Hello,

I hope someone can lend some insight into this (keep in mind we've seen a vet twice now, so I'm looking for some alternative ideas)

Our year-old yorkie russell puppy (yes, still a puppy to us) has had the following symptoms for the last 2 weeks:

- The area around the right eye started getting red, kind of like carpet burn about 2 weeks ago. It was soon apparent that he was scratching it increasingly more every day. The area around the eye, whether due to increasing reaction or the scratching became extremely swollen and almost bloodied in some spots. We took him to the vet last week who felt confident that this was an allergic reaction to something and told us that we should give him benadryl. We did this for a couple of days and, amazingly, the symptoms subsided. The redness was still there but it seemed like it was healing up.

- This past Saturday morning, we woke up to see that Theo's eye had become swollen again. As the morning dragged on, and after a benadryl, it was apparent that his eye was not getting any better. Within hours it had become more swollen than we had seen it. We took him back to the vet -- this time seeing a different doc because the other doc wasn't in. This doc looked for infections in the eye, and examined him closely and because it hadn't spread, concluded that it was as severe allergic reaction to something. She prescribed prednisone and gave us hydrocortizone cream for the eye. She told us that the steroids should cause the inflammation to cease and that over the course of the 9 day treatment, it should subside. The eye swelling did subsist through the evening, though we noticed the left corner of his mouth was slightly swollen.

- On Sunday it became apparent to us that the corner of his left eye was getting red. It was also becoming clear that there were minor skin irritations (red spots) by his arm pits, top of paws, and near his chest. By Sunday night the area adjacent to his nose was red and slightly swollen, as was the corner of his mouth, the inner half of his left eye, and part of his right eye.

- Today, his right eye looks like its clearing up with a dry crust, but the inner parts of his left and right eye are swollen slightly. He also has red areas from around both eyes down his cheeks. The area around his snout is still red, but not terribly swollen. We also found some red blotches around the top corner of his left ear. Some of the red spots around his neck (which increased slightly in number) seem to be swollen, but they're not boil-like nor are they papules (I don't think). Same story with the ones on his two front paws.

We called the vet who was on her way to an emergency, and she said we should bring him in as soon as we can since the steroids should have eliminated any swelling/allergic reaction by this time.

However, we're a bit weary of going in at the mercy of being placed in a box again because, well, it gets very expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, we'd like to know if anyone out there has had similar experiences or has any insight to offer that could shed light on what could be causing these symptoms. We'd like to at least be able to throw some solid ideas at the vet before paying for a bunch of tests that are irrelevant or wasting more of Theo's time and energy. He's too cute for this!

Thanks ahead of time!

Theo and family

[Jenniffer]

My dog has also developed a severely swollen red ring around her eyes also. /She is an australian shepherd and it started out just as an irritation. I also took her to the vet and they gave her antibiotics. These seemed to work but each morning her eyes seemed the same or worse. I was reading on another web site that ring worms can cause this also. But other than that I don't have a clue. I have been putting Desitin, yes, baby diaper rash ointment around her eyes and on the spots on her body that have been affected and she seems like she's getting better but again there are times when it seems she looks the same. The vet bill for the first visit was huge, and to no avail so I'm skeptical about going back. I wish someone knew for sure what this was.

JEN

[Lara's mom]

I'm thinking it might be ringworm...Easy to treat with cream and antibiotics. If that isn't the problem, I'd suggest you see a canine dermatologist.