Hi Lynda,

Thanks for your question.

The first issue that interests me is that you mention he had a culture and was put on Zeniquin, but you don’t mention what bacteria was grown. It makes me wonder whether a skin ‘culture and sensitivity’ was actually performed. It is not commonly done by most veterinarians but can be a vital test in this particular case. I would recommend that you confirm that this test was performed and review the results. This test should be repeated at the end of therapy to confirm that the infectious agent is actually gone. Zeniquin is not commonly used so I fear it may have been a resistant bacteria with a narrow range of sensitivity to various antibiotics. In many cases, a daily shampoo is necessary to get a resistant infection under control. I would first look into these issues.

In addition, I would recommend that a ‘skin scraping’ be performed to see if there are any other infectious agents present, such as a parasite or yeast. This would necessitate a different treatment regime if it returned positive.

I don’t support a diet change until thorough testing is performed. The diet is an attempt to reduce a food allergy, but this is not likely since it is a localized area of reaction. Most allergies are generalized over areas and not so focal, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be an allergy. I just wouldn’t make that diagnosis until I ruled the other causes first.

As a last resort for diagnosis, I would consider a skin biopsy, but my suspicion is that you will find the diagnosis with what I have already recommended.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Dr. Clayton Greenway