[Carl Hanley]

Hi all,

I’m new to the forums and after recent events with our Rufio, I seek some advice on the current state on the bridge of his nose.

During the summer, we noticed slight hair loss on the bridge of his nose and presumed he could’ve burnt it from the sun. However, we don’t believe this was the case as when it started to become cooler, his nose has maintained to have little amount of hair. Also, more recently, he has started scratching at it and we have therefore tried to control it with aloe Vera cream and regular cleaning. It is still red and today it has started bleeding due to him pawing at it.

We had taken him to the vets last week and they have recommended apoquel; if this doesn’t clear up the symptoms then they have recommended that we have a skin scrap done and get the sample tested. We haven’t purchased the apoquel yet as there are some negative side affects.

Has anybody else had these symptoms on their GSD and what they done to get rid of it? Any help would greatly appreciated!

As an extra note:- Rufio seems like his normal self; eating plenty, playful with people and other dogs etc. You can see on the last image his nose looks healthy and normal which was before summer. He is now 2.5 y/o.

 

[Nigel]

Are there signs of itching/biting anywhere else besides the muzzle? My allergy girl has several locations she will scratch when things flair up. I'm not saying my case is typical, it's just been my experience with allergies. I tried a myriad of things to curb her symptoms. This summer I tried Cytopoint for a major flair up, along with chlorohex shampoo bath for "maintenance" and she's doing well now. The chlorohex cannot be used around the eyes (blindness)so this would not be an option for you, but Cytopoint would be worth looking in to. We tried apoquel a few years ago and while it helped with symptoms it caused others so we stopped.

 

[Carl Hanley]

Are there signs of itching/biting anywhere else besides the muzzle? My allergy girl has several locations she will scratch when things flair up. I'm not saying my case is typical, it's just been my experience with allergies. I tried a myriad of things to curb her symptoms. This summer I tried Cytopoint for a major flair up, along with chlorohex shampoo bath for "maintenance" and she's doing well now. The chlorohex cannot be used around the eyes (blindness)so this would not be an option for you, but Cytopoint would be worth looking in to. We tried apoquel a few years ago and while it helped with symptoms it caused others so we stopped.

Thanks for your advice Nigel.

He does sometimes nibble at his paws but nothing extreme. The rest of his body / coat are perfectly fine - its literally just the nose that has issues - possible because he can rub against things too!

We are going to take him back to the vets during the week and get a 14 day subscription of apoquel we think - what side symptons did the apoquel cause? I will ask the vet about cytopoint aswell.

Cheers,
Carl.