Ashley Bourgeois

Dogs can lick their private areas successively due to allergies, environmental factors and urinary tract infections. They may also do this due to behavioral issues. It is important to consult a veterinarian to determine the underlying cause of the behavior in order to treat it appropriately.
 
Transcript: "Why does my dog lick his privates excessively? There's a few different reasons that this can happen. We certainly can see licking towards the groin associated with allergies and actually flea allergy. Despite not seeing them, we almost never see them. These are just dogs that are really hypersensitive to any exposure, which you almost never see unless you have an infestation. They actually like to go for the back half of the body. So groin, inner thighs, and I have seen dogs just go for their prepucial area, their perivulver area, when they do have a flea allergy. Other forms of allergies like environmental allergies can cause that too. There's also internal things that can cause that. So if they have a urinary tract infection, abdominal pain, then they can also lick and chew towards the belly just from that sensation. And then there are finally some behavioral issues that can cause that too. So you definitely want to work with your veterinarian because there's a plethora of things that can cause a dog to lick their privates excessively, whether it's a girl or a boy dog. So you want to make sure we're ruling out medical reasons that that can happen so we can get it treated appropriately."

Pets can get recurrent skin infections due to allergies, hormonal disorders, autoimmune diseases, and cancerous skin diseases. Treating the skin infection is not enough; the underlying primary disease must be controlled in order to reduce the frequency of the recurrent skin infections.
 
Transcript: "Why do some pets get recurrent skin infections? Well, there's some sort of primary disease process going on. Most commonly, what we see in veterinary dermatology is some form of an allergy. So food allergy, flea allergy, or environmental allergy. But we can have pets, for example, with hormonal disorders like low thyroid or increased cortisol, which is Cushing's disease. We can see autoimmune disease disorders. We can see cancerous skin disease that can lead to recurrent skin infections as well. So there's some sort of primary disease that is going on. Skin infections are a secondary problem, meaning that they're not the problem itself. It's a manifestation of something else that's going on. So whether it's an allergy, underlying endocrinopathy, which would be a hormonal disorder like hypothyroidism, an autoimmune disease, a cancerous disease, something that's causing that microflora of the skin to be abnormal, that skin barrier to be abnormal, or that immune system to be abnormal. So we don't just wanna treat the skin infection and that's it. It's gonna probably come back because we have to control whatever that primary disease process is in order to lessen the frequency of recurrent skin infections in the future."

It depends on the breed of dog, environment, products used and underlying skin issues. On average, dogs can be bathed once a month up to weekly for more chronic allergic patients.
 
Transcript: "How often should I bathe my dog? It depends. There's so many different factors that feed into how often a dog should be bathed. Is your dog indoor or is your dog outdoor, getting mud and dirt caked on them as they're enjoying maybe acres that you have? Does your dog have an underlying skin disorder? So management of allergies, that's something that I deal with every single day. If you use appropriate products, which it's also important to recognize that different shampoos are used for different things. If you use an appropriate product that's moisturizing and beneficial for the skin, for an allergy dog, you can't really overbathe them. You could bathe them every single day, it's just a lot of a time commitment, but it can actually restore their skin if you're using certain veterinary products that have appropriate ingredients within them. And you're also helping to remove pollen from their skin, which lessens their absorption and their clinical signs. But for a typical dog, it really depends on all those factors. So I'd say, you know, on average, a dog might be able to be bathed once a month, up to weekly for some of our more chronic allergic patients. It also depends on the breed of dog, because certain breeds of dogs or certain oils in their skin that they really need to retain, and also depending on the fur they have. So really depending on the breed of dog, their environment, the products you're using, and whether or not they have underlying skin disorders."

Mange is an umbrella term for mites, which are small parasites that live on the skin of animals. The two most common types of mange are Demodex, which is seen in dogs and cats, and scabies, which is highly contagious and can be contracted by humans. There are treatments available for both types of mange, and a veterinarian can diagnose your pet by doing a skin scrape.
 
Transcript: "What is mange? Mange is mites. So mange is just an overall umbrella term for mites, mostly. So the predominant ones we're going to think about, especially when people throw around the term mange, is demodex, which is most commonly seen in dogs, but we can see it in cats too, which is a normal mite that lives on the skin, but when they're puppies and their immune system's developing, or if they're an older pet and say something's affecting their immune system, like another disease, we can see this mite over proliferate and start to cause hair loss, redness. So you'll hear people call it red mange, it would be demodex. Scabies, so that is a contagious mite that's super itchy that dogs can get from interaction with wildlife or some other pet who has scabies. It's something really contagious and people can actually contract it as well. There's also a form of mites called notoedries that we see in cats that can cause very contagious, cause severe scratching and itching towards the face and the neck. So we can do things like skin scrapes to look for these mites. Sometimes they're really hard to find. So if your veterinarian suspects that your pet might have mange or mites, they'll do a treatment trial, which there's lots of really good options depending on if it's a dog or a cat that are well tolerated. So mange is mites."

Dogs usually lick their paws due to allergies or secondary infections. It is important to work with a veterinarian to identify the root cause of the licking in order to properly treat it.
 
Transcript: "Why do dogs lick their paws? The most common reasons that dogs lick their paws include some form of allergies. And primarily we're gonna see either a food allergy or an environmental allergy. Now, secondary infections like bacteria and yeast are very common to occur with allergies and other skin disorders as well, such as mites or hormonal disorders. So you still can get paw licking from other things, but by far and away, when we have a dog who's allergic to the environment or the food that they're eating, licking paws is primarily what they'll show us. So you wanna work with your veterinarian to do the appropriate things to get the dog feeling more comfortable, such as treating infection and using certain medications if necessary. You also wanna get to the why. Why is your dog licking their paws? What type of allergy do they have? So you'll work with your veterinarian to do things like appropriate diet trials, potentially things like allergy testing so that we can assure we know the underlying cause of your dogs licking their paws. So though many things can cause paw licking in dogs, allergies, environmental, food are gonna be the primary reasons that this is occurring."

Yes, indoor cats should usually be on flea prevention, as fleas can still find ways to get into the home. The best way to prevent infestations is to use good quality flea prevention year-round.
 
Transcript: "Should indoor cats be on flea prevention? Mostly yes. It does depend a bit where you are geographically. There are some high desert areas where we don't see a lot of ectoparasites like fleas, but where I live in Portland, Oregon, we want cats, even indoor cats, on year-round flea prevention. Though I understand the thought that they're indoors and we don't visually see them, what we do know about fleas is they don't stop at the doorstep. You know, they're gonna find ways to get in, whether it's other animals, on people. They like to hide in things like carpets and furniture. And if you're visually seeing even one flea that is the tip of the iceberg, there's gonna be many more. So most of the pets that I actually diagnose with a flea sensitivity, I never actually see fleas on them and neither do the owners. Because most of us are not gonna be in an infested environment. There's just gonna be some exposure because guess what? Our doors open, our windows open, fleas come in with us. It just happens. So the easiest way we can prevent that is using good quality flea prevention. And it is a cat flea. They want to be on cats. So we wanna avoid the situation by just using really good quality flea prevention. Yes, even on indoor cats in most areas."