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[Rose]

I know this is for humans and their problems but I know there are animal lovers out there and as my dog is female it seems fair to include her. After 3 expensive trips to Vet, they still don't know why Daisy is itching like mad. No fleas, looked at diet etc but she is going mad with itch. My sympathies are with her because we all know how itching is horrible. If anyone can help me to help her, that would be great. I have washed her in very expensive anti itch dog shampoo  also and covered the poor thing in natural coconut oil (which the male dog loved!) but don't know what to do now.
Any ideas appreciated as she is my little saviour.

[Dancinggirl]

As a dog lover i so wish I could help.  I had an american cocker who was always chewing herself and making sore 'hot spots' - she was constantly having to wear the dreaded lampshade.  For some reason Iams dog food seemed to improve her skin and she didn't itch and chew so much.
I think it can become a habit. Can you divert her into doing other things when she starts to scratch?
Some people give their dogs evening primrose to help the skin. Perhaps some vitamin supplements with omega oils?
good luck Dg x

[honeybun]

I would take her off dog food and all her dog treats. Feed her on brown rice and chicken for a few weeks. Have you tried a fish oil supplement.

It's going to be trial and error to try and find out what's causing this. If a change of diet helps then you could try a sensitivity diet. I found Burns dog food to be good.
Poor little thing. I hate it when there is anything wrong with mine. She gets hot spots and licks until she bleeds.

Honeyb
X

[Pennyfarthing]

I have the answer !!  Rock Sulphur.  You can get it at any good pet store or buy it online.  It is brilliant and we've been using it for years.

Our previous dog used to be itchy and we ruled out fleas, allergies etc.  It is bright yellow in colour and you just add a big chunk of it to the dogs drinking bowl and it cools their blood.  This is so spooky because I just washed the kitchen floor and emptied the dog bowl and replaced the rock sulphur. 

I am pretty sure the itching will stop very quickly - try it and let me know how you get on!

[Taz2]

One of our visiting cats has really bad itching but has to have a steroid injection every few weeks to control it. I take it your (expensive) vet has tested liver function as this can cause overwhelming itching in animals as well as humans?

Taz x 

[Greyhoundgal]

Harvest mites are doing the rounds at the moment in our area - has your vet ruled this out?  Otherwise like the other have suggested I would put her on a very bland diet, chicken and rice or white fish and rice then gradually start re-introducing things to see if any of her food or treats are causing it.

[CLKD]

Sarcoptic mange mite - my cocker had this and the Vet initially thought it was auto-immune disease until a skin scrape was taken.  She then had to have weekly baths which I persuaded the Vet Nurses to do  and she came back smelling like a creosoted fence.

In the mean time take her off all commercial dog foods and dog biscuits.  Buy fresh chicken and beef mince; chop, stir fry, allow to cool.  Add a few veg if she will eat them.  Bland may give some relief if the problem is in the commerical food stuffs.  Even if the packet says 'allergen free'    . ........ dogs scavange, taking the paunch from a dead animal as a first choice.  They do not get a 'balanace' diet  ......... they will eat berries, grasses etc. when they are able to.

[bev567901]

If you have ruled out all the vet stuff & she isn't making herself sore I would just see if it calms down. My job is dogs & a couple of my girls do itch for no reason a few times a year. Maybe its hormones (groan) if she is unspayed. Blossom was my last dog to do this & we just let her get on with it as I feed a really good food & knew she had no medical issues. She just stopped after a couple of weeks. Making me itch now!!!  ps our vet is Steve Leonard remember Vets in Practice, he & his brother Tom    

[CLKD]

      certainly remember them as well as Mark Evans who does TV stuff too:  however, unexplained itchyness should be investigated by skin scrapes etc..  Some pets can have hay fever, we had a cat whose eyes, lips, paws swelled from April until November  - he hated the medication and would hide 

Some breeds are prone to itchyness, i.e. Westies - also that eye condition where they don't make tears which has a very long name  is prevalent in cockers, Westies and other breeds.  'dry eye' ....... our JR used to lick her front feet raw ....... until Dad changed her tinned grub to a US dried food which required hot water over it an hour before eating.

[bev567901]

CLKD all the ladies of a certain age use them Saw Steve at our new Aldi even celeb vets like a bargain!

[CLKD]

   remind me, where do you live again 

If we go back to how dogs would live in the wild, they wouldn't get half what owners give them, there's a HUGE guilt ridden trip out there which is worth £Billions to the pet food manufacturers 

My dog loved raw carrots, cauliflower, she would pick ripe raspberries from the canes ...... our sheepdog would eat bilberries straight from the bushes, only the ripe ones mind 

[bev567901]

It's a secret now should have asked me yesterday!  I swear by Royal Canin but bet there are others who say its crap. Wish my dogs would eat veg, kids hate it so always got left overs. I had a dalmation many years ago who used to steal the strawberries, so cute x

[Rose]

Thank you all so much for your replies! I am going to change her diet today and feed her separately from the Sheepdog. I will get the rock sulphur and bathe her again today. Then if that fails I'm off to the vet for skin scrapping. I will try everything and anything to help her. I knew you lot would come up trumps! 

[Dana]

Is it possible she has a flea allergy?  I had a dog once who never had a flea on him, but would literally drive himself, and us, crazy with his itching, scratching and biting. The vet finally worked out that it was a flea allergy. All it takes is one flea to jump on, take a chomp, and jump off again, and that flares the allergy up.

I can't remember now what the treatment was, because it's years ago and I was just a teenager, but I think he used to get cortisone injection every few months, but I'm sure there are other and better treatments now.

[CLKD]

HOWEVER: yep flea allergy is another route to check it is the saliva that pets are irritated by.  My little indoor cat though  ........ scratched a lot, because we had a a dog we assumed, due to symptoms, that she had been bitten and developed an allergy.  So she was treated by steroid injection as necessary.

Fifteen days before she was pts - for other reasons ; I changed her food.  She had been eating a well=known pouch/tinned food with a very nice cat on the packaging  for years++.  A free sample of another product came through the door and she wolved it down.  Within 48 hours of this particular food she had stopped itching.  Sadly she had amouth cancer and the pain became too much ....... I do wish I had followed the allergy route sooner in her Life, the guilt will live with me for always 

What have you decided to feed your dog on?  Do get a skin scrape done ASAP in case it is mange which is caught from foxes.  It burrows under the skin and causes INTENSE itching, my dog didn't stop for day after day, even throughout the night