Skin Irritation Help

[Paul Schumacher]

Our 16 week old pup has some irritation on her belly.  She hasn't been scratching or licking these spots from what I've seen. We did also notice she has been sneezing frequently, scratching her sides (although usually when harness is on so maybe the scratching is from harness), and Thursday her eyes looked a little pink. Eyes seem better today. Unsure if this might be an allergy thing or some sort of infection or something else altogether but wanted to see if others have noticed similar things in their doodles.  Should I be taking her in to vet immediately?

Thanks

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It would be extremely unusual for a 16 week old puppy to have already developed an allergy. I would have the vet take a look, it's possible that she has some type of infection. 

[Paul Schumacher]

Thank you, Karen.  Going to bring her in Monday.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Just a word of advice. Lately I've been hearing about an awful lot of vets blamiing any kind of symptom that might possibly look like an allergy on a food allergy, and trying to sell the client Rx food. Don't buy it. The chances of a 16 week old puppy having a food allergy are very, very small, and even it that were the case, there are much better foods to try than corn and floor sweepings in a can/bag, which is what most Rx foods are. 

Hopefully, your vet will do a skin scraping to check for mites, yeast, or bacteria. 

[Paul Schumacher]

Thank you!  Antibacterial shampooing of belly 3 times in last week has cleared this up almost entirely.  We will continue to clean a couple more times this week.  Diagnosed as pyoderma.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Ditto! 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My dog got what looks like this and needed an antibiotic.