itchy german shepherd ??

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kizzyjerry

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we have a 12 year old german shepherd.

she's always had skin issues - lumps that the vet keeps an eye on but haven't caused her any issues.

Over the past month she's been itching - to the point of making herself bleed. She;s been to the vet a couple of times and she's now on a course of steriods. the vets indicated that this is really all they can do - sometimes they get this and it may detoriate after the steriods finish.

She's still in her first week of the steriods, they are helping but she still wants to naw at herself (shes just not as obsessive about it and its just now and again rather than every oppotunity she can)

She has to wear a cone thingy if unsupervised, she hates this and if the steriods dont work we're seriously questioning her quality of life (it's horrendous she was almost frantic)

Obviously we want to make sure we have thought of everything for our girl before 'that decision' is considered

She seems fine in herself, the normal arthiritus you'd expect but she's happy pottering around the yard with me and having the odd ball chase

Any suggestions?
 
You need to speak to CaveCanem, but I think she's away at the moment??? It will probably be something to do with the diet but she has first hand experience.
 
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You say she's always had skin issues.. Has she ever had any allergy testing done?? If your vets not a skin specialist it may help to speak to one, as it could be an underlying ongoing allergy??

Otherwise, has the vet given you any medicated shampoo's to also help along with the steroids? Shampoos like malaseb can really help depending on the condition.
 
hi

yes we have a medicated shampoo. No allergy testing though, not even been mentioned! so will look into it.

Re diet - does anyone know the basic theory? (if thats the right word!) so i can do a bit of research - shes fed pedigree chum and science plan biscuits
 
Agree you could do with Cave Canems help but she's still off on her jaunts round the States. One of my old GSDs always used to be itchy, nothing obvious came up on allergy testing but I used to give her homeopathic sulpur tablets which seemed to help. She actually improved after being spayed at 8 years of age but wouldn't suggest that for your girl at 12. It might be worth changing her diet, a lot of dogs seem to have problems with gluten, is the science plan she is on gluten free? If not possibly try changing her gradually to a gluten free complete feed (skinners duck and rice or salmon and rice is good) or alternatively consider changing her to a raw diet. Not sure again about the suitability of doing this at her age, Katie Houston or Karyn K are the ones who could advise on that. I hope you manage to get her comfier.
 
had a little look online, found a specialist vet who apparently will look into allergy and diet etc so going to suggest asking for a referal (she's my mums dog)

would rather not start swopping and changing her at her age when we're not sure what we're doing - she's a sensitive gal!

- she's already spayed (was done young) and the science plan isn't gluten free so something to have a look into

thanks for the pointers so far :)
 
Would suggest raw but CC's had a really bad violent detox to a sudden change to raw diet, so you might need to tread carefully especially as is she is an older lady. She has Bodo on a feed that works for him, not sure which and is gradually introducing some raw now and again I think was the last update, before she went walkabout???
 
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Okaaaaaay...I'm back, maybe a bit late but here goes anyway.

In the interim, pure aloe vera gel or an oat bath (ask Finnish Lapphund) to take the heat, pain, discomfort away from the inflamed areas.

Has anything changed, I mean anything at all? New carpet, flooring, dog bed, blanket, toy, cigarette smoke, perfume, flowers, kennel, ANYTHING at all?
Mites, fleas, could she be allergic to them or any other insect bite?

As mentioned, my boy is a sensitive sod.

He is allergic to wheat and gets an atopic skin infection (very distinctive smell and he will make himself bald, his skin also blackens and thickens) which is triggered by an allergy to (we are 99% certain, but only an allergy test will confirm) is tree pollen from the trees around our house. When he goes to boarding kennels he always comes back looking fab.
His allergies are managed with antihistamines from the vet and Malaseb shampoo.

He is also 'hot blooded' and cannot deal with high protein (sad I know that a carnivore has evolved that way, but there you go!!!) and he is fed on Jollyes own brand fish and rice which is very low protein, he also gets natural yogurt, tuna in sunflower oil and raw a few times a week and this seems to have stabilised him, touch wood.

I hear very good things about the Bionic Biotic supplement from Pooch and Mutt, if you want to Google that, for itchy skin. I used it once but it is very dear!

Another thing to consider is anxiety (our friends PTS a gorgeous bitch who was literally eating her tail, they tried everything and even muzzled she would batter it) or externalisation of an internal problem.

Best of luck, I know what a conundrum it can be and you can't tell them how or why to stop.

Do not hesitate to change vets if you think your own current one is not doing enough - I did and it was the best thing I could have done for him.
 
CC - thankyou

the steriods seem to have worked - we just going into the weaning off period so will see...

will give mum a shopping list to work through of the rest! (cost isn't really a issue she's desperate to try anything but didn't know where to start !)

She's due back at the vets - she's going to have a chat with them and get a referal/go elsewhere if needs be, allergys etc haven't been mentioned.
 
No worries at all.

The steroids do work but they will only suppress it, not stop it, in my experience, that will only come when you stop the route cause. My fella always started itching again a few weeks after coming off them, so we changed vets and the new guy was more keen to find out the cause, if you know what I mean, as well as fire-fighting.

Make sure and keep her nice and occupied too, that is half the battle :)
 
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