I have a 65 lb - 7 month old male Akita puppy - shortly after arriving to our new home, he started to show blistery pestules on his flank and red skin on his scalp.  My vet prescribed a round of antibiotics (Cefalexin (500 mg) 1 tablet twice a day). We put him on this for four weeks - and it cleared his condition up.  After he was off the meds for three days - the blisters sprouted up again - he showed discomfort and itching - so back to the vet with another six weeks of the same.  Off the meds - they came back - and a new prescription for six weeks.  They went away... he's been off for three days and I'm taking him to the vet in an hour - blisters and red skin have returned and now he has a swollen jowl and I'm feeling a lump in his neck.  I recognize the swollen lump on his jowl (which is still pussing a bit) and the throat lump might be a different condition from the skin issue.  The vet has told me that this might be a staph infection on the skin and the puppy had not developed a natural immunity yet.  Ho hum -- I'm worried.  We live by a lake with a large backyard - the swollen spot on his jowl might be an insect bite or he may have bit into the rose bushes - not sure -- we live in Dallas, TX.  

I plan to change his diet - we changed it to a top-of-the-line natural dry food for large puppies when he came home - I've asked my vet if this might be a food allergy - he said no -- I'm going to try to change it up.  We've been using Wellness brand with a 26% protein content.  I've read some postings that have dropped their puppy protein content to under 17% and have seen positive results.  Any thoughts / help would be greatly appreciated.   Harley would kiss ya if he could.

Hi and welcome :-)

We had a similar problem with my Newfie when she was a pup.  Vet also prescribed Cefalaxin which cleared it up for the duration of the tablets but it came back right away as soon as the course ended.  Our vet at the time seemed to have no interest in establishing the cause, just treating the symptoms.

I changed her food to elimiate all grains from her diet as some (especially corn/maize) are known to be allergens for some dogs.  This helped a bit.  I now feed a predominantly raw diet but have learned that rice seems to be ok for her. 

We changed to a new vet who immediately looked for ways to bring her skin condition under control without the need for antibiotics continuously.  In the beginning she had weekly baths, alternating Malaseb (anti-bacterial) shampoo one week and Epi-soothe the next.  He also recommended a therapetic dose of Fish Body Oils (3 x 1000mg daily) plus Vitamin E (1 x 400iu daily).  An anti-histamine (chlorphenamine maleate - not the 'one a day' variety) might help to eliminate itch.  I can't recall what dose we gave when she was a pup but another poster posted this recently which might help:
PIRITON DOSAGE FOR DOGS

Tablets are 4mg, dosing is:
Small dogs 2-4mg every 8-12hrs
Large dogs 4-8mg every 8-12hrs
Maximum recommended dose 0.5mg/kg every 12 hours
There are contraindications so if your dog has medical conditions or is on other medications then check with your vet before giving them.
(Taken from BSAVA formulary 5e)

Her skin condition is now pretty much under control.  She has an occasional serious flare up requiring antibiotics but the rest of time the little patches that crop up can be treated quickly with a little bit of Fuciderm ointment.  We don't need to bath her often either but when we do we use Quistel shampoo and conditioner.

HTH

Take him straight back to your vets and get referred to a specialist - this sounds like a typical case of Pemphigus Foliaceus.  It is an immune condition common in Akita's.  Please get your boy treated asap as if left trying to treat with AB's it can cause anything from blindness to death.  Please research the disease on the internet and take all info to your vet.  Some vets are slower at picking immune problems up. 

My own Akita is suffering with a type of Pemphigus but luckily only on her feet - with treatment (steroids and immune drugs) and lots of visits to Langford she is on the road to recovery.  It is a condition that can never be cured but can be kept in remission.

Please pm me if you'd like more info and please, please get him to a specialist.

I used to work for a vet that specialised in skin problems caused by staph infections. The way she treated all of them successfully was to not feed ANY dry complete food at all. She didn't have a single failure. I'd try feeding raw if I was you.

I appreciate the insight - the vet gave me more AB's along with a skin scrape that revealed Demodex mites.  I'm bathing him shortly and then will prepare the solution to "dip" him per the instructions.  His thought as with his reduced auto-immune system - the mites have found an ample supply to feed on.  I need to get the mites taken care of and let the antibiotics calm this situation down.  I'm going to continue my research on the Pemphigus Foliaceus as this really appears to be what we're facing.  Additionally, will be changing his diet. 

Damn I hope this improves -- he's a trooper - tolerating it all well - but is miserable.

> Additionally, will be changing his diet

what have you decided to change to? just if your thinking raw there are lots of helpful people here to give you tips