Dog has persistent yellowish balls on muzzle. What are they? Lice?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It's hard to tell 100% from your pictures. It could be a number of things: 1) a dermal mass like a sebaceous adenoma that is bleeding. They can produce a whitish substance. 2) It could be a follicular cyst that ruptured. The center of these cysts have a thick cheese like substance. 3) Or it could be a skin infection. I would either shave the fur away to get a better look or bath him and clean the blood and yellow debris off. If you are worried then I would make an appointment with your Vet. They can shave the fur and take a look for you! Have a good day!

Unfortunately your photo is a bit blurry and I cannot see the yellow/orange balls you are mentioning. It is possible that your dog has small fluid filled cysts in the skin here, or what we call a pustule which is like a white-head pimple in appearance and can look yellow due to pus under the skin. I would recommend a vet exam to be on the safe side as if an infection is present he may need antibiotic treatment.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Hunny and your other dog. Fleas can be difficult to find but the easiest way is to get them to roll onto their backs and look in the thinner haired areas of the body. You can also purchase a flea comb which can trap flea dirt (small pieces of flea poop/digested blood) that looks like pepper or it traps adult fleas and other stages if present. Another method is brushing or petting the hair in the opposite direction of hair growth and look right down onto the skin level. Fleas like to hang out around the rear part of the dog near the tail and rump. Examine those areas closely. If you find some black pepper looking objects, place those on a paper towel and wet it. If the spots turn reddish than that is flea dirt. I haven't seen cases of lice in dogs but cats tend to have more lice especially ones that are wild or community cats. Dogs can also get ticks and mites which your veterinarian can help to identify. I would go to your vet and let them evaluate Hunny and make recommendations based on the physical exam. Flea/tick products vary widely depending on what the owner likes, geography, what your veterinarian likes, etc. They can direct you to the best products. Also, we are in a high allergy season in late summer with weed pollens. Dogs like people can be allergic but if both dogs are itching, they leads one to assume external parasites like you mentioned and I discussed. Good luck with Hunny.

Hi and thanks for your request. What you showed on the pics you uploaded are unlikely to be lices/fleas eggs and more likely to be dandruff. Dandruff is a generic dermatological sign which could be commonly seen in many skin disorders. First step is to treat any possible skin parasites with a good quality flea treatment, ideally on prescription taken by your local veterinarian. All the pets in the house must be treated, and the house may need to be treated indoors as well. Allergies and skin infections could be common causes of dandruff as well. To be able to give you a more specific answer, I would need a more thorough description of the signs you noticed. Please feel free to post more question on the forum if you require to discuss this problem any further. Kind regards, Dr. Orioles Massimo

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. It is difficult to say from the picture for sure what it is but I would suspect this to be mostly due to the dry nose. I would recommend using a product called Biobalm by Dermoscent. You can find this online quite easily. I woyld apply this 2 to 3 times daily and see if this helps. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Lice are definitely a possibility. Usually they get this from contact with another animal. They can also be in the environment if other animals are around the house. It is impossible to rid her of the infestation by finding and killing them individually, because they lay eggs in the hair. It's best to get a product from your vet (best option) or pet store that is labeled for killing lice and fleas. These products will quickly and effectively remove the infestation. I hope that helps and she gets better soon.

From the picture it actually looks more like a deep skin infection to me. This could be bacterial or fungal, or even a hypersensitivity reaction (less likely). I would recommend that she be examined by your veterinarian soon. They may look at a sample under the microscope to help determine what therapies might be most helpful. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.