I recently ran into a new pup friend of Sweet Baby L’s and complimented the bandana he was wearing. 

“Oh, it’s to cover his hotspot,” his mom told me. Smart, I thought, remembering the ten days Sweet Baby L had to battle a dreaded cone as she recovered from her own hotspot. I complimented this pup owner on her ingenuity, and we proceeded to trade war stories about our experiences with hotspots. 

What’s a hotspot, you ask? It’s a skin condition that manifests as a red, swollen, oozing lesion. According to the American Kennel Club, dogs that have heavier coats are more likely to get hotspots. Think Golden Retrievers, Labs, and St. Bernards. 

I remember the moment we discovered Sweet Baby L’s hotspot so clearly.  She was sitting at my husband’s feet in the park, looking up at him like the good girl she is. We were in the middle of our first session with a brand new trainer, and Sweet Baby L was concentrating hard. With her head tilted upward, my husband leaned down to scratch under her muzzle. When he pulled his hand away, he made a face.  “What is this?” he asked, spreading his fingers apart. It looked like sap.  We looked at each other. Back then, Sweet Baby L was  definitely getting into a lot of things she shouldn’t, but we live in the city. She certainly wasn’t rolling around in any sap. 

My husband put his hand back beneath her neck and spread her fur apart. I audibly gasped. It looked like she had a gaping wound beneath her muzzle. “What the hell is that?” I asked, as Sweet Baby L laid down at our feet so we could get a better look. Her skin looked red and raw, like it had been bleeding. The amount of pus that oozed from her skin was frightening.

I wracked my brain to try to figure out what had happened. How could she have been so badly injured without either of us noticing? But Sweet Baby L didn’t seem like she was in any pain. She had been acting like her usual happy self. It didn’t make sense. The wound on her neck looked awful. I called her vet immediately and explained what I was looking at. Large wound, no blood, lots of puss. Did she get a cut that got horribly infected? I remembered how earlier in the day, we thought we noticed a tiny scratch on top of Sweet Baby L’s head. We diligently cleaned it with some antiseptic lotion we’d gotten from the vet, worried that it might become infected. Somehow, we’d managed to overlook the giant, oozing wound just a few inches away? Sweet Baby L’s regular vet recommended that we head to the emergency vet to have someone take a look. 

We hauled her into an Uber and set off to the dog ER. It was amazing to me that she looked just fine. If you didn’t know about her neck injury, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything was wrong.

(It wasn’t until we were halfway to the emergency vet that I remembered how she jumped up on my lap the day before and I thought she smelled a bit weird but didn’t think too much of it because it had been raining, and sometimes dogs smell when they get wet. It must have been the pus).

When the Uber finally pulled up at the entrance to the emergency vet, we led Sweet Baby L up into the reception area and frantically pressed the buzzer to be let in. A woman’s voice cracked over the speaker. 

“How can we help you?” 

“My dog has a massive cut on her neck,” I replied, my voice full of tears.  They ushered us inside. A nurse stepped toward us. “Where is it?” she asked, eyeing Sweet Baby L’s neck with more skepticism than I appreciated. 

“Here,” I said, separating Sweet Baby L’s fur again. I braced myself, waiting for the nurse to scold us for being the most negligent dog owners on the planet. 

“Oh,” she said, sounding bored. “A hotspot.”  She reached for Sweet Baby L’s leash and led her down the hallway to an examination room, promising she would be back soon with more details.  (This was back when COVID restrictions were in full swing and we weren’t allowed into the room with her.)   Two hours later, we were summoned back to the pickup area. Sweet Baby L came bounding out to meet us, the front of her chest shaved beneath her chin, and a big cone around her head. The vet explained that the hotspot had spread quickly, but she would be just fine.  Our instructions were to keep her wound clean and to apply a medicated pad to the area twice a day.  That was it.

Takeaway: A hotspot is a highly-treatable skin condition that can look much, much worse than it is.