Staph infection

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Welp my sweet Phin has come down with a staph infection. To make matters worse, Yeti will not stop trying to clean his staph infection. We just got home from the vet where we were prescribed with 10 days of cephalexin. We’re to give him 2 a day and keep the area dry. Is this a good antibiotic? Anyone ever been though this before? Phin doesn’t seem to be bothering the area himself, but like I said Yeti won’t leave it alone. I have apple bitter spray that I’m going to try to use (he hates the stuff) to keep him away from Phin. We are also supposed to give him the medicine with food, but Phin doesn’t always eat his food so of course I’m worrying about how what to do if he doesn’t eat. 

If you have been through this with your furry babe please shed some insight! It is much appreciated!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Cephalexin is a very good antibiotic, but it did nauseate Jackdoodle, and the first time he got it (with his food), he regurgitated his whole meal (and the meds, I assume) shortly afterwards. The vet advised me to give him a Pepcid about 20-30 minutes before the antibiotics & food, and that did the trick. 
You know I am not a big fan of food toppers and coaxing dogs to eat, but in cases where they must eat for health reasons, I think it's okay to add something to the meal to entice them to eat. A scrambled egg, or a chopped hardboiled egg worked well for me. 

As for Yeti, you are going to have to keep him away from Phin if he cannot be prevented from licking the infected area. Correct him strongly if he goes near Phin's stomach (I'm assuming this is the area you posted about a couple of weeks ago) and crate him if you have to. Gate him in another room. He MUST leave that area alone so it can heal. Obviously, if you have to keep it dry, you can't let Yeti near it. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, and you are going to need to give Phin Proviable for a couple of weeks after the antibiotic is discontinued.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Haley, somehow you duplicated this discussion. I closed the other one so you wouldn;t get responses in two places, lol. You can delete it, here's the link:
https://www.doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/top...

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Karen I’m so so thankful you saw this before I started him on his antibiotic tomorrow! I will absolutely give him a little Pepcid before hand and thank you for the good advice about the food topper! We have had them both on proviable for a few months now so they should be set!! We are just going to have to keep them apart for 10 days until he healed up!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Cephalexin is an excellent antibiotic. Both of my doodles have been on it in the past. I don't know where the staff infection is, but maybe you could put a pair of boxers or a t-shirt on Phin to keep Yeti away from licking it. I wouldn't want to get bitter apple on the wound. He needs to take the antibiotic with food to prevent upsetting his stomach. Also give him an antacid and a probiotic but not at the same time he gets the antibiotic. After typing this I see Karen answered. Whatever she says it the right information to follow! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL Bonnie, you said the same things I did! 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our dogs love peanut butter so when Clancy recently needed an antibiotic taken with food, we administered it right after his meal. We make a tiny peanut butter 'meatball' with the pill inside. We also gave him an LID kibble which he refused to eat so after a couple days we went back to his regular kibble.   I have found for my non-eater Ned, if I truly need him to eat, I will mix in a few kibbles from one of the sample bags from the pet store - or in he case of another dog needing a special diet - a few kibbles from that bag.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

Cute pic. Feel better soon, Phin!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Got Phin to take his pepcid this morning. He was so confused about what it was haha. I gave him his antibiotic with a tiny piece of cheese and then mixed his kibble with a small amount of peanut butter so he would eat it all this morning. After work I will stop by the store for a fresh pack of eggs to mix in with his kibble. Thank you all so much! Not sure how this happened but the good thing is he doesnt seem to be in any kind of pain or discomfort!

[DonMarie and Picco]

Such an adorable photo! Don't forget (as Karen said) to give Proviable after the antibiotic! It helps to give the probiotic with something fatty to help protect it from stomach acids.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

It looks like we will be doing antibiotic around 7/730 am and pm and then my boyfriend gives them their nightly proviable around 1130 when he gets home from work! My dogs think that proviable is a treat. When we pull the box out they go nuts over it lol