An overview of bacterial skin disease in the dog

Abstract

Pyodermas are a common cause of skin disease in the dog. Despite their frequency of occurrence, many pyodermas are misdiagnosed or improperly managed. Misdiagnosis is often associated with the pleomorphic nature of canine pyodermas and resultant difficulty in recognition. Therapeutic failures or partial successes in the management of other pruritic dermatoses may be due to the failure to diagnose a secondary pyoderma. Veterinary surgeons may be satisfied with the presumptive diagnosis of another disease such as atopy, seborrhea, flea allergy, or food allergy and overlook the presence of a secondary pyoderma. When pyodermas occur in conjunction with other diseases in which self-trauma is a component, lesions of pyoderma may be obscured. Common pitfalls in the management of pyodermas may be avoided if the veterinary surgeon is cognisant of the various possible predisposing factors, utilises a logical classification scheme, and builds a therapeutic plan based on this information.