Red, itchy spots?

[emilyharley]

I have a 3 year old female boxer, and she developed some itchy red spots on her neck a few weeks ago... they didn't start off being itchy, so we assumed that it was just irritation from her collar. We removed it and replaced it with a much more loose collar.

However, the spots have gotten more red in the past week and she will NOT quit scratching at them. We have completely taken off the collars while she is in the house because we don't want it irritating her neck further. Also, today I noticed that she was chewing on her front paw and noticed that she has a big red bump between two of her toes, and in between the other toes on that paw is looking red too.

We have been giving her some benadryl to relieve the itching, but I personally don't think it is helping much. I'm trying to fix this as easily as possible without having to take her to the vet because it costs so much. A friend of mine suggested that it may be "hot spots" but I'm not totally sure what that is and it seems like hot spots usually are in long-haired dogs. I already checked to make sure there's no ticks or anything on the affected areas.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be, or how to treat it, if possible? I plan on giving her a bath asap with some new gentle shampoo because she's been so itchy and I hope it will help.

[LILYLARUE]

It could be a number of things. Can you get a picture and post it so we here can guess what it could be?

Could be ringworm, mites, mange, bug bites, rash, hives, etc. The bump between the toes could also be bites or even a cyst. Tough to say without a picture.