyn and spray it on the areas that are causing him discomfort. The stuff is amazing. Its safe enough for us to use as well...which I have.  And its safe enough to use in the eyes and ears. I always have a bottle on hand not only for myself, but for our dogs and our horses.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your suggestions. I have never heard of those brands but then again I am fairly new to the dog world other then the basics. Perhaps it's an American brand only? I will look into this though along with the spray. Thanks again! 



lizzyjo said:


> I have one thing to say... What a crappy breeder. The puppies were wormie and fed them trashy food....what a mess


Everything seemed fine when I met the puppy and his parents but after this experience I completely agree. I feel that I saved his life. He pooped out so many worms when he got his first deworming pills. I'll never look at spaghetti the same way again. haha. 
I feel that I should contact this so called breeder and inform her but the receptionist at the vet's office said don't bother it won't do any good. 
I would atleast like to contact Canadian Kennel Club and inform them of the situation so they can forward the message to others who have purchased a pup from the breeder. If it even is a breeder. After all I know it could have been some stray dog that she found? I dunno, I don't really care as of right now, I love my dog and I want the best for him. I want him to life a fruitful life, to grow up healthy and strong!


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

If you live in Canada, I believe you can get Orijen there as well as Blue Buffalo brands and maybe even Wellness.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

It could be a staph infection. Do any of the bumps have little whiteheads?


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

Some notes from your thread..


Costco's food is most certainly not equal to mcdonalds. Look up the ingredients - it's actually a pretty decent food that many here frequently recommend for a good quality reasonably priced food. It is not like wal-mart brand food. Kirkland is pretty decent, and they even have a grain free formula. the brand you listed (science diet, eukanuba, iams, etc) are all crap foods full of corn and other grain. Do some reading on the nutrition forum here, there are TONS of threads about great foods.

The CKC doesn't give a darn if your puppy has worms. Thankfully you had a fecal run and dewormed the pup, but the CKC certainly doesn't care, and they most definitely won't be contacting other puppy buyers to inform them to deworm their dogs.


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## melindajane (Dec 10, 2002)

This is a great site to compare dog food: Dog Food Reviews | Dog Food Ratings.


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## DTS (Oct 19, 2010)

jasmine had bumps like that around 5-7 months old. sometimes the would have puss at the end of them. they would come and go. the bumps were in the same spots as you described. we took her to the vet, where he gave her 2 shots, medication pills, and a medicated shampoo. the shampoo has helped tremedously. vet said she could be having a reaction to the shampoo we were using. we feed diamond naturals. no soy, corn, or wheat in it. after all of that and the shampoo, they are gone


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Costco's Kirkland brand is decent dog food. I'm a little surprised, though, that the breeder was feeding the puppy formula, since it's not especially designed for large breed puppies. Our breeder fed Costco's adult formula to her pups, but we opted for something different.


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## Shadow's mum (Mar 13, 2010)

My niece's GSD keeps coming up with the same rash your pup has. The vet's here in Australia that she has used, at first said it was a reaction to a type of grass that Kujo must have come in contact with. (sorry can't remember what grass) They tried various different lotions and potions to get rid of it and each product worked for a little while, then the rash would come back. The latest thinking is it's flea's. My niece didn't think Kujo had any fleas and she had been treating him with something (maybe sentinel) every month. However the vet ran a comb threw Kujo's fur and found some flea droppings. If the dog is allergic to fleas it only takes one flea to cause a reaction. The vet had my niece buy Frontline and apply that (Kujo's rash is still there just not as bad), when the pack runs out she will be trying the same flea topical we use for our GSD Shadow it's called "advocate". We have never found one flea or dropping on Shadow.
As to the food, as stated I live in Australia, so we don't have most of the foods mentioned here, we do have those that your vet mentioned.
Even though most here would say that Royal canin isn't a good food this is the brand of dry dog food we mix in with Shadow's food, she doesn't get much of it though. Shadow was getting mostly raw fed with about a cup of Royal Canin mixed in during each feed. Now we are boiling that same raw food first before mixing it, we did this because she'd had a intestinal blockage and I wanted to eliminate as much excess fat as possible. My nieces GSD (the one with the rash) also gets Royal Canin, but this is his main source of food, he has had all sorts of problems, from regular diarrhea to the on going rash to other medical issues. Personally I don't think this food is working for him, but my niece can't/won't be told. If our dog Shadow was having the same issues Kujo was having I would be trying another dry food. Royal Canin is working for our dog so far though, in very small amounts.
If I were you, I would be either feeding raw or cooked food mixed with just a little of what he is used to. You need to do the change over very slowly though. I would get him on something like advocate topical for fleas, worms,mites etc.
Please remember I am no german shepherd expert, I'm just going by what works for our 15month GSD Shadow. Good luck with it all. What works well for one may not work at all for another.


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

Update:

So after a few weeks of changing his food to lamb, along with the use of Vetericyn the rash was apparently healing but his skin colour got much darker, almost purple like and he was still scratching and biting around his area along with his front legs around his armpits. 

I showed the vet Vetericyn and said he had never seen such expensive water but mentioned that the "rash" was healing which I have a hard time of believing but he prescribed some Panalog ointment and it is healing up nicely and back to is pink like skin colour. He also got 5 shots that day.

Today about an hour our after I took him for a walk I noticed some strange behavior. 
I was eating some late lunch and he was under the dinner table experiencing some seizure like symptoms. Now it wasn't a seizure I know that but thats the best way I could explain it. 

He was lying down but something was kind of bugging him around his lower belly as fit he wanted to scratch or bite it but couldn't as he didn't know how to approach it? He didn't reach around with his head just kind of jumped/dragged himself in a circle on the hardwood floor while lying down. And no, he wasn't trying to pick himself up. He then got into a position as if he wanted to poop but his tail wasn't up. Circled around a little bit in one spot while in his pooping position then laid back down. 

I had my phone ready and prepared to call the vet or emergency as I thought he might have got bit by a tick or something (Don't know ticks live around my neighborhood or not)

I then noticed his penis was erect (Head was out of his sheath and halfway down the penis shaft there were two fairly large lumps and I knew those were not his testicles. I immediately thought he got bitten by something and was swollen, hence the odd behavior but during this whole time he wasn't crying, barking or showed any signs of pain for that matter... as far as I know. 

I started to think to myself... maybe he's growing up and this was his first time experiencing a fully erect penis and ready to mount himself on a female dog? 
I started to research on the internet and I found out the two lumps half way down his shaft are called bulbus glandis and they swell up when dogs get excited and get an erection. So that part was normal but the weird seizure like behavior I'm still confused about. Unless it was all apart of him getting really excited and didn't know what the feeling was as its the first time its happened. But what was he excited about sitting under the table while I ate some fruit and drank some water? I have no clue. 

Can anyone confirm if this is all normal behavior or should I be worried? 

Thanks
Mike


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

Stupid friggin' idiot vet. Some of those 5 shots were vaccinations...

Vetricyn has some science behind it, too bad the vet couldn't be bothered. 

The circle behaviour, could be a vaccine reaction, could be fleas or ticks.


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

It was only one shot, just five different vaccinations all in one. Don't know if thats good or not. He's apparently the expert. I'm looking for a German Shepherd specific vet that's uber good but in the mean time I have to use our old one. 

The circle behavior didn't happen right after he got his shots. I took Morres to see the vet about a week ago from today to get his shots plus ointment and the circle behavior only happened last night once. So far he's been acting normal. Poop, pee, eats, drinks, playing, barking, crying a little when he doesn't get what he wants  
I just wanted to know if its something I should be worried about but I guess he's alright since nothing seems to be wrong.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

^^^what Lisa said.. to explain, the 5 different vacs in ONE shot is called a 5 way. 
So he's getting loaded up with 5 different shots at one time. 

He must not be much of an expert if he hasn't tried vetericyn..I SWEAR by it, it's helped my fungus sore aussie immensely..In fact a friend of mine just emailed me, after I recommended she try it on her male dog, who had some kind of irritation kinda like your puppies, and it cleared it up in 3 days..So I guess I would tell your vet not to knock it unless he's tried it..

As for the circling, he may have had a 'twitch', or a bug bite, that startled him and he couldn't quite reach it..happens, since he seems alright now, I wouldn't worry about it to much.

Where are you located, maybe someone can recommend a good vet in your area


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

^
I would most appreciate a really good vet recommendation. 
I live in the lower mainland of British Columbia in the South Surrey area but our current vet is located in Port Coquitlam. I don't mind driving anywhere as I just want the best for my dog. Although frustrating at times I still love him so I want to make sure he is in good health. 

Thanks
Mike


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## sargsd (Jan 6, 2011)

Someone please offer up a good vet recommendation for Mike. This doesn't seem right to me at all. Mike, my 4 month old GSD has a similar rash, which I've ascertained to be flea bite dermatitis. I treat Buck monthly with topical Advantage, wash everything, have treated the house, but good ol Portland, Oregon is rife with an out of control flea population right now. We're just not getting the freezing temps to kill them off. Anyway, I had the vet give Buck a shot of cortisone a couple weeks ago because Buck was miserable from scratching constantly. Unfortunately, now that the cortisone has worn off, he's back to scratching again. I don't advocate bombarding a dog with chemicals more than necessary, so I'm resorting to apple cider vinegar on cotton balls and applied to his rash (this helps) as well as Calm Coat (a natural oil with lavender and other essential oils) sprayed on him once a day. The rash looks similar so I'm guessing it could be flea bite dermatitis, like Buck has. I know one bite from a flea will set off this wonderful, endless cascade of rashes and itching. No fun! If anyone has advice, please share!

I did a Google search for vets in your area (using Yelp.Ca) and Granville Island Vet Hospital got a pretty good review. If no one else chimes in, maybe they would be worth checking out. You're really working hard to do the right thing for your dog, so kudos to you. When they're really young (or any age, really) you don't want to bombard their immune systems too much with lots of shots/vaccines and medications. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to save their life though. Good luck!


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

^
Thank you for your kind words it means a lot. My brothers friend recommended a vet that knows so I might check her out as well. I will also check out Granville Island. Thanks! 
But for now the rash is gone. No more major scratching and biting. Normal scratch here or there. It use to be much worse in my opinion where he would bite the area to the point where he is whining while biting! But now its much much better. No rash at all and very minimal biting or scratching. 

Morres did it again! About 30 minutes ago he was sitting on the front porch barking at the garbage men that came by in the morning as I was eating breakfest on the dining room table. I noticed him making a lot of noise (dropping himself. Up and down, up and down) I walk over and he has an erection, bigger then last time in my opinion, and he's kind of going around in circles as if hes chasing his own tail but with his back arched. It looks like he wants to mount himself on a female but I don't know if this is true as I have never seen this type of behavior before. Is this normal? 

After about 10-15 minutes or so he stopped and brought his tennis ball to me. Played catch with him for a little bit now hes sleeping under my desk. He seems fine to me its just that strange behavior that's scaring me a bit. He doesn't seem to be in pain when this happens. Are these early signs of sexual maturity? Puberty? Should I give him a dog or pillow for him to mount and go to town? hah.

Thanks
Mike


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## mikeschmeee (Jan 9, 2011)

Hello!

So its been a while and it seems like everything is alright. Morres has grown lots and his colours are amazing! He's such a pretty looking dog! However, even though I don't want to, I think it's time to get him neutered. He's showing a lot of aggression towards other dogs lately while on walks. He has never done this before. When he was younger, between the age of 6-11months, everytime I took him to a local off leash dog park he went nuts! Running around everywhere, chasing and being chased by other dogs, having a really fun time by the looks of it. But now that he's a little older he stands his ground and if he has to he shows other dogs who's boss which I understand is natural but of course, other dog owners get so frightened even though nothing happened and give my dog and I dirty looks as if we're purposely trying to hurt them. I keep him on a leash 99% of the time and I rarely let him off which is a bit frustrating for as I know he loves to run! The other frustrating part is that every ON LEASH park that I go to, everyone else has their dogs OFF LEASH! My dog is not biting anyone or any dog just getting into little scruffs and barking up a storm. Nothing that I haven't seen with other dogs. Although, there is a older female pit bull that lives near me and everytime they meet they seem to get along just fine. They rush towards each other and they start playing around.

Anyways, the rash cleared up shortly after his fur on his belly came in and nothing is there anymore, got his deworming done and gets his yearly de-worm pill, gets his flea liquid thing on his neck every so often and overall he's a very happy dog from what I see. I'm not an expert but it looks like he's doing great!


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## danmax (Jul 18, 2012)

*GSD Skin under font legs & belly turned purple*



lizzyjo said:


> I have one thing to say... What a crappy breeder. The puppies were wormie and fed them trashy food....what a mess



Hi, this is my first time on the site. Here's my problem. My wife & I noticed that the skin on our GSD's belly started to turn purple. Now the skin under his front legs have the same problem. I couldn't find anything online that addressed it so I decided to look for a forum to join.

He's due to go in but so far none of the vet's I've talked with have heard of this problem. Either they're dumb or they just want me in to do test's that he might not need. Buddy is a great dog. He just turned 7 in May & is wonderful with children but when it comes to putting on a leash, he flips out, wants to bite my arm & the whole nine yards so just taking him to a few places for help is almost impossible. 

The area's are also lumpy, he tends to the effected area's [under front legs]. I am puzzled, help. Thanks in advance, danmax


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