Dermatology

At one time or another, we have all made the same mistakes when working up a dermatology case. To help us all save time and get the most information with the least amount of work, I thought I would address what in my referral practice appear to be the most commonly made mistakes when working up a dermatology patient.

"Why does my dog have dry skin? Didn't I wash off all the shampoo? Am I bathing him too much? Does he need a conditioner?" We have all been asked these questions many times. With the winter months upon us for those in the colder areas of the country, the low humidity often causes humans to have "dry skin". This may be true for our canine patients as well, however dry skin in dogs may be the result of several underlying diseases (Photo 1).

Canine scabies is often missed (reportedly 70 percent of the time) and should always be considered.

Dr. Alice Jeromin identifies skin conditions that can serve as early warning signs of internal disease. Using these clues practitioners can help prolong the lives of their patients.

All of us, at one time or another, were probably guilty of treating one of our sarcoptic mange patients as an allergic patient. It is the perfect example of a patient with the same clinical appearance and symptoms of two diseases: atopy vs. sarcoptic mange.

In DVM Best Practices on Feline Medicine (May, 2002), I wrote about feline ear mites and dermatophytes, two common infectious diseases often seen in feline practice.

Dr. Michele Rosenbaum outlines diagnostic and clinical management options for two of the most common infectious diseases seen in feline patients.

As mentioned in the first article (Feb. 2002) of this series, the presentation of the pruritic dog can be frustrating for the veterinarian because of the number of possible differential diagnoses.

When clients bring in their pets to have growths removed or wounds examined, we have the clients mark the problem spots on an anatomy chart. The chart makes it easy for us to locate all the lumps and lesions and is a great alternative to drawing on the animals with a marker. --Sage Olson, receptionist Kensington, Conn.

One of the most frustrating and time-consuming problems in everyday veterinary medicine is the presentation of the dog with pruritus.

I often get referrals of patients on immunotherapy that "aren't doing well" or hear from the owner that "those shots never helped so we stopped them."

Malassezia (yeast) dermatitis can result in a primary skin problem or be present secondary to underlying disease.

Malassezia (yeast) dermatitis can result in a primary skin problem or be present secondary to underlying disease. Because its presence can mimic (and complicate) other diseases such as atopy and food allergy, it is important to know how to recognize the organism, and of course, treat for it.

Dr. Alice Jeromin tackles diagnosing and managing genetic skin diseases such as sebaceous adentitis (SA) and canine familial dermatomyositis (DMS).

Dr. Michele Rosenbaum examines the causes of focal, non-pruritic, non-inflammatory alopecia.

Are you able to recognize certain skin disorders right off the bat? Take our quick quiz to see how you do.

I love word derivations. For example, "hepato" means liver and "cutaneous" denotes skin. Quickly tying the two together, one is suspicious of a relationship between the two organs.

Although recognizing a bacterial pyoderma in a canine patient is relatively easy, eradicating the pyoderma can be difficult.

As we all know, dermatology is a very "visual" science. But what you see is only a part of what is actually occurring.