I have a 7mth old Bullmastiff and he has what the vets, puppy impetigo or acne. I have had an antibacterial face wash and two course of antibiotics from the vet but to know avail. Does anyone have any suggestions. It does not seem to bother him but when he plays about or sniffs the ground he opens up all the sores and it bleeds. Please help

Hi guest, I hope Mari will reply to this as well, and correct me if I'm wrong in anything because I've only had one bullmastiff. She used to get the odd spot around her muzzle, but never anything to cause a problem. Washing her face after food and once or twice day kept it in control. As I understand it there may be a genertic element in some bullmastiff skin problems, but they are also quite prone to allergies. So it might be worth thinking about allergy testing if the problem is severe. Fleas can also cause allergy problems, and recently there was a good thread here about this. Search for posts by Westie Lover about fleas. It might also be worth checking your pup's thyroid level: at 7 months its probably OK, but hypothyroidism can be associated with skin problems. In a human the treatment of choice for chronic/recurrent bacterial skin infection on the face is a long course of oral antibiotic, with the full dose given for a week or ten days and then about six weeks at a low dose. The usual antibiotic to start with is tetracycline, and if that doesn't work then others can be tried. It might be worth talking to your vet about this. Again in humans the first line topical antibotics are usually clindamycin or erythromycin.

Sharon I agree with your advice , only thing I would add is to dab diluted iodine on the sores , to see if the bacteria dies and dries then a little dusting of cicatrin powder
The advice Sharon gave for this problem applies to all breeds of dogs lol Mari

Thanks Mari - knew you'd rescue me :-).