Ringworm, fungal infection
Overview:
The fungal skin disease dermatophytosis has come to be called ringworm because of the appearance of the skin lesion that characteristically occurs with this disorder: a circular area of hair loss with a red, raised outer rim. These lesions result from an inflammatory reaction to the fungus. Most often, dogs and cats are infected by the Microsporum canis fungus, but other types of fungi cause ringworm infections as well.
Rabies
Overview:
Rabies is almost always fatal in domestic animals. The classic symptoms include apprehension, anxiety, biting or snapping at random, and frothing at the mouth. Any mammal, including a human, can be infected by the rabies virus, which causes severe neurological disease and death. The virus is passed in saliva typically acquired through a bite wound or by eating an infected animal. The most common rabies carriers are wild animals, including foxes, skunks, raccoons, and bats.
Canine typhus, infectious jaundice, Leptospira
Overview:
A contagious bacterial disease of animals that can be passed on to humans, leptospirosis affects the kidneys and the liver, causing damage that can lead to organ failure and death. Typically, rodents and wild animals are carriers of the disease. Infection occurs most commonly when the mucous membrane or abraded skin of an animal or human comes into contact with urine containing the infective leptospire bacteria.
Hip dysplasia, Hip arthritis
Overview:
Difficult to prevent and treat, canine hip dysplasia is among the most studied -- and the most frustrating -- diseases in veterinary medicine. Canine hip dysplasia is a developmental orthopedic disease in which an abnormal formation of the hip leads to looseness in the hip joints, causing cartilage damage. Progressive arthritis can result, and when it does, it can be crippling. Hip dysplasia is not the same thing as arthritis in the hips -- rather, it is the most common cause of arthritis in the hips.
Ear hematoma
Overview:
When a dog has a painful or itchy ear, it may swing its head about or scratch its ear to alleviate the discomfort. This behavior can cause trauma to the dog's pinna, or earflap, that can add even more irritation to the ear.
An aural, or ear, hematoma is a swelling in the earflap resulting from an injury. When the tiny blood vessels in the ear's cartilage rupture and bleed, the hematoma -- a firm, fluid-filled swelling -- will appear within the dog's ear. The examining veterinarian will be able to treat this hematoma by any of several procedures that drain the fluid. Minor surgery may be required.