Why is my dog's tail swollen, warm, and irritated? What should I do?

Question

My pit bull mix, Ronny, has scans on his back & tail & his tail is swollen at the base. & his tail is swollen and pretty warm to the touch underneath. I've read some of the questions about swollen tails and they seem to be mostly flea based. As far as I know, my dog doesn't have any fleas. But could they still be biting him while he is outside without actually getting the fleas and that's causing him the irritation? Is there anything I can do or give him to reduce the swelling or heal it myself? Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | neutered | 6 years and 11 months old | 75 lbs

Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately not much you can do back home. This is probably 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.

Why is my dog's tail swollen, warm, and irritated? What should I do?

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