Full‐thickness cutaneous burn in black‐haired skin on the dorsum of the body of a Dalmatian puppy

Background Thermal burns are an uncommon cause of injury in large animals. Case report A 10‐month‐old pet female black and white Vietnamese pot‐bellied pig presented to the emergency service with fever and erythematous to purpuric skin lesions affecting the intermandibular space and hocks. One week prior to the emergency visit, she had appeared restless and in pain. Two weeks following the emergency visit, she again presented to the large animal clinic with sloughing of the pigmented skin on her head, face, dorsal and lateral trunk sparing the nonpigmented skin and pigmented ears. The affected skin constituted ~40% of her total skin. Histopathological findings for affected skin included full‐thickness epidermal and partial to full‐thickness dermal coagulative necrosis with follicular epithelial mineralization, while that from normal‐appearing pigmented skin was within normal limits. A culture from a skin biopsy yielded meticillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ST‐72). Treatments included oral antibiotics, pain management, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and general anaesthesia to facilitate debridement. Healthy skin was often present when the necrotic skin was debrided, although in some areas the necrosis extended into the underlying fat. Complications that occurred during rehabilitation included intense pruritus that resulted in self‐trauma and the formation of a nasal fistula, which was later surgically corrected. Conclusions and clinical importance Cases of dorsal thermal necrosis in pot‐bellied pigs are uncommon in the literature. Based on the clinical presentation and lack of another identifying cause, the lesions were attributed to a sun‐induced thermal burn.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dorsal black skin necrosis in a Vietnamese pot‐bellied pig

Frank

McCormick

Kania

2014

“…The first report of burn injuries consistent with DTN described two Dalmatians that developed plaques and eschars localized to the black‐haired spots on the dorsal trunk . In both dogs, lesions developed after prolonged sun exposure (>4 h) in high ambient temperatures (>36°C, 96.8°F) . Histologically, the lesions were consistent with full‐thickness thermal burns .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Consequently, this condition has been termed dorsal thermal necrosis (DTN) . The first report of burn injuries consistent with DTN described two Dalmatians that developed plaques and eschars localized to the black‐haired spots on the dorsal trunk . In both dogs, lesions developed after prolonged sun exposure (>4 h) in high ambient temperatures (>36°C, 96.8°F) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Dorsal thermal necrosis in dogs: a retrospective analysis of 16 cases in the southwestern USA (2009–2016)

Schwartz¹,

Schick²,

Lewis³

et al. 2018

“…mufflers, hot stoves and radiators), drying cages, boiling liquids and improperly earthed electrocautery units 1,2 . Other, less common, modalities of thermal injury include solar (ultraviolet) radiation, ionizing (microwave) radiation or radiotherapy 1–4 . In addition, dogs repeatedly exposed to sources of moderate heat, such as wood‐burning stoves or fireplaces, can also develop ‘radiant heat dermatitis’, a unique thermal injury similar to erythema ab igne of humans 3,5 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case series of thermal scald injuries in dogs exposed to hot water from garden hoses (garden hose scalding syndrome)

Quist

Tanabe²,

Mansell

et al. 2011

In this report, we present a series of cases of thermal burns (scalds) in dogs resulting from exposure to hot water from a garden hose that had been lying in the sun. These dogs typically inhabited the southern and western regions of the USA, where the recorded high temperatures often exceed 32°C (90°F) during the warm summer months. Dogs with thermal scald injury in these cases presented with linear thermal burns along the dorsum, in addition to a variety of other macroscopic lesions that were dependent upon the degree of burn exposure and ranged from local erythema to ulcerated, necrotic and sloughing skin. Chronic, healed wounds were often alopecic, with markedly thickened skin and characteristically smooth and glassy scar tissue formation. Histologically, the lesions of thermal scald injury in these dogs were indistinguishable from any other second or third degree burn, and consisted of full-thickness dermal and epidermal necrosis with occasional fibrinoid necrosis of vessel walls, vasculitis and intravascular thrombosis. Here, we closely examine 10 cases of dogs with dorsal thermal burns collected from Texas, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Indiana, Michigan and North Carolina and propose the term 'garden hose scalding syndrome (GHS)' to describe this unique type of scald injury.