The biggest mistake that people make when treating skin infections is not treating them long enough. If an infection responds to antibiotics and then recurs, it is a really good idea to use antibiotics for at least 6 weeks and possibly 8 or more weeks, to try to eliminate the infection. If that doesn’t work, it may be necessary to treat intermittently, or even to treat continuously, to control some skin infections.  Cephalexin is usually a good choice since most of the time these are staph skin infections.
I know of no evidence that staph skin infections from dogs are contagious to humans and there are only scattered reports in which vets worried over potential contagiousness between dogs. Most of the time these are normal bacterial residents of the dog’s skin that just get out of hand because a particular dog has some problem controlling them.

One Response to “probable staph pyoderma (dog)”

1. Diane Hart says:

   November 10, 2009 at 8:37 am

   Hello,

   I just read the postings from people whose dogs have staph aureus infections. My female German Shepherd was also diagnosed with a ‘pyoderma’ and was put on almost continuous antibiotics every summer for four years. I was told the horrible sores (puss, red and scalded, peeling) were caused by food allergies and I spent tons of money trying her on different diets, all expensive, from the vet office. I moved cities and visited another several vets and was told my dog had liver disease that caused the skin condition and she was also put through all the tests for Cushings Disease. After spending $2000 and getting no satisfactory results, I spoke to a human pediatric infectious disease specialist (I am a nurse). He instantly told me that my dog had a ‘colonized staphylococcus aureus infection’ which was manifesting as ’scalded skin syndrome’. He said this type of infection is seen in children and sometimes in immunocompromised people.
   He gave the following instructions:
   - do not use antibiotics (used only for serious cases and usually given IV in hospital)
   - buy some Chlorhexadine 4% ($11 in Canada for a large bottle)
   - bath the dog using the solution every day for 5 days (her coat is thick so we shaved her belly, bottom and thighs)
   - wet the skin, apply a generous amount of the solution, work into a lather and rinse off. Towel dry.
   - wash the pets mats and bedding daily for 5 days
   - watch for new sores and treat individual sores; if many sores then repeat above treatment
   - make sure you wear gloves and wash your hands after treating your pet

   Guess what? Our dog’s skin cleared up completely and very quickly! No more smell or sores. No antiobiotics! (by the way, she now suffers chronic diarrhea from the years of antibiotics. We have tried Giardia vaccination and treatment as well as probiotics and nothing is helping.)

   The Pediatrician said children/dogs/cats who have colonized staph will continue to get outbreaks for about 4 years and then they will outgrow the skin condition. It is VERY important to also treat the nares (nasal opening) with chlorhexadine as staph is harboured in the nose and possibly in folds of the skin (ie. groin). Our dog would get scabs (like impetigo) on the edges of her nose. I would clean off the scabs (wearing latex gloves) and wash with the chlorhexadine solution (Q-tips help). I also treated our dog’s elbow pads as they seemed to get scabby as well. She would also get sores on her feet, so I’m careful to treat her toes and between the pads as needed.

   I now check my dog regularly and have learned to recognize the first signs of a bullae forming. I open it immediately (the skin easily sloughs off) and clean with chlorhexadine. It is such a relief to not be altering my dog’s diet and forcing her to eat food she doesn’t like. She now eats a mixture of home made food (beef heart, liver, chicken hearts, chicken gizzards), leftover meat scraps, vegetables, brown rice and a high quality kibble. Her coat is shiny and beautiful and she is now 14 years old! She has been suffering from this aweful disease since the summer of 2006.

   The best part of this is the chlorhexadine treatment doesn’t hurt my dog and only cost me $11.00!!!! Chlorhexadine binds to the surface of the skin and is not absorbed into the body. It is used in hospitals to clean the skin for surgery (it is sold under a number of brand names. I use Stanhexadine 4%.

   Please kindly pass this news and advice from an infectious disease doctor (Dr. Jagdis, Victoria, BC) to all pet owners whose dogs or cats suffer from colonized staph infection. It is easy to treat and there is no need to restrict diet or use antibiotics that cause horrible side effects.

   Note: My vets would not give me the type of antibiotics necessary to properly treat staph (the type used successfully in humans), saying they were not tested on dogs. This is part of the problem in the case of very serious infections covering large parts of the pet’s body. Cephelexin (spelling?) never, ever worked on my dog and only made her vomit. I would like to see more vets become familiar with the correct antiobiotics for this condition and push to get them tested on dogs and cats.

   Best regards,
   Diane

   [Reply]