Could it be the washing powder or softener causing it?
Yes, but I'd check very carefully for fleas first. I think thats more likely.
Trouble is, fleas are not easy to see on black dogs and often the easiest check is to dampen some white paper and place under the dog then comb her coat out so anything coming out of the coat falls onto the damp paper. Flea dirt is mainly comprised of dried blood, and this falling onto the damp paper will desolve leaving reddy brown specs on the paper.
I'll try that tomorrow tho I treated her for flee's about 5 weeks ago. The vet said to do it every couple months. I have more flea treatments so maybe I should give her it tomorrow just to rule that out?
They look scratchy - is she scratching? or trying too?
I've not seen flea bites so will rely on JohnW's valuable expertise on that one! Could be a good idea to flea treat just in case.
It might be a good idea to keep them clean and maybe apply some antibac cream like savlon/sudocream/.. to help reduce irritation.
Now the ground is very wet (well it is around here anyway) make sure you dry her tum well with a towel when you return home. Luna's skin got irritated when I forgot to dry her 'armpits' after wet walks. Could she have been lying on her tummy wet after walks/swims?
If you are using a "Spot on" flea treatment the usual reason for failure is that the fluid ends up on the fur rather than the skin. With a heavily coated dog such as a Labrador this happens so often.
If she was last treated 5 weeks ago then you could if you wanted re treat, but I'd not really want to re treat any sooner than that. Correctly applied it should be effective for at least 2 months, but as I said, so often only a small amount actually gets to the skin.
Personally, my first stop would be to check for fleas, as John outlined above and would only re-treat the pup if I found she had them. I don't like covering my animals in pesticides unless I have to.
I have had a pup with those sort of spots in her tum before and that turned out to be a reaction to the fabric conditioner I was using to wash her bedding in. So if you don't find fleas, then I'd stop putting fabric conditioner in her wash and if that doesn't work, change to a non bio, non fragranced washing powder.
Also, carpet/fabric fresheners and even those plug-in air fresheners can cause skin irritations.
How old is she? If she is only young it could be puppy acne. Coco had this at around 12 weeks and it cleared up with twice daily bathing of the affected area with Hibiscrub.
If you think it could be due to washing powder try using non-biological powder, no fabric conditioner and an extra rinse for good measure. Avoid scented carpet sprays/powders and air fresheners for a week or so to test out your theory.
It could be a reaction to salt on the roads at this time of year too.
Lottie had 2 bouts of what looked like that when she was a pup. One was puppy dermatitis so she had some special shampoo used about 4 times if I remember rightly. The second was caused by Persil Bio...so I've never used it since.
I agree with Laura about the drying the tummy properly too. I've never seen flea bites but John certainly knows what he's talking about
My vet also told me with a rash you can use simple calamine lotion if they are itching.
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