Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Oral terbinafine or ketoconazole with cephalexin for dog yeast skin
By Rosales, Millie S et al.·Published in Veterinary dermatology·2005·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Comparison of the clinical efficacy of oral terbinafine and ketoconazole combined with cephalexin in the treatment of Malassezia dermatitis in dogs--a pilot study.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 22 dogs with Malassezia dermatitis, which causes itchy skin due to a yeast infection, was treated to see which medication worked best. All dogs received cephalexin, an antibiotic, while some also got terbinafine or ketoconazole, both antifungal medications. After three weeks, the dogs that received terbinafine showed the most improvement, with a significant reduction in yeast counts and itching. The ketoconazole group also improved, but not as dramatically. These findings suggest that terbinafine could be a promising option for treating this skin condition in dogs.
People also search for: dog itchy skin treatment · Malassezia dermatitis in dogs · terbinafine for dog skin infection
Abstract
The purpose of this randomized, single blinded clinical trial was to evaluate cytologically and clinically the efficacy of oral cephalexin alone and its combination with terbinafine or ketoconazole for the treatment of Malassezia dermatitis in dogs. Twenty-two client-owned dogs with Malassezia dermatitis completed the 3-week study. All received cephalexin (generic, 250 mg or 500 mg) at 22-30 mg kg(-1) twice daily. Eight dogs received terbinafine at 30 mg kg(-1) once daily and seven dogs received ketoconazole (generic, 200 mg) at 5-10 mg kg(-1) twice daily. The remaining seven dogs received cephalexin alone. At week 0 (visit 1) and week 3 (visit 2), mean yeast counts were determined from three affected areas using tape-strip cytology, a clinical index score (CIS) was assigned to the affected areas, and owners evaluated pruritus using a visual analogue scale. All groups showed reduction in mean yeast counts, CIS and pruritus. There was an 86.8%, 80.2% and 28.8% reduction in mean yeast counts from visit 1 to visit 2 for the terbinafine, ketoconazole and cephalexin-only groups, respectively. However, within treatment group comparisons a significant reduction in mean yeast count was only evident for the terbinafine (P < 0.002) and ketoconazole (P < 0.01) groups. Pruritus reduction was only significant for the terbinafine group. These preliminary results suggest that terbinafine should be further assessed for the treatment of canine Malassezia dermatitis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15960630/