Dermatitis in Australian Shepherds is a condition that can affect your dog’s skin, causing it to itch and become inflamed. Itching can be very uncomfortable for your dog. If it continues, dermatitis in dogs can start to affect your pet’s quality of life, affecting their appetite and ability to rest. Constant scratching, licking and biting causes the skin to become red, sore and prone to infection. As responsible pet owners, you all should monitor Quality Breed Aussies for dermatitis signs to ensure they remain healthy and comfortable.
Symptoms of Dermatitis in Australian Shepherds
There are several symptoms of dermatitis in Australian Shepherds that can affect their behavior and may lead to hair loss. If your dog has a skin condition, you may notice that they are showing signs of:
- Itch
- Excessive scratching
- Friction on the carpet
- Loss of hair
- Greasy or flaky skin with odor
- Biting one’s paws
- Saliva stains (red/brown spots on the fur where the dog has licked itself)
- Redness of the ears, sometimes with a dark waxy discharge
- Thickening or darkening of the skin (especially in hairless areas)
- Redness or rash on the belly
- Spots or scabs on the body
Diagnosis of Dermatitis in Australian Shepherds
Some causes of canine dermatitis can be diagnosed by the areas affected and whether a single pet or multiple pets in a household are showing symptoms.
The tests that can be performed during a first consultation are:
- Flea Comb: Flea dirt or live fleas will indicate a flea infestation.
- Adhesive tape strips: These are where we use adhesive tape to collect a small sample of skin cells and surface bacteria that we can examine under a microscope. This will often show yeast and bacteria if they are present.
- Skin scrapings: This involves scraping the surface of the skin to examine it under a microscope. It is used to detect mites living in the skin layer.
- Hair scraping: This will allow us to detect some parasitic and fungal infections.
- Wood’s lamp: An ultraviolet light is used to detect some types of fungal infection (ringworm).
- Blood tests: These can be used in dogs with allergic dermatitis to find out what they are allergic to. Sometimes this can be helpful in avoiding allergy triggers.
The tests we may need to perform under sedation are:
- Skin biopsy: Sometimes it is necessary to take a full-thickness skin sample to find certain types of mites and to detect certain skin conditions that cause hair loss.
- Skin scrapings: From sensitive areas such as around the eyes or legs.
Treatment of Australian Shepherds with Dermatitis
There are several ways to treat dermatitis in Australian Shepherds and care for your pet depending on the severity of their condition.
Parasitic dermatitis
Regular use of a prescription flea, tick and mite treatment will eliminate most of these problems. Unfortunately, many fleas are now resistant to supermarket products, so these cannot be relied upon to treat an infestation. 95% of the flea life cycle occurs outside your pet, so a home treatment will also be necessary. Only a few prescription products cover mites and ticks, so let your vet guide you on which product your pet needs. Most require a monthly treatment, although there are some that can last up to 3 months.
Skin infections
An infection on the surface of the skin can be effectively controlled by the use of medicated shampoos. These require regular use (often twice a week or more) initially to control the infection. They may then be reduced to once a fortnight to maintain the skin, depending on the condition of your dog. Some dogs with deeper skin infections may require prolonged courses of antibiotics (6-8 weeks or more) to control the infection.
Allergic dermatitis
Treatment for this condition is more complex and will likely be lifelong for your pet. They may become allergic to more things over their lifetime. If your pet is allergic to dust mites or storage mites, reducing the number of these within your dog’s housing may help. Storing food in closed containers will reduce storage mites.
- Treating carpeted areas and bedding for dust mites can also help, or ideally keeping your pet on hard floors and washing the bedding regularly.
- Avoiding known triggers, such as grasses or pollen, and washing your dog’s paws after walks can help reduce irritation.
- It may be worth doing a food trial, as many canine allergies can be at least partly controlled by an appropriate diet. This involves a 6–8-week exclusion diet, on a prescribed hypoallergenic diet. During this time, your dog should be on nothing but water. After the food trial, you will need to gradually expose your dog to normal foods/treats to find out what the triggers are. This may not work for all dogs.
- Oatmeal and moisturizing skin shampoos can be very helpful for dogs with dry, flaky skin.
- Medications to control itching: These include steroids, Atopica, Apoquel and Cytopoint. Steroids are usually used to control itching in the short term as they can have long-term side effects. They are usually very effective. Atopica treats the cause of itching in the immune system, so is useful in preventing skin infections. Apoquel is an anti-itch tablet and, together with the other measures mentioned above, can be very effective. It has fewer side effects than steroids. Cytopoint is the newest treatment available. It is given by regular injection, every 4-8 weeks and is very specific to itching, meaning it has very few side effects.
Dermatitis in Australian Shepherds and its Contagious Nature
Allergic dermatitis and most skin infections in Royal Australian Shepherd Creek are not contagious to other animals or family members. The only conditions that could affect other pets as well as humans are.
- Ringworm: This is a fungal infection that is spread between dogs and humans through spores. Ringworm in dogs is a patch of fur that may be scabbed or inflamed, and in humans, ringworm will look like a red, circular rash that can be quite itchy.
- Flea infestation: All animals in the household must be treated. Humans may be bitten on the ankles/feet by emerging flea larvae, but they will not live on humans.
- Harvest mites: These are tiny, bright orange mites that are only found in late summer. They usually affect several animals in the house and can cause an itchy rash where your pet’s paws have been in contact with you, so they usually appear on their tummy or on their paws where they have sat on your lap.
Preventing dermatitis in Australian Shepherds
There are ways to prevent dermatitis in Australian Shepherds and to care for your pet, such as adapting their diet and, as with humans, avoiding the use of cleaning or washing products that can cause irritation to their fur:
- Regular use of a parasite control
- Good quality food without artificial colors or flavors
- Timely veterinary treatment of itching to avoid secondary infections
- Avoid contact with harsh detergents/cleaners that may cause skin reactions.
- Avoid buying puppies with skin problems, as allergies are often hereditary.
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