{"id":450,"date":"2025-04-04T11:45:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petworks.com\/?p=450"},"modified":"2025-04-04T11:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:45:53","slug":"help-my-dog-has-hot-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petworks.com\/articles\/help-my-dog-has-hot-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"Help! My Dog Keeps Getting Hot Spots!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot Spots On Dogs. by Kristin Clark, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Raw Pet Digest. <\/em>According to the website petinsurance.com, hot spots are one of the most common reasons that people take their dogs to the vet. In fact, hot spots rank fourth in the top 10 reasons to take dogs to the vet! And it\u2019s no wonder\u2014hot spots (or acute moist dermatitis) are irritated, infected, hot, red, moist lesions that are both painful and itchy to your dog. They often grow rapidly, and in many dogs are chronic and cause a lot of discomfort to the dog and stress (and money, in terms of vet bills and treatments) to the owner. How to treat hot spots on dogs. <\/p>\n

According to conventional wisdom, hot spots can occur whenever something irritates a dog\u2019s skin and leads to scratching or biting of the irritated area. Most people believe that hot spots are the result of allergies, insect bites, lack of grooming, ear or skin infections, or excessive licking and chewing. However, as in so many things, this does not truly get at the heart of what causes hot spots, and certainly doesn\u2019t lend to being able to address them effectively (hence why, in so many instances, they become a seemingly chronic condition).<\/p>\n

Conventional approaches to “treating” hot spots<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For the majority of people, if their dog starts to lick or chew excessively, or if there is any indication of a hot spot, they take the dog to the vet. Common conventional approaches to dealing with the hot spot usually include shaving the area around the hot spot, prescribing antibiotics and painkillers, applying or administering medication to kill fleas, ticks, and other parasites, adding a dietary supplement to increase essential fatty acids, prescribing corticosteroids or antihistamines to relive itching, and recommending a hypoallergenic food (which is still processed kibble) to address any potential food allergies. Often, people are also advised to get their dog groomed regularly and get them shaved, especially in the summer, and they are also told to maintain a regular flea and tick prevention program using over-the-counter flea and tick preventives. They are also advised to make sure that their dog gets plenty of exercise and isn\u2019t subjected to lots of stress.<\/p>\n

I take my dog to the vet…but the hot spots keep coming back!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What most people find\u2014because the hot spots keep coming back\u2014is that these measures fall short in actually dealing with the issue. That\u2019s because conventional treatments don\u2019t get at the root cause of the hot spots\u2014at best, they suppress the symptoms, and at worst, they exacerbate the problem\u2014and so the hot spots keep reappearing, often even worse than before.<\/p>\n

\"Hot<\/p>\n

To understand why this is, let\u2019s first take a look at the root cause of hot spots. Because when you think about it logically, saying that hot spots are caused by itching or scratching, or exposure to rain or swimming, or the dog not being clipped in the summer, doesn\u2019t make sense. Dogs itch and scratch, and if they are doing so excessively, it means that something is out of balance, and that imbalance is directly related to the hot spot eruption\u2014it\u2019s not the itching and scratching that caused the hot spot, it\u2019s the imbalance. Similarly, the belief that dogs that are exposed to rain or water will develop hot spots doesn\u2019t make sense. Many dogs spend a great deal of time in the water and never have a problem. Many dogs that don\u2019t spend time in the water do have problems. While getting wet may seem to trigger an eruption, a healthy, balanced dog should be able to swim and get wet without any issues. Dogs in moist environments may be more prone to hot spot eruptions, but again, because not every dog in a moist environment suffers from hot spots, that is not the true root cause of the eruption. While we\u2019re looking at some of the common methods of \u201cpreventing\u201d hot spots, let\u2019s take a look at the idea that you should shave your dog every summer to help keep hot spots from erupting. Keeping a dog\u2019s fur shaved in the summer actually removes their protection from the sun and UV rays and eliminates the insulation that their fur provides. Remember, dogs don\u2019t cool themselves by sweating like we do; they pant. In fact, dogs can only release sweat through their foot pads<\/a><\/span>, through what are called merocrine glands. While they do have sweat glands (called apocrine glands) all over their body (found with the hair follicles), these glands do not release sweat, they release pheromones, which aid them in communicating with other dogs.<\/p>\n

Understanding the root cause of hot spots<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So what is actually going on when a dog presents with hot spots? In essence, when you see hot spots erupting on your dog, it means that the dog\u2019s body is being overwhelmed by toxins that are coming in at a faster rate than the liver and kidneys can handle. The skin is the largest eliminative organ, and so the toxins start to \u201cerupt\u201d out of the skin, as part of the body\u2019s frantic effort to rid itself of them. And when you add antibiotics and steroids and flea\/tick preventives on top of it, the toxic overload increases while at the same time the body\u2019s ability to stay balanced and handle the toxins, decreases.<\/p>\n

\"HotLike us, our dogs are designed to detox every single moment of every day. Interestingly, as I was reading the book The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet<\/em>, I realized that he conveyed this perfectly. Yes, he was talking about people, but the same holds true for our dogs: \u201c[Your dog\u2019s] liver, kidneys, bowels, lymphatic system, and skin all aid in the elimination of toxins and waste\u201d[1]<\/a>. Furthermore, just like with us, their systems can get \u201cclogged, inflamed, rusty, and slow because we put too much pressure on them and don\u2019t give them the pure fuel they need. What that means is that [their] natural detoxification processes have a much harder time of it because of [their] lifestyle. Chemicals [\u2026] in the environment\u2014herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, petrochemicals, paints, cleaning products\u2014all contribute to taxing [their] natural detox systems, not to mention all the prescription drugs [they are given][2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Antibiotics and Steroids<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I frequently discuss antibiotics and steroids, and their overall impact on our pets, when I\u2019m doing consultations with pet parents who want to help their pets thrive. When I\u2019m discussing them with people, they are often shocked at the profound ramifications of giving their pets antibiotics and steroids. Both antibiotics and steroids throw the body into a state of imbalance. Antibiotics wipe out all the bacteria and gut flora, which severely inhibits the ability of the immune system to do its job, while at the same time leading to future problems because the \u201cbad\u201d bacteria tend to grow back more quickly than the \u201cgood\u201d bacteria, leading to further imbalance, which often presents as ear infections, yeast infections, and other issues (which, not surprisingly, do lead to dogs itching and scratching excessively\u2026and that excessive, out-of-balance scratching and itching can cause a flare-up of hot spots in a dog with an excess of toxins. And so the roller coaster continues\u2026). And steroids actually suppress the immune system, so the dog\u2019s body has less capability to stay healthy, ward off pathogens and viruses, and keep the dog in tip-top shape. Administering these when the system is already completely out-of-whack just makes it worse.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, applying products topically or administering them internally to control parasites also cause a flood of toxins into the dog\u2019s body. These products contain poison intended to kill the parasites. But what that means is that your dog\u2019s body is exposed to poison\u2014often directly on the skin\u2014at the very same time that the skin is trying to shed out toxins! It\u2019s a lose-lose situation for your dog\u2019s immune system, and therefore, a lose-lose situation for your dog.<\/p>\n

\"Hot<\/p>\n

Did you find this article\u00a0useful?<\/strong> <\/em>Would you like 100% free access to more articles like these, and free access to over 5,000 vetted pet care service professionals<\/a><\/span> throughout the United States? Sign up here <\/a><\/span>for a free Petworks account, and take 10% off your first booking, on us!<\/p>\n

So what can I do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So, if the conventional treatments don\u2019t help\u2014and any of you with pets that suffer from hot spots know exactly how difficult and frustrating this can be\u2014what can be done? It\u2019s actually relatively simple, although not necessarily easy or quick, especially if you\u2019ve been following conventional treatments for a long time and your dog has therefore been flooded with toxins. The first step is to make sure that your dog is on a diet<\/a><\/span> appropriate to their species\u2014what we call a species-appropriate raw food, or SARF, diet. This diet is the best thing you can feed your dog, because it ensures that they receive, in a natural, wholesome, raw form, all the food and nutrients they need, in the correct proportions and ratios they need, while eliminating all the stuff that they don\u2019t need. It supports their entire bodies, including their immune systems, digestive systems, organs, and body processes. If you wish to seek professional help,<\/p>\n

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Diet<\/h4>\n

When you feed a species-appropriate raw food diet, you will be lessening the work that the liver and kidneys have to do, because they won\u2019t have to remove waste at a rate that exceeds what they are designed for. You will reduce the workload of the pancreas, bring the stomach pH to an appropriate level, and flood your dog with the nutrients he or she needs to keep all the body systems in good working order.<\/p>\n

Flea, tick, and heartworm preventives<\/h4>\n

But, to address the toxin issue, you will need to go beyond diet. Flea and tick preventives, such as Frontline and K9 Advantix, are poison, and when you apply them to your dog, the poison goes through their skin and their body must then work to eliminate that poison. Similarly, when you give your dog a heartworm pill every month, you are feeding them a product that contains poison. This may seem shocking, but it is true. As Dr. Karen Becker (who appeared in Pet Fooled) says:<\/p>\n

“Heartworm preventives are chemical insecticides with the potential for short- and long-term side effects damaging to your pet’s health. In addition, heartworm “preventives” don’t actually prevent the worms. They poison the larvae at the microfilaria (L1 to L2) stage of development, causing them to die inside your pet’s body.”<\/em><\/p>\n