Hello everyone,
I'm new here, and I'd like to first say that I'm so glad that there is this community for fellow sheltie lovers to interact and exchange breed-specific advice
Apologies in advance for the long mail, but I'm writing to seek kind advice regarding the following health issues plaguing my 7-year-old sheltie:
1) Licking a specific spot at his perineum (around 7-8 o'clock position with reference to his anus)
This started around November 10, the occurrence I believe is a coincidence with my switching him to a raw diet a week or so prior. I did suspect anal gland issues, and so brought him to the vet for a check. The vet found the glands quite full, expressed them, and remarked that the material looked normal. What was interesting (and which, to me, indicated that the cause wasn't an anal gland issue) was that the right gland, the site of which he never paid attention to, was fuller and slightly tougher to express. Anyway, the vet diagnosed the cause of his licking as a mild allergy, and also informed me that my sheltie will possibly still lick the area for a while post-gland expression. This has persisted, however, even till now, and the spot-of-interest has since increased in diameter. There isn't visible irritation to the skin, nor are there swellings in the region either. I've tried to keep the area clean with some chlorhexidine solution and silver sulfadiazine topical cream, but I'd still find his fur around the region matte with his saliva.
I have, for a long while, found brown specks/flecks along his tail and occasionally hind legs - nevertheless, because those were still present even after Frontline application and the vets diagnosed them as so, I convinced myself that those were just dirt or scabs from previous nibbling. I raise this observation because, though fleas may be a potential cause for perineum licking, these specks aren't found at the exact perineum spot of interest - nor have they bothered him anytime before. In an attempt to eliminate fleas as a potential cause, I'd applied a vial of Frontline just 4 days ago - to no avail or relief, though I've heard from some that Frontline didn't work for their dogs either.
2) Slight reddish discoloration/irritation to snout
My sheltie has a white fur patch on his snout, which makes the months-old slightly reddish discoloration on his snout (just where his nose meets his snout) all the more obvious. I do see the same brown flecks within the area, and there are some black scab-like stuff at the nose-snout junction as well. The vet did a skin scrape for mites, but it came back negative.
I'm quite at wits' end, especially for 1). My vet suggested that I bring him back in for an allergy shot, but I'm really reluctant to do so without understanding the underlying cause.
Any ideas/advice? I'd be most grateful!
Best,
JT
I'm new here, and I'd like to first say that I'm so glad that there is this community for fellow sheltie lovers to interact and exchange breed-specific advice
Apologies in advance for the long mail, but I'm writing to seek kind advice regarding the following health issues plaguing my 7-year-old sheltie:
1) Licking a specific spot at his perineum (around 7-8 o'clock position with reference to his anus)
This started around November 10, the occurrence I believe is a coincidence with my switching him to a raw diet a week or so prior. I did suspect anal gland issues, and so brought him to the vet for a check. The vet found the glands quite full, expressed them, and remarked that the material looked normal. What was interesting (and which, to me, indicated that the cause wasn't an anal gland issue) was that the right gland, the site of which he never paid attention to, was fuller and slightly tougher to express. Anyway, the vet diagnosed the cause of his licking as a mild allergy, and also informed me that my sheltie will possibly still lick the area for a while post-gland expression. This has persisted, however, even till now, and the spot-of-interest has since increased in diameter. There isn't visible irritation to the skin, nor are there swellings in the region either. I've tried to keep the area clean with some chlorhexidine solution and silver sulfadiazine topical cream, but I'd still find his fur around the region matte with his saliva.
I have, for a long while, found brown specks/flecks along his tail and occasionally hind legs - nevertheless, because those were still present even after Frontline application and the vets diagnosed them as so, I convinced myself that those were just dirt or scabs from previous nibbling. I raise this observation because, though fleas may be a potential cause for perineum licking, these specks aren't found at the exact perineum spot of interest - nor have they bothered him anytime before. In an attempt to eliminate fleas as a potential cause, I'd applied a vial of Frontline just 4 days ago - to no avail or relief, though I've heard from some that Frontline didn't work for their dogs either.
2) Slight reddish discoloration/irritation to snout
My sheltie has a white fur patch on his snout, which makes the months-old slightly reddish discoloration on his snout (just where his nose meets his snout) all the more obvious. I do see the same brown flecks within the area, and there are some black scab-like stuff at the nose-snout junction as well. The vet did a skin scrape for mites, but it came back negative.
I'm quite at wits' end, especially for 1). My vet suggested that I bring him back in for an allergy shot, but I'm really reluctant to do so without understanding the underlying cause.
Any ideas/advice? I'd be most grateful!
Best,
JT
