Can my dog's autoimmune disease or ear infection spread to my puppy?

Ear infections (unless your pet has mites, which are not as common in dogs) are not contagious. Also I would recommend discontinuing the hydrocortisone spray because it is merely a bandaid and does not treat for any possible infection in the ear itself. If your other pet does lick Diesels ears, then the moisture could set up for yeast to then grow in the ear and cause an infection. So make sure to dry the ears out and use a good Ear drying cleanser (available at your local pet store) as often as needed. Then it is best to get your other pets ears actually treated with ear medication (antibacterial +/- antifungal) through your vet. Using steroids on the skin long term can also cause issues and lead to unwanted side effects (i.e. hair loss, infections, etc).

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Since I don’t know what the infection is I can’t say for 100% certainty but most likely, no they cannot spread the infection. To be certain I would contact the vet that diagnosed your dog. Good luck and kisses to BJ!

Hello. While it is very unlikely that your dog will contract any infectious disease by licking the eyes of the blind dog, I would try & discourage this. It might be best to keep the old dog's eyes wiped down with a little warm water, just to be safe. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

You are unlikely to get an eye infection and there are some diseases and parasite that dogs can pass to be people, but this not something you need to worry about. If her ears are not better after a week of medication she will need a recheck though.

It looks as if your dog has a skin infection, most commonly caused by an allergy, a skin mite (Demodex) or fleas. 

The allergy could be a due to a protein in your dog’s food or an environmental allergy like to dust, pollens, grasses, etc. 

The allergy causes your dog to itch and chew at the skin which breaks down the skin barrier. This then leads to infection. Skin infections are typically characterized by large areas of hair loss, redness, crusting, flaking, and pustules. A thorough skin examination by your veterinarian should be able to determine the cause of the itch so it can be treated appropriately. Your dog will most likely need antibiotics to help clear up the infection and possibly an allergy/anti-itch medication like Apoquel, Atopica, or Cytopoint to give some relief while the infection clears up. A medicated shampoo may be beneficial as well. I would also recommend he be on a good flea control routinely too. Once the infection has resolved a long term allergy medication (like Apoquel or Cytopoint) can be given on a regular basis to prevent any future problems. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

This is most likely not mange. These are called papules. It looks like a mild skin infection is starting. Is she licking at it? If she is then I recommend putting an elizabethan collar on her so she cannot lick at it. I would recommend not letting Coco lick at it. By Coco licking at it she can actually make it worse. I would recommend a visit to the veterinarian if these lesions get worse or they do not resolve. Your veterinarian may give oral antibiotics or a medicated shampoo to help resolve this. If you notice her drinking or urinating more then I recommend a visit to the veterinarian now. Sometimes if female dogs have a urinary tract infection they can lick that area and it can create a skin infection also. So if you see symptoms of a urinary tract infection then I would recommend bringing a sample to your veterinarian to test. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would also suspect an autoimmune disease like systemic lupus erythematosis with what you are describing. These are terrible diseases that are often difficult to treat. It appears that Roxy's current treatment is not very effective, so I would recommend scheduling a recheck exam with your vet. There are stronger medications that can be given. I would also want to ensure the disease is accurately diagnosed. This usually requires that a skin biopsy be done and sent to the laboratory for analysis. If this has not been done, then I would ask your vet about it. It's not unheard of for a case to be treated for autoimmune disease when the actual diagnosis was something different (i.e. skin cancer, mite infestation), so it's important to have a biopsy and histopathology (lab analysis) done. For more information about the suspected condition and autoimmune diseases, I recommend you read the short articles at the links below. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/systemic-lupus-erythematosis-sle-in-dogs https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/autoimmune-skin-disease-in-dogs I hope that helps and poor Roxy gets better soon.