Itchy dog driving us all potty!

Penny Less

Penny Less

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10 March 2009
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Anyone got any ideas about why my dog is scratching? No sign of fleas, no sign of mites, coat and skin in v good condition, has food with no additives. He was scratching about 2 months ago then it all stopped and hes started again now. Weather is not particularly hot, he has got a thick coat. Cannot see anything on him at all. We are not using anything new at home in the way of soap powder, sprays etc. Have tried giving him piriton but not helping.
 
Take him to the vet- could be the start of mange/bacterial infection etc. Is he treated for fleas? Sometimes, if they have a flea allergy all it takes is a single bite for several weeks of itching.
 
My lurcher is itchy at the moment because of the grass pollen. Silly dog likes to leg it through the hay fields like a mad thing! I just use a soothing shampoo to calm it down
 
You could try this food

http://www.fish4dogs.com/

I've found the addition of omega 3 has made a huge benefit to my dog, she used to do the scooting on her bum, had her glands emptied few times thought it was that, saw senior partner who wasn't conviced it was the problem, because she has seasonal ear infecitons, he thought it might be linked so I looked into it and found the above website, they are very helpful and have bent over backwards to help me, mine has the salmon mousse and salmon oil on her food, she wasn't fussed on the dry food I had from them, BUT I think she was having us on because it was the small kibble I bought that she didn't like, but had samples of larger one and she ate 2 sample bags so will be getting normal size one next time I order from them

She LOVES all the treats, some of them are a bit smelly but if it helps her skin I don't care
 
I was wondering if it could be grass pollen actually. His skin looks really good, no scurf or red patches, he just scratches all the time ! He is due his jabs next month so I will
talk to vet but when I took an itchy dog to the vets some years ago they wanted to do all sorts of allergy tests, all costing quite a lot of dough. Never found out what that was either !
 
Could easily still be related to diet even with no additives, what's the grain content like in the current food?

It might be worth putting him on a bland food with no grains to see if it subsides. Ask CC on here she has a lot of experience! It could well be worth your while trying to isolate the cause yourself since that is all the testing is attempting to do, but it costs far more than your own observations.
 
KarynK said:
Could easily still be related to diet even with no additives, what's the grain content like in the current food?

It might be worth putting him on a bland food with no grains to see if it subsides. Ask CC on here she has a lot of experience! It could well be worth your while trying to isolate the cause yourself since that is all the testing is attempting to do, but it costs far more than your own observations.
Click to expand...

We had testing done on our dog who has a similar problem but the resulting injections didn't seem to help for very long. It's awful seeing them so uncomfortable. I might try some of the suggestions on this thread though :)
 
Has your vet tested thyroid function? Drives me nuts, it would be standard in the US to test this along with a skin scrap first. Thyroid to eliminate, or diagnose hypothyroidism - possible auto immune thyroiditis. We always tested first for this and probably 80% of cases of "allergies" were hypo levels. Dr Jean Dodds the world great on canine thyroid function lists the following for a link to hypo thyroidism:-
DERMATOLOGIC DISEASES
dry, scaly skin and dandruff
coarse, dull coat
bilaterally symmetrical hair loss
"rat tail" or "puppy coat"
hyperpigmentation
seborrhea or greasy skin
pyoderma or skin infections
myxedema
chronic offensive skin odor
 
Very likely an allergy to pollen, (tree or grass) or something in the diet.
As suggested, eliminate all possibilities.
The vet can give Malaseb shampoo or some antihistamines (don't know what dose you have been using, or if vet was consulted). Good luck, I know what a pain in the proverbial it is!!!!
 
Take your dog to the vets :) our German Shepherd started with the same problem at 2 years of age (she's 10 now)
We treated her for fleas, stopped all usage of powders, sprays etc and even changed her food to test for a food allergy.
The vet was stumped and did skin patch tests on our girl. Turns out, out of 50 tests she was allergic to 46 of them! In summer it was pollen, grass, seeds etc and in winter it was house dust mites and she's also allergic to fleas. We tried her on desensitising vaccines - which didnt work - and after 8 years, laser surgery (she was chewing her own legs apart and causing a lot of scar tissue) a LOT of money and many, many tablets she seems to finally be under control...
I'm hoping your dog isn't this severe, but if you can find out whats driving him mad you might be able to make him more comfortable :)
 
KellysHeroes said:
Take your dog to the vets :) our German Shepherd started with the same problem at 2 years of age (she's 10 now)
We treated her for fleas, stopped all usage of powders, sprays etc and even changed her food to test for a food allergy.
The vet was stumped and did skin patch tests on our girl. Turns out, out of 50 tests she was allergic to 46 of them! In summer it was pollen, grass, seeds etc and in winter it was house dust mites and she's also allergic to fleas. We tried her on desensitising vaccines - which didnt work - and after 8 years, laser surgery (she was chewing her own legs apart and causing a lot of scar tissue) a LOT of money and many, many tablets she seems to finally be under control...
I'm hoping your dog isn't this severe, but if you can find out whats driving him mad you might be able to make him more comfortable :)
Click to expand...

Is it the tablets she's on that are helping? Are they from your vet?

It sounds a lot like our dog- the desensitising vaccines didn't work!

Our dogs have ended up costing a fortune over the past 2 years. Most of the time they're worth it but when they bark at a leaf blowing past at 4am I want to go and leave them in a bin somewhere :D (only joking- not sure what the sense of humour is like on this section of the board ;) Only started posting in here last night :D)
 
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