Dog got a hotspot out of nowhere and he's never had one before.
I put an e-collar on him to keep him from irritating it more until we got to the vet (tomorrow morning was the earliest they could get us in), but he showed me while I was on the phone with said vet that he can easily maneuver around it.
Wondering 1) what caused the hotspot and 2) what I can do to keep him from fucking with it more until tomorrow.
Unfortunately I'm pretty ill right now and I don't have the strength to take him out on a walk to tire him out and keep him from licking. I live alone. I put some topical hotspot stuff on his spot, but from what I've heard most OTC stuff for dogs is pretty useless. Possible causes in the next post...
>>2028361
I think I've narrowed it down to a food allergy or stress. At the beginning of December I switched him from Science Diet to Taste of the Wild puppy food with salmon as its main protein. He's had salmon treats before. It was a rocky start even though we did a gradual switch, but by now his poop is normal and he looks and acts great. However, I know that dogs (especially goldens) can easily develop allergies to proteins they've already been exposed to no matter how long they've been eating it.
On the other hand, my mom, sister, and 8 year old brother came to visit me. All of them stayed crammed in my 1-person apartment (and left it like a pigsty). My brother teased my dog any chance he could--pretending to hold treats, nagging him to do tricks, hugging him, holding his hands above his head and yelling, etc. He started licking his paw the night before they left, but I didn't think anything of it. I found the hotspot the morning after they left.
He is licking his other paws, but he stops when I notice and tell him to knock it off. Otherwise he's been acting normally. Very playful, eats normally, not lethargic, etc.
Obviously there could be a totally different reason why he's licked himself like this and those are just the two most obvious things that stick out to me. Mostly I want to know how to keep it from getting worse until I get to the vet tomorrow.
Currently I'm distracting him with a huge rawhide chew, but I don't like him having rawhide so I'm forcing him to take frequent breaks throughout the day.
