Scratching

[Patti Ramsour]

Hi All!
We have had a problem with Maggie scratching ever since we got her. It's mostly after she has been sleeping....and I dont just mean in her bed...it can be our bed, the floor, the couch etc. The doctor has given her shot and pills for this but I dont want her to have anymore of the shots, I dont think they are good for her in the long term. Does anyone else have this problem. They spoke of allergy testing...$600.00 and only a 30% chance of finding the problem. I was wondering if there was a good conditioner or something to put in her food that might help. Any help would be extremly appreciated.

Thankyou
Patti & Maggie

[heathea]

Have you heard of or would you consider doing an elimination diet on your dog? That is where you feed nothing but 1 previously never had protein source (chicken, lamb, duck, venison, etc.) mixed with one previously never had carbohydrate source (rice, potato, sweet potato, etc.) to eliminate any food allergies. Once/If the itching stops, you can then try feeding a different type of food, if the itching starts, return to elimination diet and try a different type of food when itching stops.

A lot of people whose dogs have allergies do really well on the Wellness foods.

It could be a food allergy or an environemental allergy. Either way, I would supplement your dog with some Omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil, etc. to help with the itching.

If it is an environmental allergy you should make sure to wipe off your dog every time it comes inside using something like a wet washcloth or baby wipes, making sure to get her feet really clean. Also, changing your air filter on your HVAC system (people don't do this enough), wet wiping floors, and vacuuming often can also help.

I would not wash your dog daily as that will strip oils from his/her coat, however if you determine it is an environmental allergy, rinseing the dog with water would not hurt on a daily basis to help rid the fur of pollen, etc.

I am not an expert, however these are the things I would do, I am sure others will have more suggestions.
Take care,
Heather

[Amber]

If it's after she's been sleeping, it may be the detergent you are using. Try using a dye free, scent free detergent if you are not doing so already. Also, think of anything that you may spray/sprinkle on the floors or couch. She may be allergic to whatever that may be as well. That may be the problem...and a cheap and easy fix!

[Patti Ramsour]

Thanks you guys...I think I will try the elimination thing. Where do you buy Wellness Food at? I love this forum...so much good advice!
Patti

[Valerie K]

This might be way off base, but we were discussing sarcoptic mange in one of the other topic groups. Has your vet definitely ruled out sarcoptic mange? It is very hard to see, even when they do skin scrapings they can often miss it. They were trying to figure out what our dogs were allergic to because of the scratching and we switched detergents, dog food, etc. until finally one of the vets in the group thought to check for it and fortunately, did see the little buggers under the scope (they usually can never find them). From what I have read, often they try to treat for sarcoptic mange (a month or two on Revolution) and rule that out before starting allergy testing. "Treatment is often the best diagnosis." The two conditions are easily confused and allergies are hard to pinpoint whereas sarcoptic mange will clear up easily. Just a thought. They tend to scratch more on areas with less hair, like the belly, skin of the ears, root of the tail, on the muzzle and the eye area, elbows, etc. For some strange reason, a lot of vets go right to allergies and don't think of sarcoptic mange. If you already know this isn't the problem, please forget I ever posted this.

[Patti Ramsour]

Valerie,
They have never tested Maggie for this but did do Revoulion a couple of months for skin mites. Do they lose their hair with this kind of mange?
This is very interesting, I might give him a call today to see what he thinks. I would hate to think its not allergies and something that could have been treated.....

[Amber]

I'm not sure if dogs with sarcoptic mange lose their hair, but I do know that dogs with demodectic mange do. Sally had generalized demodex to the point that she looked like a overweight rat with a few puffs of hair when I first adopted her from the shelter! Both types of mange are treatable however, and Sally's case was pretty bad, as she was 1 of 32 dogs originally before coming to the shelter, so don't be put off by what I said please! Now she has a full body of hair and runs around enjoying herself!

Ask your vet to do a skin scraping just to make certain it's not sarcoptic or demodectic mange.