Erik Christie

"Jagger" has had skin infection for the past couple of weeks - looks like tiny zits on his chest and between legs and body. We took him to the vet for a look - our vet prescribed some shampoo and conditioner. Did not help. Then he prescribed cephalexin @ 500 mg x 4 per day. This made him have horrible diarrhea. So the vet prescribed Clavamox 500 mg x 2 per day. We will see what happens. Has anyone had any experience with this amoxicillin derivative? I hope this works ...
THX for the help.

tjmom

It sounds like what Jagger has is probably staph. My Jada currently has a staph infection. When they are puppies their immune system is not quite 100% so it is easy for them to get the infection. The "zits" that you describe will dry up and eventually go away but it can take sometime and sometimes you have to have them on antibotics for some time. Do not be surprised if he loses hair where the sores are but no worries it will grow back. My two previous dobies also had staph infections when they were pups. We have used both antibotics that you stated and it just depends what will work for your pup. I tell as many people as I can, DO NOT under any circumstances let your vet prescribe sulfur based meds for your dobie. We will not let our vet prescribe anything like that to our Jada as both of our previous dobies were allergic to it and Doberkim here on the forum will also tell you that this is not a good choice for dobies. Good luck and be patient. If it is staph then it could take some time to clear up.

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reddobes

Clavamox is similar to Amoxicillin, but has increased spectrum of activity. The staph bacteria on dog skin can be resistant to regular amoxicillin. Diarrhea can be an unfortunate side effect to any antibiotic. Cephalexin is a great skin antibiotic that is not expensive. Clavamox is also a great skin antibiotic, but can be quite expensive in large dogs so is usually not what we try first. Diarrhea can be common with Clavamox, although some tolerate it fine. Giving the pills with food, can sometimes help. The class of antibiotics that probably has the least amount of GI side effects (and in fact is used in humans for IBS) are the fluroquinolones - Baytril, Cipro, Orbax, Zeniquin,etc. These too are great skin antibiotics, unfortunately, they are CONTRAINDICATED in young growing dogs as they can affect the cartilage (unless there is a potentially life threatening infection that is only susceptible to them). Antibacterial shampoos can also be a big help. The most important part of them is making sure they have sufficient contact time - i.e. 10 minutes -- and I know, this will seem like an eternity while you are bathing Staph infections are very common in young dogs, especially short-haired dogs. It is typically recommended to treat superficial skin infections for 1 week beyond when you have any pustules, otherwise they often just come right back.
Note - 4 times per day seems quite frequent to me.... Cephalexin is usually dosed at 8-12 hour intervals in dogs.. .
Good luck with your pup!

alwayshadpets

When Tamora was on Cephalexin (for staph) she was on 3 times a day 500mg. Her weight 61lbs. She also was prescribed a shampoo and conditioner. Did not have any darrhea problems. However if she would have I would have added a little canned pumpkin to her diet.