OTHER ACUTE ECZEMAS IN DOGS.
Apart from eczema rubrum, the acute forms have been designated according to their seat and the nature of the attendant eruption.
Acute General Eczema. This may be often traced to various causes of irritation local or general: overfeeding, over-stimulating or spiced food, digestive, hepatic, or urinary disorders, irritant dust or inspissated secretions on the skin, hot seasons, over exertion, cold baths when heated, skin parasites and scratching.
Symptoms. The whole skin, or a portion thereof is the seat of pruritus, causing active scratching and on separating the hairs on the affected parts there is found redness, congestion, and swelling with the formation of papules or vesicles, abraded, or moist surfaces, and scales or crusts. These patches are common on the back, the head, ears, rump, (Caudal eczema), the palpabræ, the lips (eczema labialis), the interdigital space (interdigital eczema), the scrotum, or the anus.
Sometimes the formation of crusts and the loss of hairs is to be noted, sometimes the eruption of large vesicles which burst and discharge a honey like fluid (impetiginous eczema), sometimes blood escapes from the irritated surface and concretes in dark crusts. The vesication and moist exudation is especially common about the head, ears, eyelids, and rump, while bleeding is especially seen around the claws and in the interdigital spaces in connection with running on rough ground, snow or stubble. The impetiginous form often bears a strong resemblance to vesicles caused by a burn with hot water. The treatment of these different forms does not differ materially from that of eczema rubrum, being first dietetic and hygienic, then soothing, and finally stimulating.
CHRONIC ECZEMA IN THE DOG.
Follows acute. Same general causes. Symptoms: skin thickens with papules, vesicles or pustules, scurf, crusts, depilation, surface glossy, abraded, scratched, raw, rough, fœtid, itching, emaciation, exhaustion. Chronic eczema of the back. Fat, old, gluttons. Symptoms: circumscribed patches on back, loins, quarters, tail, intense itching, skin thickened, cracked, raw, encrusted, black, folded, rigid, fœtid, hair broken, erect, shedding. Very inveterate. Chronic eczema of elbow and hock. Causes: friction on summits of prominent bones, filth, infection, predisposition. Symptoms: red, thickened, bare, indurated, calloused skin, cracks, sores, discharge. Inveterate. Chronic dry eczema of head, ears, neck and limbs. Circumscribed area, slow progress, thick, rigid, folded skin, hairless, dry, scaly, moderate itching. Treatment: Fresh eruption like acute form. For old chronic form, stimulating astringents, silver, mercury, copper, boric acid, tannic acid, iodoform: for dry and scaly, ointments of oil of cade, tar, green soap, zinc, cresol, lysol, chloro-naphtholeum, sulphur, sulphur iodide, ichthyol, salicylic acid, chrysarobin, naphthalin, naphthol, resorcin.
While acute eczema may recover permanently under hygienic measures alone, yet any case is subject to relapse and the new eruptions may succeed each other so persistently that the affection becomes essentially chronic. Like the acute, chronic eczema may be general or local and be named accordingly.
The same general causes as produce acute eczema are operative in maintaining the disease indefinitely. Faults in diet, overfeeding, unhealthy kennels, foul air and surroundings, hot weather, licking and scratching are among the common causes.
Symptoms. Under the continued inflammation the skin becomes thick (on the back it may be double or treble its normal thickness), it has a general angry congested appearance, papules, vesicles and pustules coexist or succeed each other and as these dry up, scales and crusts accumulate. The hair drops off over extensive patches, leaving a somewhat shining skin. What hair remains is largely twisted or broken by rubbing and scratching. Hypertrophy of the papillary layer is not uncommon giving a rough uneven aspect and feeling to the skin. A common feature is an offensive odor from the affected skin, and which may betray the persistence of the disease when it has been supposed that all eruption has been overcome. While not prepared to follow Cadeac in making this a diagnostic symptom from other skin diseases, yet as an evidence that an eczema is not yet entirely healed it serves a very useful purpose. In oldstanding cases the continued irritation, the unintermitting itching, the absorption or circulation of morbid products, and the constant nervous excitement may lead to emaciation, exhaustion and death.