What is going on with my dog?

First, let me say that money is very tight right now, so a vet visit is out of the questions for at least one month. My dog is a 10 yr old sheppard/lab mix. The first problem is she keeps getting hot spots around her tail and back end. I have given her baths, tried several shampoos and sprays, but she cant get any relief. How do I find out what she may be alergic to? The other issue and more concerning one is this: she has three big spots on her body where her hair has not grown back for several months. These areas are a brownish color on the skin. They dont seem to bother her, but the hot spots do. Is this a sign of cancer? I have looked up the signs of cancer and nothing really matches. Are the two things related? I know a vet is my best option, but that cant happen right now, so what is my next best choice?

What is going on with my dog?
make sure there are no fleas... make sure you are feeding a premium high quality food ( check the label on your food,, if it contains anything that says BY-PRODUCT or if corn is listed... toss it.. this is a lousy food.. she could very well have mange... which does need to be treated... alot of dogs suffer from flea bite dermatitis and react very strongly when bitten by a flea... also, do not over bath. and when you do bath use a very gentle shampoo made for dogs... and rinse rinse rinse and rinse somemore,,, often times residual shampoo left on the dog can cause skin irritation....
Reply:you could go to the library. alot of times there will be a book over home remideis.. this could have your symptoms and some ways to settle them. dont bathe excessivly and watch out for the soaps that you use that could actually make the whole thing worse. you could just call your vet and explain the situaiton and ask if there is anything that you could do at home to help .
Reply:call the vet and ask to speak to a vet. it could be any number of things. explain the situation in detail and ask what it could be and what could be done until you can get him in. most offices will give you plenty of info with out judgement.
Reply:not sure if the 2 are related, probably are. wash all the bedding, and try an oatmeal shampoo on the dog
Reply:check what the dog is eating, and boil hamburger and rice and feed, could be a food allergie, plus might ort to try baby liquid asprin this is used as a antibodic and most likley will use one half to one dropper of asprin 2-3 times a day.
Reply:The same thing was happening to my german shepherd. Turns out it was allergies and his skin was reacting to the allergies. He had black/dark brown thick patches of skin on him and it was horrible. Hair was falling out and not growing back. Your dog needs to go to the vet, i'm not sure if they make over the counter treatments for it but you can look. The baths are probably making it worse cause its drying out the skin. Call a vet and see what they can recommend until you can get him in there.
Reply:Look at the ingredients of the food she is eating. She may be ALLERGIC to the corn or wheat or soy in that food.





Give her a higher quality dog food and see if those hot spots go away.





It's also a great idea to budget for upcoming vet visits becuz the dog REALLY needs to be seen by a vet. Even mnore so, since she IS an elderly dog.





I learned about budgeting the hard way when I had to spend a total of more than $3,000 for my beloved Princess Cat (cancer, 3 operations and other medical care)
Reply:You sure that it's not a flea allergy??
Reply:I would make an appointment to see the vet as soon as you can afford it. Older dogs are prone to a lot of different kinds of lumps and bumps and some of them are cancerous. One particularly problematic kind of cancer is called a mast cell tumor, and it can have a variety of different appearances. My dog had one a few months ago and it looked nothing like the one my friend's dog had a year ago. It was successfully treated because we caught it early.





Hot spots are not always a sign of allergies. They can be a sigh of boredom... does she have chew toys when you are gone?





Have you tried changing her diet?





Is it dry skin? A diet change might help there. There are some dog diets that are specifically for dry skin. But these days the best bet is to feed your dog real meat and a small amount of vegetables. It's amazing what just changing a dog to a real food diet instead of a commercial food diet will do to resolve all sorts of health problems.





Try applying cortizone from the drug store to the spots until you can get to the vet. Sounds like she could use a check up.





Here's a link to some recommendations for the hot spots: http://www.canismajor.com/dog/hotspots.h...
Reply:If the spots where hair has not grown back are on her 'elbows', then they are most likely just from rubbing (when she lies down, sleeping etc..), I'm not sure about the hot spots, but call your vet and ask about making an appointment as soon as possible for when you do have the money. also, ask you vet about cancer signs, because (s)he might have better information than the internet.


Good luck with her!