Pyotraumatic Dermatitis: Does Your Pet Have It?

When we think about dermatitis, what automatically comes to our mind is that it is always triggered by allergens or some physical agents that could initially trigger our skin to have certain reactions like rashes, redness, swelling, scaling, and itchiness among its symptoms.  But on the other hand, there is some kind of a different type of dermatitis which is caused by self-inducing that could trigger these kinds of skin reactions.

What it is called, the self-induced kind of dermatitis is pyotraumatic dermatitis and here are some of the facts that you need to know about this unusual kind of skin condition that is triggered by the person himself.  And you will be surprised to know about the interesting facts about pyotraumatic dermatitis and what is it all about and what you could do to prevent it from happening.

What Is It

The pyotraumatic dermatitis is what we may usually call a “hot spots” which are self-induced skin lesions which is usually caused and made worse by biting, chewing, licking, or constant scratching of the skin.  And when we break down the whole term of pyotraumatic dermatitis, it would right away give us what the skin condition is all about.  The word, “pyo” means pus or abscess while the term, “traumatic” refers to self-inflicted trauma like biting, scratching, licking, or chewing.  And of course, as we may be familiar with it, “dermatitis” means swelling, irritation, rashes, and other symptoms of inflammation of the skin.

But then, though some of us may not be really familiar with it, the pyotraumatic dermatitis only happens with animals like dogs and cats which were all a very popular home pets.  And if we are not vigilant and careful about treating it right away, our pets may suffer a severe case of it that would not only make them look unhealthy, but also could trigger great amounts of hair loss and other skin conditions that are disturbing not only for our pets, but also for us to see.

What We Could Do

When it comes to pyotraumatic dermatitis, what really could be the initial cause of it are the parasites that may be residing or taking habitat on our pet’s skin and if that happens, what would occur would be a vicious cycle of chewing, scratching, and licking that would make the condition worse and for the bacteria to spread all over our pet’s body.

So what we could do besides maintaining good grooming habits for our pets is to contact our veterinarian to instantly diagnose the skin condition.  Not only that, you would also know what to do to prevent them in the future and the proper cure for it.