Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 3/19/2006

Question
hi
i have a doberman puppy which is 4 months old now. a couple of weeks back something which looked  like pimples started to appear on it's belly and also on the thigh of his hind legs.he is also losing  hair and has white scales on those parts where this pimple like things appear.it experiences itching also. now  it started appearing on  it's chest and  neck too.a local vet doctor said it's a fungal infection and prescriped him a medicine called forcan which is actually meant for humans. he asked us to give the medicine once a week.(50mg) .  another vet doctor said that it's an allergy. so now we are confused. could you pls tell us what to do?
deeja  

Answer
I would suggest that these pustules be looked at under  the microscope by your vet.  These pustules are very common in Dobes (we call tham Dobie Bumps) and they are often a Staph bacterial infection.  Unless your pup is allergic to foods, this would not be an allergy.  And having a fungal infection show up as pimples would be very rare. IF the puppy is extremenly itchy, sarcoptic mange shows up like this sometimes.