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Are my dog's smelly red lumps and rash contagious to other dogs?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Shar Pei | Female | unspayed | 12 years and 7 months old | 50 lbs

Drk red swollen pustual lumps around anus n vagina n possibly mouth from licking area. Also rash look whole area between legs. Very smelly, doesn't appear very itchy. Worried it spread to other dogs mouth by licking area.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenna Beyer, DVM, MBA, cVMA

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Published on August 6th, 2017

Pustules and a foul odor are a sign of infection, which could have been caused by fleas, allergies, mange, ringworm, heat rash, or excessive skin folds. Depending on the cause of the infection and the bacteria produced, it is possibly contagious. I recommend that Flippy see a vet as soon as possible. While you are waiting to go to the vet, you can use a calming, antibacterial pet shampoo like Dechra MalAcetic Ultra Shampoo, and make sure to dry gently but thoroughly in any skin folds.

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    Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on June 6th, 2019

    Hi, and thanks for your question. Unfortunately a diagnosis must be established first before saying it could contagious or not. This could be due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

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