Itchy Dog

Steve Postma

Steve Postma

New member
My best buddy is increasingly having problems with allergies as he is getting older. July and August are just miserable for him. Skin is flaky, hair falls out, scratching all the time. He takes a Benadril twice a day, and we have been using the oatmeal shampoo and cream rinse. Last year without the Benedril he had real problems. I have been wondering if anybody can suggest something else/more? This guy is the best dog in the world and I hate to see him so uncomfortable.

sam.jpg
 
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Maybe one of the vets on here will chime in but in the mean time............ My vet told me to give Otto more oil in his food, like in fish oil capsules for example becaused he has skin problems on occasion also. The other thing that I wonder about is the Benedril, isn't that an antihistamine and don't antihistamines dry you out? Also you might consider changing his food. The quality of the ingredients especially the fat in dog food can affect some dogs. I feed have fed Otto both Purina ProPlan or Purina One and have noticed a slight difference in his coat - not enough to say one is better or worse than the other one, just different.

One of the members on here, Mike Fisher, actually had to start feeding his dog an all raw diet to get rid of allergies.

Good Luck, I know how hard it is to see your dog go through that all the time.

Pete
 
Many reasons for dog allergies. In a nut-shell, I would increase the quality of his food (I like Eukanuba), go to non-beef protein (many dogs are allergic to beef, corn, and wheat), fatty acid supplement is great (omega-3 and 6). I like antihistimines, chorepheneramine 4mg per 50 lbs twice daily sometimes works better than benedryl. Besides that you might need periodic corticosteroids or atopica treatment. I like head and shoulders shampoo also. Hope this helps. Sometimes I have to tell clients that nothing is going to help except moving to Arizona!!!!

Brian
 
Just a stab in the dark here - Have you your vet check his thyroid? Is it functioning normally and levels ok?
 
one thing that has worked with my dogs skin and coat is too add 1 table spoon of mayo in to her food coat is gorgeus and no skin problems just sumthin too try
 
Just a stab in the dark here - Have you your vet check his thyroid? Is it functioning normally and levels ok?
Click to expand...

I would second the thyroid check. I once had a dog with hypo-thyroid condition. He had dry flaky skin and thin hair, he scratched some, but not much.
 
My little Spanish Waterdog is on thyroid med, She developed two bald spots about where I would say the kidneys are(on a person). She didn't seem to scratch a lot or shed before we found out..she just got fat. She takes her pills twice a day and we have her on diet dogfood and she is doing great.
 
Steve...Don't know if you are still reading this but,I've had 8 black labs since i was 10. My latest has developed allergies like yours. I never knew this even existed until I got Max. I have spent upwards of 800 dollars on this with the vet and still no solution. My wife found a vitamin online called Dinovite and we give him one fish oil pill a day along with the vitamin in his food . This has helped somewhat but not eliminated it.If you find a solution , please e-mail me with it...thanks Neil5505@juno.com
 
Solid Gold foods has a supplement to add to your dogs food called Sea Meal. My dog was getting a little itchy from time to time and since I started adding to his food he had stopped except after swimming in the ponds at a friends property. I would also avound anything with Ground Corn.
 
Sam went to the vet yesterday, they had no real good solution. I tried the [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]chorepheneramine, but he was getting worse and we went back to the claratin. Earlier I said Benadryl, but it is Claratin we are using. Benadryl was one of the ones we tried earlier. The "Head and Shoulders" shampoo does seem to help tho! I will continue to use that. Thanks for everyones suggestions!
I call Sam a "give away dog", we got him when he was four. From this photo you can tell we bonded pretty quick. :)
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sam2.jpg
 
http://www.royalcanin.us/dogfood/video/Lab.wmv


Steve sorry for the wrong link earlier I just clicked on it myself opps. Try that one
This food did help Murphys CRONIC itches in july thru sept. The thoughts on his were
he swam often and in the bakc watters of the miss the parasites in the water would
get onto him and get into the skin and cause irritation. Vet had him on sterrioid shots
for a few years before we found this food that helped. I regret the shots for sure
but at the time it was the only aid in helping relieve him from the itching. We latter found a
sterrioid pill that you could give only when an outbreak would occur and that was ok but
still a drug. I kept him out of the water in the summer and late summer and that did also help

really sucks for the pup for sure.
 
That Picture make my skin ichy....
hope you get some relief for your pooch. Sucks having to visit the vet all the time.
 
Hello I am Robyn Wheeler, Colin Wheeler's wife, I manage a vet clinic here in NH. We see our fair share of allergy problems. We have had some good luck with either Episoothe shampoo or hylte shampoo, there is also a shampoo called Relief that I have heard works well but I have not used it in my clinic, we have put some dogs on benadryl but that does not always work. We also use the Royle Cain foods for dogs with allergies. This food comes in a rabbit, venison or duck formula. If you think the allergy is related to a poultry product or by product stay away from the duck formulation of the food. This food can be pricey a 35# bag roughly costs $70.00. Our lab has had some nail issues which can be related to allergy issues and we have started him on a skin vitamin called 3V Caps the large to giant breed formulation, we hope to see good results with this as well, it contains high levels of the omega 3 fatty acids. If you find that his allergies are related to his diet I would highly recommend that you stay away from all people food. You also may want to consult you regular vet about seeing a animal dermatoligist. Good luck let me know if I can help with anything else. thanks for listening and I hope some of this helps.

p.s - some allergys can be linked to the region you live in. unfortunately some dogs do end up needing allergy testing and need to receive allergy injections for life, if there is no resolution with any of the above. Good Luck

Robyn Wheeler.
 
I've used the Relief shampoo on my mutt. He's an itchy dog...the vet said that when he starts itching a lot to give him the advantage flea stuff..it seems to help for a bit. The relief shampoo also works pretty good. I have to bathe him about every two weeks or so to keep him from driving me crazy and himself psycho with chewing and itching. Everything else that was mentioned to me was mentioned here....fish oil Omega 3 capsules...1 per ten lbs of mutt and benadryl. It seems to help alleviate the itching, but not get rid of it.
 
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