11/08/2025
It’s amazing what we can find on the skin of a pet just from a little bit of sticky tape!
It might look a bit odd when our vets start using small pieces of sticky tape to collect “samples” from problematic skin. This image down the microscope was taken earlier this week from the interdigital space (webbing) of a dog’s paw. The dog was very bothered by his paw for some reason and our trusty tape helped figure out why. He had a very large number of yeast cells on his skin which would help explain his discomfort! The little bowling pin/snowman shaped purple things you can see in this image are all budding yeast cells call malassezia, yikes!
He has gone home with treatment to help reduce the numbers of yeast on his paw which will hopefully provide comfort in a few short days.
If your dog has red and irritated skin, it’s always worth getting it assessed by a vet. Many of our four legged friends have allergies and these can predispose to developing yeast or bacterial infections. We aim to devise treatment plans to control the allergies and stop the infections from occurring so that your pet can be comfortable and itch-free.
