Raw Spots Under The Eyes

A5 Sweet 16

Well-known member
A couple weeks ago I posted a pic of Ace after I assumed he'd been spurred by a rooster, because right after a tussle w/ a very lively one, he had a "wound" under his eye. Then, the very next hunt, he developed a matching "wound" under the other eye. They don't seem to be cuts, pokes, or scratches. Just raw spots. I put triple antibiotic on them & they seem to want to heal up pretty easily & cleanly. But even w/ a few days rest, it literally takes only a minute or 2 in the cattails & they're raw looking again. My other springers pounded more cattails than most dogs, & they never had this issue. Now that the season is over, I think I'll let them heal completely, give him a good rest, & then take him out to find some birds. If they reoccur, I'll consider RexSpecs.
Anybody else's dog get these raw spots?
Any thoughts on what causes them?
As I mentioned, I've been putting triple antibiotic on them. Any other thoughts on treatment?
Thanks, people!
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Yep, exact same thing with my yellow lab bitch. She gets the raw spots right where Ace has them. They heal fast after a few days of not hunting.

She doesn't have the heavy coat of my other Labs; those dogs don't get them. She is also a VERY nose down hunter, where the others are more nose high.

My vet that I hunt with says don't worry about it. He figures it's the light coat and the nose down hunt style. I do use the triple antibiotic just in case.
 
The first season I hunted Young Bert, he would charge through brush and foliage, rather than go over or around. He was 2.5 years, but had never been trained or hunted before in his life. That first season, he had scrape marks under his eyes for the first 3/4s of the the season, the last quarter he either avoided going through or the cover had been beated down enough to miss him.

Next season, he started out the same way, but it dropped off very quickly.

But then, YB had more enthusiasm than common sense most of his life. :)
 
Were you hunting in any tall corn stalks? My setter will get these if we walk in tall cornstalks. I think they are just high enough to keep whacking him under his eyes. Have to keep an eye on him. I've seen the exact same thing in taller dogs when hunting standing corn. I think they are just tall enough for the ears to hit them when they are running between the rows. Looks like you hunt a lot of cattails, I wonder since he's so young and still growing if he's just short enough for the hard stalks at the lower end of the cattails to beat him up. Maybe he'll be taller next year and won't have the issue.

Either way, I just put a little neosporin on the spots and they go away in a few days.

I enjoyed reading your post in the SD forum. Looks like you have a great partner for a long time to come. Such a joy to see the light bulbs go off in the young pups. Plus he just looks like a real cool young dog.
 
Some dogs are more inclined to get this than others. If the dings are as open as Ace's I put EMT Gel on them, but I don't use it around the eyes. In that location antibiotic is about the best option.

As an aside, when we hunt cattails in late season my yellow male Harley gets all the pigment on his nose abraded off. The top and sides get pink, and the underside is still black. You can see he's a bit raw around they eyes too. That big goon hunts hard & doesn't have an ounce of quit in him...
 
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As an aside, when we hunt cattails in late season my yellow male Harley gets all the pigment on his nose abraded off. The top and sides get pink, and the underside is still black.

Are you sure he's not just getting his nose cleaned off after being dirty all year??;) Thanks for the input. I just had somebody tell me today to use EMT gel & never antibiotic on a dog. Didn't know why though. Any guesses?
 
I've never heard that but my guess might be the dog licking it off. EMT Gel quickly hardens to a crust that clots & seals the wound, definitely don't want them getting it in their eyes...
 
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