How to Treat Folliculitis in Dogs With Antibiotics?

The following article has explained the best antibiotic treatment for folliculitis in dogs. Folliculitis is a skin condition where you may see redness, inflammation or swelling, etc on the dog’s skin. It may also cause itching, discomfort, and pain. It may be caused by bacteria, fungus, parasites like mites, molds, mange, ticks, and fleas, etc. 

Dog Folliculitis Antibiotic Treatment

If you’re looking for the best antibiotic to treat inflammation of hair follicles in pets. Then first, it is important to know whether is it bacterial infection or fungal or yeast infection or an infection caused by parasites. Because swelling of hair follicles antibiotic treatment is effective if the infection caused by the accumulation of bacteria. Antibacterial drugs just kill bacteria or stop the growth of bacteria, they don’t kill or affect parasites like fleas or ticks, and have no killing properties against fungal or yeast micro-organisms.

What do you mean by Folliculitis?

Folliculitis is defined as the “inflammation or swelling of the hair follicles”. This is a serious skin condition that may be caused by several reasons.  Endocrine disturbance or hormonal changes, hypothyroidism, skin trauma, bacterial infection (the infection caused by microbial i.e, bacterial, fungal or yeast infection (the infection caused by micro-organisms i.e, fungi), parasites infection caused by parasites like molds, fleas, ticks, mites, mange’s bites, are the main culprits of causing inflammation of hair follicles in dogs, cats, and other mammalians.

Best Anti-Bacterial Treatment For Folliculitis In Dogs

There are many effective broad-spectrum, veterinary oral antibiotics for the swelling of hair follicles are available. Topical antibiotics including cream, ointment, spray, and lotion are also available to treat inflammation of hair follicles in pets.

• Clavamox (amoxicillin trihydrate and clavulanic acid (clavulanate potassium) chewable tablets and liquid oral suspension
• Simplicef 100mg/200mg tablets (Cefpodoxime proxetil) treats a variety of soft-tissue infections in mammalians.
• Baytril (contains enrofloxacin), a strong antimicrobial drug that treats a variety of skin infections including inflammation or swelling of hair follicles in dogs.
• Zeniquin (marbofloxacin), a broad-spectrum, third-generation antibiotic, fluoroquinolone, that kill bacteria easily.
• Rilexine (cephalexin), a first-generation cephalosporin drug uses to treat a variety of bacterial skin infections in dogs.
• Tylan Powder (tylosin tartrate) an antibacterial powder uses against bacterial infections.
• Doxycycline Hyclate is another best oral antibiotic drug for the inflammation of hair follicles.
• Convenia Injection (cefovecin sodium) is a strong veterinary antibiotic injection uses to treat inflammation of hair follicles in dogs and other canine and feline.
• Other oral antibacterial compositions like metronidazole (stops the growth of bacteria), penicillin, ampicillin, are also effective against bacterial skin infections.

Although there are so many other fluoroquinolones like ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, etc and cephalosporins like cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefazolin, etc are available that are effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. But they are not FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved for bacterial folliculitis antibiotic treatment.

Clavamox, Simplicef, Baytril, Zeniquin, Rilexine, Convenia are some popular veterinary antibiotic brands suitable for treating dog folliculitis at home (available on Vet prescription).

Topical Antibiotics For Dog’s Folliculitis (inflamed hair follicles)

You may use antibacterial cream, ointment, lotion, or spray as with oral antibiotic administration. There are also many topical antibacterial preparations available that treat redness and swelling of hair follicles. These include;

• Fucidin Cream/Ointment is an antibiotic topical treatment uses for inflammation of hair follicles in dogs. It contains the active ingredient, “Fusidic acid” that kills a broad range of bacteria-types.
• Cicatrin Powder by GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) pharmaceuticals, is an antibiotic topic powder, effective against skin bacterial infections. It contains neomycin sulfate and bacitracin composition. 
• Folliculitis causes severe itching. So, if a dog scratches the body part constantly. The infection may become worse. A topic cream/lotion known as Lotrix by GSK pharmaceuticals is available to treat itching and scabies. This contains Permethrin 5% as an active ingredient.

We have provided the best information about dog folliculitis antibiotics. But we don’t suggest any medication. This article is just for information (especially for dog owners). Always consult your veterinarian before undergoing any kind of medication for your pets.

A veterinarian can diagnose the exact cause of folliculitis in dogs. If the skin condition, the inflammation or swelling of hair follicles is caused by bacteria, then the above article would be very helpful for you. As it provided the list of best antibiotics that treat soft tissue infections, urinary tract infection, periodontal disease, ear, nose, and eye infections in canine and feline.

Treating Dog Folliculitis At Home

So the question is “Can you treat inflammation of hair follicles in dogs at home?”. There are many home remedies for this kind of skin condition as it causes itching, redness, swelling, etc. You may suppress the symptoms of skin infection for a short time but you can never treat inflammation of hair follicles at home without going to a veterinarian. 

Inflammation or swelling of hair follicles is a chronic skin infection that has more than three culprits. It may be caused by hormonal disturbance, bacteria, fungi, or yeast, as well as parasites like ticks, molds, mange, fleas, etc.

A veterinarian may better diagnose the reason behind folliculitis. Antibiotics are only effective if this skin infection has caused by the accumulation of bacteria. The timeline of using antibiotics for skin infection may depend upon which kind of antibacterial drug the vet suggests for the inflammation or swelling of hair follicles.