Itchy dog

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My mums dog Bess is a terribly itchy thing who suffers with her skin. I groom her and she is bathed in hypo allergenic shampoo and we keep her short as she gets itchier if her coat is longer.
She is prone to getting small red blotches on her skin and she itches and licks non stop. She doesn’t appear to have any dandruff or flaky skin. We’ve been back and forth to the vets with her, who tell us they think it’s some sort of allergy, but whatever they prescribe they say she can only have short term, so it works and then we have to stop it. The last time she went was when I had my accident, because she had itched two bald patches on her back. The vet does think some of it is anxiety related as she doesn’t cope well with any form of change and she was quite upset by my crutches and the fact that her normal routine had been disrupted. She has an allergy tablet every day too.

Has anyone found anything that has helped their itchy dogs? She is flea treated regularly.
 
My girl is the same and she’s now on Apoquel, 2 a day, and they have made the world of difference. she’s not 100% itch free but nearly
 
Have you looked at what’s in her food?

Daisy became a real paw chewer, and very little seemed to help apart from Apoquel (which I didn’t want to use long term). A bout of illness in March necessitated antibiotics- chewing stopped within days and hasn’t returned (I also changed her food to Orijen).
 
Amymay said:
Have you looked at what’s in her food?

Daisy became a real paw chewer, and very little seemed to help apart from Apoquel (which I didn’t want to use long term). A bout of illness in March necessitated antibiotics- chewing stopped within days and hasn’t returned (I also changed her food to Orijen).
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She’s on the Arden grange dry stuff but does have a bit of natures menu wet food as otherwise she won’t eat the dry stuff on its own. I’ll have a look at the ingredients.
 
Not sure if it'd help but we recently bought something called "Food Stuff" from the company that does the Stinky Stuff range. You put some in the dogs food every day.

This was for our older girl who was on a small dose of steroid which was causing her skin to dry out. Her coat was falling out in clumps and her nose was dry and cracked. We got some oily stuff from the vet called "Itchy Dog" but it didn't seem to do anything.
 
The complete diet may be the culprit. A vet of the old school that I worked with years ago recommended boiled rice and chicken for a week, then gradually introduce meat and biscuits back into the diet. Remove complete diet completely. Check if you have a synthetic carpet that could be causing a contact irritation, or fabric/carpets treated with a stain guard. Hope you can sort it out.
 
Have you got any coir mats? My first post was about itchy dog in Uk but not in Irish house, by process of elimination we worked out he slept on the front door mat in UK, once removed mat we have never had a problem since.
 
The itchy skin thing has been discussed on here a couple of times a while ago. Our dog had problems a few years ago along with the manky ears, which eventually I managed to get under control after doing a lot of research and trial and errors. The red blotches / itching / licking is caused by yeast. I would stop the flea treatments and if she does get fleas use only natural products. I suggest that you get her on a good probiotic asap, I use the Petcare Factory Advanced Probiotic Plus daily. Stinky Stuff food supplement has been great to help with itching, she still has it daily. The Vet initially put our dog on steroids and then after a while wanted to put her on apoquel, I did a lot of research and decided no more drugs. The steroids caused terrible hair loss which eventually grew back fully thanks to the S Stuff food supplement, for a very long time she looked like I had trace clipped her.
Feeding raw is often recommended for problems like these, we didn't really want to go the raw route if possible. I eventually found that Orijen works for our dog along with Forthglade Just Range wet food. There are several different variations of Orijen, the ones that we have tried and have been ok for her are the Six Fish, the Regional Red and the Tundra. We have 2 on the go for variation alternating daily. Even the Forthglade Complete wet food upsets her system. What you need to be looking at is a high protein, low carb diet. Home cooked meat and fish are also fine for our dog. Avoid potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, all grains, beet pulp, carrots, there are a whole load more to also avoid. Skinnydipper listed a load on a previous thread. Also only give natural treats, we give dried fish skin or dried tripe chews, dried sprats are also good. Maltbys of Hull are good value for these if you want to buy in bulk, also for wild bird food. Do not give bread, toast, human biscuits, cake etc. Carbs / sugar, grains and crap fillers in dog foods feed the yeast which causes the itching.
The Dogs Naturally Magazine has good advice though the lady is in the US and she does recommend feeding raw. The problems usually stem from the gut which needs help to recover. Of course online like Stinky Stuff will be closed now till the New Year, and then there are the delivery problems. Some places do stock it, it may be worth checking if local to you, I noticed that this started to help within a few days. For manky itchy ears and external itching / chewing paws, I found that Aromesse Pet Nat products are excellent. SS ear products make my dog's ears sore, though it helps a lot of dogs. We very rarely get an itchy paw now, Aromesse dermacton spray or cream stops this quickly, they also do a good shampoo soap bar, and their ear products are very good and soothing.
It will take a long time to get the irritants out of the dogs system, several weeks, and the immune system has to recover if she has been on suppressants.
Wash any dog bedding and dog coats with horse rug washing products like Nikwax Rugwash, and give plenty of rinses, domestic washing machines don't use much water.
I hope that this helps.
 
CSJ Resist was very effective in stopping my mum's dogs itching, I was very impressed with the result. It's best used sprinkled on wet food, or well soaked kibble. Have you tried eliminating the common intolerances like chicken, beef, wheat and soya? Grains in general are inflammatory, so best avoided if possible.

Dogs first.ie has lots of excellent articles on common dog health problems, including itchiness. He's a raw feeding advocate, but gives other advice on dealing with issues. He says kibble is the number one cause of itching in dogs, so if your mum's dog is kibble fed, cutting it out would probably be the best place to start. Although I do feed kibble with some wet food as I can't afford raw, my dogs which have been prone to sensitive digestion have been best on lamb, duck and salmon or white fish varieties.
 
You could have a look at NutriPaw.com .
Having struggled with a dog scratching her ears and no cleaning or medication in the ears worked , I was persuaded to try their Pre and Pro biotics which claimed to help. I was sceptical but amazingly she has stopped scratching her ears for the first time in three years.
They do a slightly different one for itchy dogs.
 
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