Although dogs don’t face the social stigma of having pimples showing up on their face like humans do, however, it can be very uncomfortable for the dog and a sore sight to us.
Pimples usually occur on younger dogs, however, bigger dogs such as Mastiffs tend to get them regularly throughout their adulthood. Pimples can appear at any part of the body but most commonly found around the face area—chin, upper lips, and nose. Don’t forget to check out an ESA Letter to keep your furry friend with you.
As to why dog have pimples, there are many reasons to it:
- Usually it is caused by a bacterial infection, which gets trapped under the skin inside a blocked oil gland.
- It may occur when normal scatting irritates hair follicles and causes inflammation of the glands.
- Dogs with excess oil secretion have a genetic tendency to develop pimples.
- Just like humans, it can also be caused by allergies or hormones that are out of balance.
When dog pimples burst, the result is a lot worse than you can imagine. The contents can eat into the skin and cause a secondary infection. Hence, it is best to take a proactive approach when there are only one or three pimples found. If you notice several pimples bursting at once and causing your dog great pain and itch, do not delay, get to the vet as soon as possible.
What Are To Be Avoided
To Squeeze or Not To
In most cases, it’s best to avoid squeezing. I know it can be very tempting to squeeze out the pus, avoid it if you don’t know how “ripe” the pus is. Furthermore, squeezing pimples can be a very painful experience for your dog. If the pus isn’t ripe and you intend to squeeze it (that if your dog doesn’t mind the pain for 2 seconds), you may cause infected material to spread beneath the skin and cause a deeper infection.
Acne Cream
Although there are many drug store products formulated for humans that do help aid common canine ailments, however, in the case of acne or pimple creams this does not apply. These products use harsh chemicals or medications hence it’s not advisable to use it on our dogs to control or eliminate pimples. It would probably worsen the situation.
Plastic: This is a very rare case, few dogs do get an allergy reaction to plastic and will break out in pimples when their faces touch the bowls. You might want to change their food and water bowl to ceramic or metal. Honestly, I won’t put high hope on going this route but it’s worth a shot to root out all possibilities.
Natural Remedies To Zip Out Pimples on Dogs
Heat Pad
Similar to our facial regime—a facial steam before extracting blackheads—we apply heat to the affected area but without squeezing the pimple. Heat will help to open blocked pore and increase circulation making it easier to flush out the pus. Apply a warm cotton pad on the affected area for a few minutes or until it turns cool. Do this twice daily preferably before bed and nap time.
Antibacterial Shampoos
Or hypoallergenic pet shampoos, by using these shampoos will help open blocked pores and allow pimples to heal more quickly. I won’t recommend using it on a daily basis if your dog has pimples all over the body; doing so will strip off his natural coat oil resulting in more skin problems then you begin with. Unless it stated clearly on the label that daily use is okay otherwise avoid it. Having said, shampoo their face daily especially breeds with pendulous lips (e.g. Great Dane) or have flat faces (e.g. Pekingese). These breeds often get food stuck in between their facial folds and these leftovers are perfect breeding ground for bacteria.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera gel, be it from plant or formulated ones found in the drugstore, is not an ingredient that will eliminate pimple—far from it. However, aloe vera gel does help ease the discomfort caused by the painful pimple. After you wash the infected area with or without anti-bacterial shampoo, apply the area in gentle circular movement with your clean fingers.
Spayed/Neutered
If your dog tends to get pimples on a regular even if you clean your dog thoroughly after every meal, generally this is due to hormone imbalance. The best way out is to have your dog spayed or neutered. That said, it isn’t foolproof that your dog will never develop any pimple thereafter. Rather it’s a case to case basis, however, it will dramatically reduce the amount and frequency; and will any luck, zero pimple for good.
Echinacea
It is a perennial herb, commonly used in many herbal medicines to aid ailments such as reduce inflammation and infections in dogs and humans. It is given orally either in table or liquid form. You can find them in health food stores or at any holistic or some traditional veterinary clinics. Check with your vet for the proper dosage for your breed.
Calendula
Like Echinacea, Calendula is also a perennial herb commonly used as herbal remedy to quell skin infections and speed healing. Calendula is a concentrated tincture. The way to use it is to soak a cotton pad in the tincture mixture (tincture to water ratio is 1:1) and squeeze out the excess. Then apply it to the sore area and hold it for about 3 minutes twice daily.
About the author: Hannah Butler works as a content writer. Besides, she likes sharing her experience in the form of articles. In this case, she has her own section on the write my paper 4 mewebsite. In the future she is going to start writing a blog in order to describe her working methods to others.