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New puppy has whiteheads and puss on her belly. Should I see a vet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Australian Shepherd | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 15 days old | 19 lbs

Got our new puppy yesterday. After making it back home with her at 5 in the morning (16 hour round trip to get her), we noticed these whiteheads all over her belly. At first I thought, "just heat rash," but these seem to have more puss in them than I'm use to seeing in heat rash. Any thoughts? We're getting her into our current Vet the 1st of May, but wanted to make sure this didn't constitute a sooner trip.

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1 Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on April 15th, 2018

Congrats on your new puppy, but I'm sorry Birdie has a rash. It could be puppy pyoderma based on the appearance of her skin in the pictures and the location of the rash. A puppy's skin is very sensitive, and this is especially true in areas where there is lack of protective covering of hair. Puppy pyoderma is a bacterial skin infection. Treating it requires a course of antibiotics which you do need to see the vet for to get a prescription. I would recommend having her seen by the vet sooner than May 1st for this problem, and I would call the vet in the morning to see if you can get her in sometime this week. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

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