Bald spots on bulldog's legs.

Dr. Marie replied:

Thanks for your question Jennifer. And also, thank you for the excellent photos. Here are two of them:





Bulldogs are famous for getting staph infections and there is a good chance that this is what this is. Cephalexin is the usual antibiotic that we use for a staph infection. It is possible that you will need to have her on it longer before you see a significant improvement. It could take 10-14 days to start clearing up.

The pictures make this look a little bit like a parasite called demodex. However, demodex is not contagious from dog to dog so it's not likely something that Mina picked up from the new dog. Some dogs are born with a susceptibility to demodex and when stressed can have outbreaks. It's possible that the stress of having a new puppy (even if she likes the puppy has brought about demodex. In most cases, demodex is not serious and can go away on its own. But there are some dogs with a condition called generalized demodex that can be very serious.

If this condition is not improving in another week or so you can ask your vet to test for demodex. It is a simple test called a skin scraping.

If it's not getting better then another possibility is ringworm which is a fungal infection. Ringworm is not terribly common and I am doubtful that this is what this is but it is worth asking your vet about.

I would keep giving her the antibiotics and if you haven't seen any improvement in another 7-10 days, or if you feel that it is continuing to get worse then you could consider going earlier.

I hope things are better soon!

Dr. Marie.



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Dr. Marie replied:

A staph infection is not contagious. It does seem strange though that Lia has these spots too.

Mosquito bites can definitely cause odd skin lesions but they don't usually look like this.

Demodex is really not supposed to be contagious but if this were my case this is the first thing I would be testing both dogs for. Dogs can have a genetic predisposition for demodex so given that they are related, this is certainly possible!

If the test for demodex is negative then I would probably be testing for ringworm.

If you do have further tests done please let me know what you find out!

Dr. Marie.