Hair follicle growth on face

[sev]

hi everyone, I’m new here and was hoping someone could help me identify what this small growth on my frenchie’s face could be. At first I thought it was dirt or some food stuck to her face, but when I tried to clean it off, it started to bleed. Anyone else seen something like this before?

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

hi everyone, I’m new here and was hoping someone could help me identify what this small growth on my frenchie’s face could be. At first I thought it was dirt or some food stuck to her face, but when I tried to clean it off, it started to bleed. Anyone else seen something like this before?

Welcome!

How old is she?

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it could be a skin tag possibly, or a bump irritation from a allergy reaction.

What do you feed her???

My other dog used to get some small growth like things similar to that but they ended up being allergy reaction and another time it was a skin tag- all of these were caused by the low quality food they were on as pups.
No more since the diet change and allergies are manageable.

Also do you clean/wipe her face wrinkles after she eats or at least daily?

 

[sev]

Thanks for the quick response and for the welcome!

My baby is 8 years old and she’s been on a prescription diet for a couple years now (on Hills for gastrointestinal). I throw in some shredded chicken as well.

She’s been on this diet for a couple years now but I’ve only noticed this just a few months ago. I’ll admit I’m not the best with cleaning her face every time she eats but I do wipe her mouth, face and folds at least 3 times a day.

I was really afraid this could be something worse so I’m hoping it’s a skin tag as well. If a skin tag, is it safe to leave it alone?

Thanks so much for providing your input btw!

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Thanks for the quick response and for the welcome!

My baby is 8 years old and she’s been on a prescription diet for a couple years now (on Hills for gastrointestinal). I throw in some shredded chicken as well.

She’s been on this diet for a couple years now but I’ve only noticed this just a few months ago. I’ll admit I’m not the best with cleaning her face every time she eats but I do wipe her mouth, face and folds at least 3 times a day.

I was really afraid this could be something worse so I’m hoping it’s a skin tag as well. If a skin tag, is it safe to leave it alone?

Thanks so much for providing your input btw!

First thing I would do is get her off the Hills vet food as it’s ALL garbage/ fillers, yes your vet will promote it cause they make $$$ off it and it will cause many health issues.

Her immune system is very likely not great cause the food and the food can cause the allergies too as it’s chicken and corn and grains and fillers and synthetic vitamins.

If she is on hills vet food for digestion, a probiotic would be better and probably more effective.
Those carbs in her food are not only inflammatory but it’s very high in carbs and that causes the health issues and serious growths and also can cause the skin tags.

Raw diet is best and that’s what I put my dogs on and no more growths have come up on the dogs(knock on wood)..
Best for allergies and starving everything bad including inflammation and cancer.

Good high quality kibbles:

-Carna 4
-Natures Logic

These are the most premium kibbles there is and both of them have probiotics in it and are synthetic free and all whole food based. Most easiest to digest too.

Maybe try a different protein other than chicken in case she is allergic.

Does she get itchy, hives, bumps, red itchy skin, rash, ear or skin issues?
Those are allergic reaction signs.


Sounds like your cleaning her face wrinkles enough.

I would have a vet check to confirm it’s a skin tag and nothing more serious.
Skin tags are harmless usually.

I would highly recommend getting her off the hills and get her onto a better quality food(one of the ones I recommended are great if you can). A lot of health issues can be treated and also prevented thru good food.

Avoid the following brands:

-Hills
-Royal Canin
-science diet
-purina
-eukanuba
-anything from vet or grocery store avoid
-blue Buffalo

 

[sev]

So I always heard that Hills never had a good reputation but I assumed that it’s been helping keep one of her other issues at bay. Previously, I’ve had her on Farmers Dog and Pet Plate (this was before having to transition her to Hills at the recommendation of a specialty clinic). When she was on Farmers and Pet Plate, she developed this strange issue where she would either poop in her bed or anywhere else but only when she was sleeping. She’s fully potty trained so it was strange seeing pellets in her bed and on our furniture. The specialty clinic ruled out any neurological or rectum issues which is when they recommended the Hills diet. After transitioning to Hills, the pooping issue went away so I’m torn about changing her diet again…

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

So I always heard that Hills never had a good reputation but I assumed that it’s been helping keep one of her other issues at bay. Previously, I’ve had her on Farmers Dog and Pet Plate (this was before having to transition her to Hills at the recommendation of a specialty clinic). When she was on Farmers and Pet Plate, she developed this strange issue where she would either poop in her bed or anywhere else but only when she was sleeping. She’s fully potty trained so it was strange seeing pellets in her bed and on our furniture. The specialty clinic ruled out any neurological or rectum issues which is when they recommended the Hills diet. After transitioning to Hills, the pooping issue went away so I’m torn about changing her diet again…

It’s completely up to you, but if it were my dog I would definitely try a new food and possibly a probiotic if your worried during transition.

I know 100% my dogs got growths from the low quality garbage food and I HAD 2 golden retrievers and the French bulldog, BOTH retrievers got Kidney Disease at ages 5 and 6 years from this same low quality food they came home on as puppies, they were given 6 months to live, and we put them on Hills KD for kidneys(we were fooled then and didn’t realize it was the same garbage that caused it ), kidneys got way worse on it.

Then we put them on low phosphorus raw diet and they are here 2 years now it’s been and she is improving.

Well the oldest one passed a month ago from cancer which again was low quality food that caused that. And she was given 1 month to live with that cancer, she lasted 4 months!

My point of sharing all this is that the food can be the big difference that really helps them or it can cause way more health issues.

All these issues were all caused by low quality food.

Even the frenchies health issues have been managed thru diet and some have gone away:

-Allergies
-head tremors
-epilepsy
-IVDD
-eyelid tumour(benign)
- urine crystals
-viral warts(as a puppy)

 

[sev]

Great info, I really do appreciate it! I will certainly consider switching up her food though. Just praying that her previous issue won’t come up again. *fingers crossed*

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Great info, I really do appreciate it! I will certainly consider switching up her food though. Just praying that her previous issue won’t come up again. *fingers crossed*

N&D Farmina brand also has a ‘Digestion’ formula if you want it specifically for digestion.

Carna 4 and Natures Logic brands are the most premium and they both have probiotics in it too.

 

[Jeffc]

Great info, I really do appreciate it! I will certainly consider switching up her food though. Just praying that her previous issue won’t come up again. *fingers crossed*

Rusty’s owner is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. She helped us with our boy, as he was close to needing IVDD surgery. And with her wonderful advice he’s been symptom free for almost 5 months.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Rusty’s owner is extremely helpful and knowledgeable. She helped us with our boy, as he was close to needing IVDD surgery. And with her wonderful advice he’s been symptom free for almost 5 months.

That’s great Miles is still doing good and symptom free

 

[sev]

So my girl Bailey started to get some small bumps on her back and was also gnawing at her foot all night. It’s clear to me that she’s probably allergic to her food like Rusty suggested. Perhaps it’s related to the skin tag too. I decided to switch up her food and just started to transition her to Carna4. Thanks again Rusty for the advice and suggestions, I’m hopeful the new food will improve her overall health and skin issues!

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

So my girl Bailey started to get some small bumps on her back and was also gnawing at her foot all night. It’s clear to me that she’s probably allergic to her food like Rusty suggested. Perhaps it’s related to the skin tag too. I decided to switch up her food and just started to transition her to Carna4. Thanks again Rusty for the advice and suggestions, I’m hopeful the new food will improve her overall health and skin issues!

It definitely sounds like allergies.
That’s good your starting to change her food to high quality.
They have Goat, Venison, fish and lamb for proteins that are great for allergies, I would stay away from chicken as that’s the smoky common allergy.

it can take up to 8-12 weeks to get the old food out of their system fully.

Hopefully she improves and the other health issues stays away!

Keep us updated

 

[2bullymama]

Thanks for the quick response and for the welcome!

My baby is 8 years old and she’s been on a prescription diet for a couple years now (on Hills for gastrointestinal). I throw in some shredded chicken as well.

She’s been on this diet for a couple years now but I’ve only noticed this just a few months ago. I’ll admit I’m not the best with cleaning her face every time she eats but I do wipe her mouth, face and folds at least 3 times a day.

I was really afraid this could be something worse so I’m hoping it’s a skin tag as well. If a skin tag, is it safe to leave it alone?

Thanks so much for providing your input btw!

It may just be a skin tag or a mole, as most dogs age they tent o get them. My guy has a tiny one on his eye lid, you can not even really see it, but i can feel it. vet said they can be common, but next time you are at the vet for something, have it checked.

 

[sev]

So l switched my girl to Carna4 about a couple of weeks ago and she loved it at first and would eat it all right away. However, she recently stopped wanting to eat it even after I tried adding some rice or beef in it. She eventually eats it all for her evening meal but now refuses to eat it for her morning meal. Over the past few days, she has been vomiting the thick yellow substance in the morning but only in the morning. Any one have any thoughts or suggestions?

I did notice that the new food is much lighter in weight than her previous so I assumed that maybe she’s throwing up bile from not eating enough. But when I look at the bag, the feeding amount still suggests 1 cup a day which is what I’ve been doing.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

So l switched my girl to Carna4 about a couple of weeks ago and she loved it at first and would eat it all right away. However, she recently stopped wanting to eat it even after I tried adding some rice or beef in it. She eventually eats it all for her evening meal but now refuses to eat it for her morning meal. Over the past few days, she has been vomiting the thick yellow substance in the morning but only in the morning. Any one have any thoughts or suggestions?

I did notice that the new food is much lighter in weight than her previous so I assumed that maybe she’s throwing up bile from not eating enough. But when I look at the bag, the feeding amount still suggests 1 cup a day which is what I’ve been doing.

What protein is it your feeding of the Carna 4?

Vomiting bile is usually when they are hungry/empty stomach for a long time.
Rusty vomits that in the morning IF I don’t give him a snack before bed @10pm.

That was actually caused from Rusty being on a vet food for only 8 weeks(he was 5 months old with allergies and I didn’t know vet food was garbage/fillers)and that’s when the vomit foam from being hungry in the morning started.

The Carna 4 is premium quality, so you don’t have to feed as much as you did with the low quality Hills food cause the premium food is more nutritious.

It’s common in frenchies to vomit on a empty stomach, and when they vomit foam from a empty stomach, then they feel nauseas and then don’t want to eat.

Unfortunately the low quality food causes these issues, when you switch them off the low quality food, sometimes even when they are still on the low quality food, this is usually when it starts.
And this issue of vomiting foam on empty stomach in the morning is actually common in dogs.

What time do you notice she vomits foam in the morning?

This is the food schedule that I found worked for Rusty and that completely stopped this issue by feeding a snack before bed:

Breakfast- no later than 9:00am(this is as soon as he gets up from bed after going outside- if we get up earlier then he eats breakfast earlier).

Dinner- around 4:00 pm but that’s more flexible than breakfast- sometimes they are fed dinner @4:30 or 5:00pm that’s fine.

* snack before bed- we go to bed later so he eats a snack @10:00pm sometimes 9:45.

The Carna 4 feels lighter cause it’s not filler food that’s high in carbs.

I would add a snack before you go to bed.
So if giving her 1 cup per day:
- breakfast 1/3 cup
-dinner 1/3 cup
*snack before bed 1/3 cup.

The key to get her to eat breakfast is getting her to eat BEFORE she shows signs of gonna vomit from being hungry. If they vomit from being hungry then they don’t feel well and don’t want to eat.

What time do you normally feed her breakfast? What time do you go to bed usually/able to give a snack to her before bed??

She could also be picky of wanting a different protein other than chicken(if your feeding her chicken). All their proteins in Carna 4 are great for allergies other than chicken but if she doesn’t have allergies, maybe try another protein, maybe the pet store you get it from has samples of other proteins??

I don’t recommend adding beef or rice to her food as you know she likes the food, But adding toppers create a picky eater and they will expect the topper. Adding rice is just adding more carbs which isn’t good.
I would try to avoid adding anything to her food and have a new food schedule to feed her to prevent the vomit from being hungry.

 

[sev]

Thanks Rusty. She’s on the venison flavor which she gobbled up for the first week initially but only this past week she stopped wanting to eat it and that’s when the morning vomit started. Both days where she vomited, it was around 7-8am where I could hear the gagging and body movements. There’s also no foam in her vomit, it’s mainly the yellow thick bile.

For her feeding schedule, she’s always been eating twice a day so I usually feed her around 9am (or whenever she wakes up) and then her last meal is around 5-6pm. I give her a snack before bed around 10pm as well.

I totally agree with you about not adding any toppers but I don’t know what else to do to get her to eat since she refuses to eat it without something added.

I will give your feeding schedule suggestion a try though!

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Thanks Rusty. She’s on the venison flavor which she gobbled up for the first week initially but only this past week she stopped wanting to eat it and that’s when the morning vomit started. Both days where she vomited, it was around 7-8am where I could hear the gagging and body movements. There’s also no foam in her vomit, it’s mainly the yellow thick bile.

For her feeding schedule, she’s always been eating twice a day so I usually feed her around 9am (or whenever she wakes up) and then her last meal is around 5-6pm. I give her a snack before bed around 10pm as well.

I totally agree with you about not adding any toppers but I don’t know what else to do to get her to eat since she refuses to eat it without something added.

I will give your feeding schedule suggestion a try though!

You already give her a snack before bed?

Yes the yellow bile vomit is what Rusty does when he goes too long without eating.

Since it’s in the morning before breakfast , and she does that same thing(you can hear and see her body is getting ready to vomit-gagging and such) which is also what Rusty does if he does go too long without eating.

some dogs just start getting picky, Frenchies being one of them, so some dogs do best with more variety.
I would see if you could get a sample of the Fish and maybe the goat or lamb Carna 4 formulas. She just may want more variety, Rusty is also one of those dogs, wants lots of variety and he is always excited to eat. He is raw fed, but I rotate thru 5 different raw formulas/proteins in a week, some people will buy 1 month worth in small bags and rotate one bag is a protein another is a different one. Trial and error for picky dogs. Some will do every day is a different protein if they get different proteins in small bags to last a month.


You can also soak it in water as it makes it softer. Or you can put it in a Kong or toy to make it more exciting for her. Maybe try that?

Definitely though it sounds like she needs a snack before bed.
If you go to bed earlier than 10pm, even if it’s @9:30 or so, give the snack right before bed. If it’s around 10 you go to bed, that may be better as it sounds like you feed her breakfast when she gets up around the same time.

Sometimes if I have to leave home for work @8 , I have to get Rusty up(he would stay in bed longer if I let him), and he would eat around 7-7:30 am.
In that case I feed him dinner @4:00 even if I feed him at 9 for breakfast.

It’s the snack before bed 10pm and time they are fed by 9am for breakfast that is the main thing. Dinner can be more flexible. If your giving dinner @ 5 that would work too if you feed her a snack before bed @10.

That should stop this vomit bile in the morning issue. Rusty has been on this schedule for over 3 years now and maybe vomit in the morning happens 1 time in 4-6 months IF it happens. It was happening multiple times each morning and it was when he was picky and on the garbage vet food full of fillers.
Hopefully your girl has the same success with this feeding schedule too.

Did her other issue come back when you took her off Hills vet formula that you were concerned would happen when you took her off the vet food?
Hopefully that stays away too

Keep me updated

 

[sev]

Yup, I give her a snack (she loves her greenies) before bed religiously, she actually won’t even go to bed and waits by her snack jar before she will go upstairs to bed haha.

I will try breaking up her meals into thirds so hopefully that will help. She still gnaws at her paws daily but she’s only been on the new food for a couple weeks so far. No new skin tags though.

Thanks for all the suggestions! It’s helpful to read similar issues just to put my mind at ease since I know the vet will order every kind of test available only to end up with the same results. She’s still playing and acting normal throughout the day so I’m certain it’s not something more serious.

 

[Rusty’s Owner]

Yup, I give her a snack (she loves her greenies) before bed religiously, she actually won’t even go to bed and waits by her snack jar before she will go upstairs to bed haha.

I will try breaking up her meals into thirds so hopefully that will help. She still gnaws at her paws daily but she’s only been on the new food for a couple weeks so far. No new skin tags though.

Thanks for all the suggestions! It’s helpful to read similar issues just to put my mind at ease since I know the vet will order every kind of test available only to end up with the same results. She’s still playing and acting normal throughout the day so I’m certain it’s not something more serious.

One thing regarding Greenies- they are very hard for dogs to digest and are not healthy and can cause health issues. That could be part of her skin tag growth and allergies.
Have you heard of Whimzees?
Or Plaque off dental chews??
These are way healthier and can be a daily dental chew alternative to greenies.

Also stay away from Rawhides and anything from vet and grocery store such as milk bone, pedigree brand and others with fillers.

They are so smart knowing the routines for what snack to expect at what time.

Those are way healthier, I just wanted to mention cause now your feeding premium food, that should In my opinion be extended to the treats as well but it’s completely up to you as the owner what you want to give her.

Keep me updated!