My dog has swollen, painful legs and a skin wound. Is it allergies?

Question

There is a street dog he is suffering form some type of infection i think it is a skin infection and first his legs get red and becime sewelled the then starts licking them as u can see in the pic he got one of his back legs wounded somehiw due to this infection and all other legs are sewelled other than that which is wounded.Before this wound the leg started sewelling and then got pimples which later took the form of a wound.Pls help.The dog is in pain and he is not letting touch that wound. Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Male

Ricardo Fernandez, DVM · Accepted Answer

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. This is quite severe and warrants therapy. The likely secondary infections need to to be addressed and the itchiness also need to be addressed to prevent this issue from getting worse. Medications like prednisone can be used for the itchiness and antibiotics for the infections. In the meantime, you can use an e-collar in the meantime to prevent further self-trauma. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

My dog has swollen, painful legs and a skin wound. Is it allergies?

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