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Dog Fungus Infection

For those of who have pets, taking good pet health care is absolutely necessary.

Dogs quickly become family members from being mere pets and perhaps that is the reason why their owners take such good care of them. However, no matter how careful you are, your dog is susceptible to a lot of ailments and infections and one of the most common dog health problems that a dog owner encounters is skin fungus.

Dogs are naturally smooth coated with soft skin underneath their coat. Proper grooming everyday ensures that your dog’s skin remains healthy.

However, since the skin is the largest organ in all mammals, keeping it problem free is not always easy.

Dog skin fungus is a common skin condition for dogs. If you want to keep your dog healthy, it’s better to keep a sharp lookout for these fungal infections:

Ringworm in Dogs: Also known as dermatophytosis, ringworms are the most common dog skin fungal infection. This fungal infection appears as a red colored round rash.

The rash has a pale centre. The name ringworm is a misnomer because there are actually no worms involved. Ringworms are highly contagious and can be spread to humans too therefore the infection should be treated as soon as possible.
Yeast infection in Dogs: Also known as malassezia, yeasts are common infections that cause the skin to turn scaly and red. The skin may appear greasy and can cause a foul smell from the skin. The dog may scratch a lot if it has got a yeast infection. It often manifests itself as canine ear fungus infection. Dog ear fungus should be treated as quickly as possible to decrease sustained damage to ear. Since the dog ear fungal infection is inside the dog’s ear, it can often be left undetected. However, an inspection by a licensed vet can help diagnose the fungal infection and treat it.
Blastomycosis in Dogs: This is a much less common fungal infection that has more severe complications. Blastomycosis can cause problems in the respiration system, general illness, weakness, loss of appetite and sudden dog blindness. The skin may burst into sores that are full of pus that begin to crust over.
Histoplasmosis in Dogs: Like blastomycosis, histoplasmosis is another fungal infection that is quite rare. This is a systemic infection that may cause rapid loss of weight, diarrhea, cough and fever. Other effects are swollen lymph nodes in dogs and the dog may have swollen lumps on either side of the neck as well as the armpits. The skin might eventually break out in sores.

Submitted on June 1, 2010

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