Dingle

Had a chat with his owner yesterday. I’ve been bothered by a greasy patch on his right hind. Clare clipped it and that’s really helped to dry it up but she said he gets it every year. Tried googling it but turned out I should have used the word ‘ exudation ‘ rather than ‘secretion’ as I couldn’t find anything til I asked a friend if she’d any idea.

She pointed me in the direction of leucocytoclastic vacilitis, or LV. I read about that, then checked him over and sure enough found other symptoms that all corresponded to the disease. Some of the photos in the articles are heart breaking.

Luckily Dingle seems to have a milder case of it, which is lucky as his owner can’t afford an expensive vets bill. Unfortunately, one of the symptoms is photosensitivity so really he needs to come in during the day. This tends to make him lame though, as he has an issue in his right foreleg. He’s very much against having suncream applied, but we do our best on his nose. Funnily enough, he was ok about me applying it to his sheath area ... !

We’re thinking to try him on turmeric as a cheap first attempt at helping to ease the symptoms, mostly the itchyness associated with LV.