Need Advice For Dog Itch Problem

Every year at about this time, when the summer turns hot and humid, our dog (a black lab/border collie mix who looks mostly like a lab) starts itching all over almost non-stop and licking/biting anywhere she can reach but mostly her front legs. In the past, only prednisone has provided her with relief. Last winter though we almost lost her to liver failure. She recovered amazingly well and has been on an-all natural diet vet-approved diet ever since.

Because of the switch to all-natural, we were really hoping she could avoid the problem this year, but no such luck. Because of her liver issue, the vet does not want to treat her with steriods and thus she is only getting Benadryl. This helps only a little and she still is in a lot of discomfort. The vet also suggested a topical spray for hot-spots, but really, she itches all over and that might only help with her legs.

Any other ideas?

are fleas involved?

"All-natural" food isn't necessarily hypoallergenic. Is it free of corn, wheat and soy products? There's a concept called "allergic load" that says that the more allergens someone's exposed to, the worse they'll react to all of them - so even if the food doesn't bother her year-round, it could be contributing to a reaction to airborne allergens.

You might try Chlorpheniramine maleate (the yellow pills, Chlor-Trimeton) instead of Benadryl. It's safe for dogs, but you should ask your vet about dosage. My personal experience as well as that of my dogs is that Benadryl is good for making someone drowsy, but it doesn't help much with reactions to pollens and molds.

It couldn't hurt to try homeopathic treatment for weed pollens and molds, too. If it doesn't work, all you're out is the cost of the medicine - no side effects, no drug interactions.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

It couldn't hurt to try homeopathic treatment for weed pollens and molds, too. If it doesn't work, all you're out is the cost of the medicine - no side effects, no drug interactions.

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Homeopathic treatments have as many side effects and drug interactions as "drugs" do. They are chemicals, just like the processed drugs, and since they aren't purified the way the manufactured are, they can have more interactions and more side effects. They are also often given at higher doses, which again increases the possibility of adverse outcomes.
Don't get me wrong, I was going to suggest something along that line, just don't be fooled into thinking homeopathic treatments aren't drugs, they are.
I wonder if there isn't something topical to try - especially something homeopathic. I'll see if I can ask one of my vet friends, I have one that does homeopathy with her own dogs.

How about a nice oatmeal bath... when my dog was itchy I got some of that all natural oatmeal shampoo (for dogs).

It helped and he smelled fresh & clean.

spazz

My golden has the same issues. This time of year he can't stop himself from scratching and biting his skin off- he's just allergic to the grass or something. Our vet recommended some expensive allergy drugs. I didn't like that idea. I have a friend who's a vet and he said to try fish oil capsules. They've helped my pup, and he doesn't scratch or bite nearly as much. It's not gone altogether, but it's much better. I don't know why it works, but it seems to.
I've also used Seba-Hex shampoo for dogs (not natural, tho and it's a prescription shampoo) and it helped with his itchiness.

are there pinetrees in the neighbourhood? Some dogs are allergic. There are various types of hedges that can cause this too.

My dog gets itchy, too. Yes, fleas are the culprit and my current flea stuff (Frontline Plus) just can't keep up this time of year, although it seems to work fine the rest of the year. I've heard that FLP doesn't work so great in some areas of the country. My mother uses Comfortis on her dogs and a friend swears by Revolution. I have not switched, however.

Oatmeal shampoo is good, as is Aveeno oatmeal bath. It's temporary, but does seem to help. My dog eats Taste of the Wild dry food and he gets fish oil. That has seemed to help, too.

It's been suggested to me by a friend who is lot more familiar with dogs than I am that a flea collar might help, too. So I'm off to Southern States to get one of those as well.

I also got a Furminator brush and he loves being brushed. I figure that can't hurt.

Both my dogs have seasonal allergies this time of year. I keep them inside as much as possible. The more they are outside the itchier they get. Some people say to wash their feet before they come in. I guess we could keep a wash pan of water and a towel right outside the door.

It's not fleas and her diet includes no corn, soy or wheat. There are many, many pine trees in the neighborhood, including our own backyard. She does gets one fish oil capsule in her breakfast every day. It's the dosage the vet wants her to get daily; perhaps I could ask about a temporary increase. I'll try to find some oatmeal bath tonight. Thanks for the thoughts so far.

I have a Jack Russell with severe allergies. I had the bloodwork done and have isolated all the food problems. He is more allergic to grass than anything and this time of year he chews his feet raw when he gets out in the yard. I just had him to the vet a week ago after using up my prednisone. I really did not like giving it to him but it was the only thing to stop the itching and chewing behavior. I started him on a new drug called Atopica which I have read has rave reviews for skin allergies. I also use a ketoconizole shampoo and leave on lotion. That helps alot. He gets a couple different fidonutrient food supplements with amino acids and oils. Also gets pet dophilis which is a digestive aid to help his immune system fight the bad bacteria. Its trial and error with allergies. The grass kills him but so far, after a week I see promise. He also gets benedryl three times a day. In a month she wants a liver enzyme to make sure he's not reacting. If you are unsure of the drugs, start with the keto shampoo.

put doggie boots on him (them) to keep their feet out of grass.

it taked a few times for them to get used to them, but they do... just keep them off the linoleum :) its a little slippy.

My dad started giving his dog vitamins for dogs and it took care of her hot spots. I agree with the booties, too.

Get rid of the Frontline if it's not working, Tulip. It's only making the fleas more resistant. (I use Advantage. Works great, but not for ticks. We rarely find ticks, though.)

Karen

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Originally Posted by TsPoet

Homeopathic treatments have as many side effects and drug interactions as "drugs" do. They are chemicals, just like the processed drugs, and since they aren't purified the way the manufactured are, they can have more interactions and more side effects. They are also often given at higher doses, which again increases the possibility of adverse outcomes.

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Nep, nep, nep. Maybe you're confusing "herbal" vs. "homeopathic."

Homeopathic treatments, by definition, are given at minuscule doses. When a homeopathic remedy is labeled, say, 6C, it's a dilution of 1:1,000,000,000,000. The extreme dilution is actually the criticism that allopathic practitioners most commonly raise against homeopathic theory. For the same reason, allopathic practitioners and the FDA recognize that homeopathic treatments have no drug interactions and no side effects (except for the possibility that a patient is extremely sensitive or allergic to the base, most commonly lactose tablets).

Standard allergy immunotherapy is a form of homeopathy (or technically, homotoxicology). OTC homeopathic allergy treatments work exactly the same way, except that the dosage isn't titrated to the patient.

Homeopathic treatments are purified as carefully as pharmaceuticals and regulated by the FDA under the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.



WRT the potential trigger: pine, like almost all trees, pollinates in the spring. In most of the northern hemisphere it's weed season - ragweed, lamb's quarters, pigweed, etc. - and molds may be high, too. Two of my dogs were very sensitive to weed pollens.

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Originally Posted by Tuckervill

My dad started giving his dog vitamins for dogs and it took care of her hot spots. I agree with the booties, too.

Get rid of the Frontline if it's not working, Tulip. It's only making the fleas more resistant. (I use Advantage. Works great, but not for ticks. We rarely find ticks, though.)

Karen

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Even Advantage appears to not be working here. We switched to that after giving up on Frontline. So far, Revolution and Comfortis are still working. The fleas seem to be adapting more quickly than we are. Back when FL first came out - put it on, and don't see a flea for 3 mos.

CA

NEP?
yeah i was wondering about that. Homeopathic doses are SO TINY!

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Nep, nep, nep. Maybe you're confusing "herbal" vs. "homeopathic."
.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Homeopathic treatments are purified as carefully as pharmaceuticals and regulated by the FDA under the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States.
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Nope, FDA does nothing with homeopathy. Unless you mean the truth in labeling attempts - ie what's in the bottle is supposed to be on the label. Over the counter drugs, as well as prescription drugs, have to undergo the safety and efficacy testing. The FDA has decided that the dilutions make the compounds so ineffective they also won't be toxic. They'll change that after someone is seriously injured or dies.
The immunotherapy aspect is the only one where homeopathy might work, since the immune system will magnify the effects, but I've never heard of that stated before you did. Then I read what you said again - and the immunotherapy theory doesn't apply to other processes, so it isn't an argument for homeopathy working - except via the same mechanism.

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Originally Posted by Tuckervill

My dad started giving his dog vitamins for dogs and it took care of her hot spots. I agree with the booties, too.

Get rid of the Frontline if it's not working, Tulip. It's only making the fleas more resistant. (I use Advantage. Works great, but not for ticks. We rarely find ticks, though.)

Karen

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True. My vet is very anti-Frontline.

We recently went through this with Maeve and Fiona, the grown goldens. Took Fiona to the vet because she was really suffering.

Turns out that it was allergies to the flea bites. I don't like putting chemicals on the girls, so I haven't been using the K-9 Advantix that the vet prescribed. Well, all three got dosed with with as soon as Brian brought Fiona home from the vet. The vet said to use it every 3 weeks during the summer months instead of once a month. In any case, the itching has decreased significantly since we applied the Advantix. No new hot spots and the ones they had are healing. They are much, much more comfortable.

AdvanTIX is much better than Advantage, by the way. They've had ticks, too, and I've removed two attached ticks from myself this summer.

I spoke with our vet last night and she's putting Katy on chlorpheniramine starting today and we are also going to try a prescription anti-itch shampoo. Wearing booties is an interesting idea. She generally does not like it (we put them on her for winter hiking) but she tolerates it.

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Originally Posted by Norsegoddess

I spoke with our vet last night and she's putting Katy on chlorpheniramine starting today and we are also going to try a prescription anti-itch shampoo. Wearing booties is an interesting idea. She generally does not like it (we put them on her for winter hiking) but she tolerates it.

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If she doesn't tolerate the booties, why not try vaseline? It's worth a try.

The problem with Vaseline is the dogs (or cats) lick it off, which is not so good for their digestive system... it is "petroleum" jelly after all.

better to work with the booties... the pooch will get used to them. I still remember my greyhound the 1st few times she wore them - bless her heart, I never laughed so hard in my life. This beautifully elegant creature walking like a clown in big clown shoes :D

Good luck with your pooch!

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Originally Posted by spazzdog

I still remember my greyhound the 1st few times she wore them - bless her heart, I never laughed so hard in my life. This beautifully elegant creature walking like a clown in big clown shoes :D

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LOL. When we first put them on Katy, she prances around high-stepping like one of those show horses. :D

+1 on the booties. I got my JRT these rubber booties called PAWZ off of ebay. Came from some pet supply in NY. They are basically heavy duty balloon type boots but stay on and he can walk in them. I try to put them on him in the a.m. so when he goes out his feet will not get wet. They seem to help, not expensive either.

For topical treatment, we use nustock. http://nustock.com/ It smells very old fashioned (like camphor) and is all natural - and takes care of the itchies pronto.

But you do need to address the cause of the itch. And it's usually fleas or mites. And the best way to take care of them is baths.

Frontline works but if it freaks you out, you can rub citronella oil through your dog's coat every couple of days. But that can cause a reaction too.