Atlas turned 17 weeks old on March 6th, 2020, just a day before he receives his final vaccinations. On his vet visit, he received his rabies shot and DHPP vaccination and our vet diagnosed Atlas with puppy pyoderma.
On March 7th, I took Atlas to his vet for his rabies shot and his final DHPP booster shot. At the same time, I requested an available vet to exam bumps that developed over Atlas’ limb joints just the past week. I suspected that he had puppy pyoderma or impetigo after a quick search on the internet.
The vet performed skin scraping and cytology to verify the infection. Sure enough, the vet came back with a diagnosis of puppy pyoderma, a common skin infection among puppies.
Puppy Pyoderma
Pyoderma is a bacteria infection that affects the skin. The bacteria infection causes the eruption of pus-filled bumps across the surface of Atlas’ skin. Sometimes, these bumps burst, spilling its pus content and creating a crusty residue on the fur. Atlas has superficial puppy pyoderma, meaning his infection is limited to the surface of his skin. This is good news for us because we can apply topical medication to treat the infection instead of putting him on medication at such a young age.
Atlas was prescribed Douxo chlorhexidine 3% PS pads and GentaSpray. In addition, I am to give Atlas a weekly bath with VetMD medicated anti-bacterial & anti-fungal shampoo.
I need to spray the GentaSpray on the affected areas of Atlas’ skin, twice a day. Then right before bedtime, I rub the areas with the medicated cleaning pads. I use 4 pads per night, each pad cleans up a joint area (basically his pyoderma infection is only isolated only to his limb joints).
The total vet bill for Atlas’ rabies and DHPP vaccination along with puppy pyoderma treatment is $161.50. The cost to treat Atlas’ skin infection alone, including exam, cytology and prescription is $117.50. At this point, Atlas has met his annual pet health insurance deductible. Future vet visits, including neutering and gastropexy surgeries will cost us only 10%.
A Much Better Visit to the Vet
In other news, Atlas behaved much better at the vet this time around compared to a month ago. I was able to walk him into the vet and back to the car on a leash. The last visit I had to practically carry him to and from. He also behaved very well inside the office, staying put right next to me, instead of wandering around aimlessly.
He also stole a lot of the lady vet technicians’ hearts that were fortunate to cross path with him. With his rabies and DHPP vaccination out of the way, and puppy pyoderma addressed, we can finally take Atlas on long outdoor daily walks. Stay tuned for an article about Atlas’ first outdoor walks.