I have a litter of 4 day old pups with a very good mother who cleans them up well. They have gained weight every day and are generally doing really well but today I noticed 3 out of 8 have what feels like a small scabby area under their fur on their backs. Nothing obvious to see but it can be felt and on close examination it does seem to be a scabby patch. Does anyone know what this is likely to be?
Ted

sometimes young pups have this its like shedding skin.
My last litter all had it i could almost peel it of.
Ifound wipeing them over with a touch of baby oil helped.
I must stress this was my pups so don"t take this as read.

Like 'Cradle Cap' in babies?

yes that is just what its like. I will try the baby oil. I did try to pick off a scabby bit tonight but the pup cried and it looked sore underneath so I will not do that again. I described it to the vet but she didn't have any suggestions.
Ted

I wonder if you could use cradle cap shampoo? As it's for infants I would think it wouldn't be too bad for your pups. I found it to work better than the baby oil. Brushing before, during and after the shampoo is applied with a soft bristle brush helps things along. I can't remember what I used on my kids, but it starts with a D. Det?????? Any chemists should have it. You may even be able to pick it up at your local shop. :)
Quinn

this is delicate . are you sure the pups have not got flea bite . no offence intended, a flea can get at any animal it is usuallya browny reddish scab and is sore . needs treatment such as benzin i think no harm to check it out

Hi, I would ring the vet for advice and take them in if neccessary. I wouldn't pick firmly attached scabs off, they will only need to scab over again, whatever the cause. It could be many legged "friends" or something that may need AB's. I wouldn't leave it too long before you get veterinary advice. Hope they recover quickly. Could you let the board know what it is/was?

The thing to use for cradle cap is bicarbonate of soda.
mix to a paste and rub gently. I said in my first post (its as if you can peel the skin off i didn"t mean to you to do this) sorry if i mislead you.
Is the worst of it near the bottom of the tail?

what breed is it you have ,some breeds i believe are prone to puppy dermas ,they grow out of them though, if thats what's causing the scabs, if its an invasion of the legged type you need to be very careful what you treat them with as they are so young,consult your vet on the best product for them

just saw a posting that you'd put on the barf board, on it you say one of your dogs has become very itchy, perhaps this could be a lead to your pups becoming scabby, have you had them to a vet yet, is it the litter from your basset that you're having the problems with?

Hi, no offense intended so please dont take this the wrong way. If one of the other dogs owned is very itchy, it could possibly be sarcoptic mange. This almost always starts, in puppies with scabs on the head, often on the "crown" and then travels to the armpits of the front legs and under the jaw travelling down the neck to the chest. Also on the inside of the hind legs often from the hock area downwards. Contracting mange is nothing to be ashamed of, and doesn't mean that your dogs are not well cared for. If it is sarcops, you would need to have it diagnosed quickly, though some vets sometimes find it hard to diagnose without a skin scrape-not something you would want to do to tiny babies - and that is not always conclusive. I believe Stronghold drop on - which will cure it without foul baths (which they couldn't have until 12 weeks old anyway), can be used on nursing mothers and very young puppies, though how young I am not sure. I had an outbreak of sarcops here many years ago, the vet reckoned a mangy fox must have died nearby as the mange mites can travel up to 1/2 a mile in damp weather, to find a new host or that the bitch caught it from the stud dog during mating. I would be very tempted to treat all the adult dogs you own , including the mother with the Stronghold drop on, now, just in case. I hope I am wrong and please dont take offence. Good luck.

wl I also thought of that but was reluctant to post for fear of offending . flea bite can infect with that mite as well I hope we are both wrong for sake of pups mari

One of my dogs was itchy a few weeks ago but had no other symptoms, that stopped when I stopped giving her the fresh meat which she wasn't used to. Not connected with these pups.
The pups scabby area is at the base of the tail and on their back but isn't getting any worse and it is not flea bites either. You wouldn't know it was there by looking but it can be felt under the fur. The biggest patch is the size of a 50p most are20p size and one is like a scratch.
Ted

Because the Basset can be affected by Seborrhea, I'd probably call my vet. The problem with primary seborrhea, as I understand it, is that it can first surface at an early age as mild flaking and dryness, progressing to a more serious condition by the time the dog is a year to eighteen months of age.

Hi Ted, Phew!! Doesn't sound like mange then. I hope you wern't offended, its just that when I had my outbreak here, I was horrified, as I thought others might think it "smacked of neglect" and was too afraid to mention it to other breeders I know in case they thought badly of me. This is the trouble with breeders/owners not sharing information and owning up to problems they might have. there is such a wealth of knowledge out there to be gained from others if only they would share it more. I discovered very recently, several years after my dogs got it, that someone else had used the same stud dog as me around the same time and got mange in all his dogs, almost certainly from this stud dog, but although we were in regular phone contact with each other at the time, he didn't mention his problem and I didn't mention mine- so I was as guilty as the next for keeping quiet - through fear of what people may think. It was a great relief to find out where it had come from, and that it wasn't "my fault" albeit many years later.
Hope you get to the bottom of it soon and the pups improve quickly.

I really feel you shouldn't be ashamed of any condition your dog(s) gets, the mark of a careful owner or breeder is not what the dog gets but how quickly you spot it and have it treated correctly. Its like nits for children - all can so easily pick them up at school or out playing, no matter how well looked after the children are, but the careful parents spot them very quickly and take appropriate action.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

Absolutely, Joan. Plus the more honest we are with other breeders will only improve our breeding.

honesty doesnt appear to be everybodys best virtue,its a shame as without the truth its hard to plan ahead with your breeding program ,we all hopefully know the faults in our bitches and what we'd need to improve them, if the stud dog owner is less than honest then you could be taking a step in the wrong direction,
while im on this board as the other one went off topic-perhaps this is the right one to ask tballard what other dogs he has other than the bassett he spoke about on the other board, -unless for some reason of course he'd rather not say, if so im sorry for asking

The problem is not only with the stud dog owner, though. In many cases, the bitch's owner knows of problems in her background and yet presents her with appropriate health checks (hips, eyes, vWD, etc.) as being fit to breed. Then when something occurs, it is all of a sudden the stud's fault. One kennel that I am thinking of has a 'hidden history' of hermaphrodites and would deny it vehemently to any stud dog owner.