Help - Itchy Dog

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Geek

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A year and a half a go we rescued a little terrier who was in a shocking state. When we first had her we really struggled with her itching her stomach but she has gradually been getting better and even got some proper hair on it. She's always been a bit prone to an itch still but nothing drastic. Fast forward to tonight and we suddenly have a dog that is incessantly itching has a bald and very red and sore stomach. I've tried putting aloe Vera based creams etc on to at least help alleviate it in the short term but it's not really helping. I have no idea what's triggered it, it's literally developed this evening. Any ideas/advice on how to help her?

Thanks in advance.

ETA she has been to the vets who have advised experimenting with food etc so she is currently on a sensitive dried dog food.
 
a bath might help. A food with fish and potatoes maybe some efas something like flora on her food. She might need some anti histamines or even steroids if she is really bad.
 
I have a JRT who was the same - he gets a dried food that is totally grain free & I add organic coconut oil (a teaspoon) to his food. If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it but the coconut worked.... :)
I also rubbed it on him at first too! (Have since tried it on my eczema & it helps!)
The vet said he would always be itchy but (touches wood frantically) he's been fine for nearly 2 years!!
 
Our JRT had hot spots, itchy and bleeding sores. After numerous visits to the vets, allergy tests and steroids (which only alleviated it for a month or two before it flared up again)we stopped using the vets as they really hadn't a clue what it was.
We put him on a raw diet, gave him coconut oil in his diet and slapped it on him externally , cut out all grains too(mixer biscuits and bonios).
7 years later he is still itch free, happy and healthy with a beautiful coat.
 
Thank you for all the replies. It sounds like coconut oil is worth a go. At the moment she has some bonio type biscuits in the morning so I will replace those with her normal food and cut out any treats/ rewards and use only her food. We found out this morning that someone unfortunately gave her the wrong food last weekend so it must have been that which has triggered it. Frustrating but I'm very relieved that we hopefully know now what it is that's caused it. But again makes me think she needs all other food cutting out to help her. Even when she wasn't itching her coat wasn't great, it has no undercoat and has a tendency to get very greasy very fast so I am keen to keep experimenting to make her better than just ok.

I've also been down to town this morning and got her a cream to help alleviate the immediate itching, touch wood it seems to have stopped her!
 
Poor you :( and dog :(
A wash in nettle tea is fab as it is an antihistamine .
Cut nettles (use thick gloves) place in a bowl, poor hot water over until the nettles are covered, once cool drain off leaves and top up dark green liquid until pale green....wash dog gently in this solution....no shampoos etc....it can also be used on horses.
Food can be a right problem for some dogs.....and at least you now know what the cause was...and sometimes it can be aggravated buy us humans feeding the wrong amount...been there ...done that....got the itchy dog!
Best of luck
Bryndu
 
ditto the advice about food.

cut out all grain (possibly rice too if very sensitive) and feed a potato and fish based food. No biscuits, treats, cheese etc. As above coconut oil is good.
 
I used Dermacton Cream for my terrier.Similar licking /itching until his front legs were hairless.I bought it online.Stopped itching right away and hair grew back within a few weeks.I also use it for midgy bites for myself soothing and stops itch.
 
^ Two of mine were reacting badly to environment, one due to jumping up and down in brambles :rolleyes3: but I'd defo try the food first. Try to change where you walk her, too.

Oat or sulphur shampoo helps itching and you can get sulphur drops from Amazon.

There are tons of good kibbles these days; the Wainwrights-Pets at Home-Fishmongers has more fish content than the Fish4dogs one and is apparently good. Their trays are also fab and there's a grain free version. As she's not a huge dog, they might be quite economical if that's a factor.
 
Our JRT was very itchy so in desperation we had her alergy tested - she is alergic to most meats (except pork) and rice. So is on Fish4dogs dry food mixed with Lillys salmon and potatoe wet food - her treats are all fishy or cheesy. When doing research into dog foods and treats I found most contained chicken or meat derivatives..whatever the main ingrediant - and loads have rice as the second ingrediant. Good luck...
 
I add organic coconut oil (a teaspoon) to his food. If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it but the coconut worked....

I also rubbed it on him at first too! (Have since tried it on my eczema & it helps!)
Click to expand...

I honestly swear by coconut oil. I seem to mention it in most of my posts!

It is such amazing stuff. I use it to cook with, as a leather nourisher, on my (dry) hair, nails & skin, as a hoof oil and occasionally put it in the dog's dinner.
 
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, she is better this week than she was last week but still not great. I will have a look in to the fish based food, shampoos and coconut oil. The Dermacton Cream sounds really agood as well, at the moment we have a cream that relieves the itching for a couple of hours if she is bad but doesn't seem to be able to relieve it all together :(

I really do appreciate all the help. I was genuinely at my wits end last week and so worried, it's horrible seeing them so upset. Luckily she is a lot better this week but after her being so much better for so long it's very frustrating to have gone backwards!
 
I saw a thread on here (whilst looking for something else) where several people said they'd had success spraying itchy dogs with Hypocare. Someone I met a week later happened to mention their Staffy was extremely itchy,driving herself mad with it, plus costing a fortune at the vets with various steroids and other tablets (they'd addressed the food and skin-scrape allergy angles). I told her about the thread,said I had no personal experience of it but perhaps worth a try and 4 or 5 wks later,she phoned me to say they had got some and were overjoyed that the dog was virtually itch-free after several applications of Hypocare.

Incidentally,I buy Coconut Oil (for cooking and moisturising,not itchy dogs;)) from Costco. It's certified organic,extra virgin and is £13 for 1600ml (is that equal to grams?! I think it is...)

I also have a dog who cannot tolerate rice,it seems to be quite common (though the intolerance manifests itself in loose stools,not his skin).

Hope you manage to get your dog itch free :)
 
Geek said:
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, she is better this week than she was last week but still not great. I will have a look in to the fish based food, shampoos and coconut oil. The Dermacton Cream sounds really agood as well, at the moment we have a cream that relieves the itching for a couple of hours if she is bad but doesn't seem to be able to relieve it all together :(

I really do appreciate all the help. I was genuinely at my wits end last week and so worried, it's horrible seeing them so upset. Luckily she is a lot better this week but after her being so much better for so long it's very frustrating to have gone backwards!
Click to expand...

Dermacton cream is made by Aromesse and have a good website.If you go onto the web site the testimonials are amazing, many from dog shelters who use it.I have got my dogs itching under control thanks to it .Good luck whatever you use.
 
SpringArising said:
I honestly swear by coconut oil. I seem to mention it in most of my posts!

It is such amazing stuff. I use it to cook with, as a leather nourisher, on my (dry) hair, nails & skin, as a hoof oil and occasionally put it in the dog's dinner.
Click to expand...

I bought some after recommendations, it is lovely in food but has done nothing to stop my 2 very itchy eczema patchy from being itchy
 
My mum's JRT started itching uncontrollably last year non stop at the age of 14. Never done it before and his tummy was red raw and boiling hot. We tried everything, change of diet, change of walks, even dad stopped cutting the grass incase it was loose grass cuttings causing it. The vet was out of ideas so we went to see another and it ended up being a reaction to FrontLine flea stuff. We have used it on him since he was a puppy but all of a sudden it made him have a huge reaction. We use something else now the vet has given us and it's stopped all the itching. Vet said they can sometimes just develop allergies to things suddenly so it might be even something really simple.
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
My mum's JRT started itching uncontrollably last year non stop at the age of 14. Never done it before and his tummy was red raw and boiling hot. We tried everything, change of diet, change of walks, even dad stopped cutting the grass incase it was loose grass cuttings causing it. The vet was out of ideas so we went to see another and it ended up being a reaction to FrontLine flea stuff. We have used it on him since he was a puppy but all of a sudden it made him have a huge reaction. We use something else now the vet has given us and it's stopped all the itching. Vet said they can sometimes just develop allergies to things suddenly so it might be even something really simple.
Click to expand...
Very interesting..what flea treatment have you found to be ok please?
 
One more thing to consider is a low level bacterial infection. Little dog had a red, itchy, spotty tummy despite a raw diet. It came on quite quickly. I had a hunch so took him to the vet who gave him antibiotics as a first approach, otherwise we were looking at a possible allergy. She was absolutely right as it cleared up quickly. She explained it was like acne. Anyway I am glad I went to the vet rather than messing around with creams and oils and diet... I had been tempted to raid the horse kit and lash on some Sudocrem first...
 
Nudibranch said:
One more thing to consider is a low level bacterial infection. Little dog had a red, itchy, spotty tummy despite a raw diet. It came on quite quickly. I had a hunch so took him to the vet who gave him antibiotics as a first approach, otherwise we were looking at a possible allergy. She was absolutely right as it cleared up quickly. She explained it was like acne. Anyway I am glad I went to the vet rather than messing around with creams and oils and diet... I had been tempted to raid the horse kit and lash on some Sudocrem first...
Click to expand...

What was the actual problem? Was it acne?

It's good that the meds cleared it up, but they were treating the symptom and not the cause presumably?
 
my poodle has seasonal flank alopecia.i swear by coconut oil on her skin as it gets itchy.the bald patches are growing back now but will go bald again come the autumn.i also fee her grain free diet.
 
Geek, can I send you a supplement to try? We are new in the UK and struggling a bit to compete, but have had phenomenal success with this product in South Africa.....
 
SA she said she wasn't entirely sure but thought a bacterial infection was a possibility. So the antibiotics clearing it meant it would have killed the bacteria. Could have been one of many strains, but topical treatment with oils, etc, would not have helped him and could have made it worse. The cause was unknown other than bacteria invading the skin surface...as a clipped dachshund roaming the fields it wouldn't have been impossible. A scratch, a scrape, a bit of mud or animal remains, anything really! It hasn't happened again.
 
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