Itching

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

I have noticed within the last week or so that Phin has been rather itchy. Some days I dont notice it at all, and others (like tonight) he has been crazy itchy. He has been on the same food (even same flavor) for months (wellness turkey and potato). Yeti and Phin get Spot Farms treats. They finished their last pack of turkey meatball and I got them a bag of chicken nuggets. Besides those two things, they hardly get any table scraps, and when they do its usually fruit, meat, or peanut butter. Phin is on an antibiotic currently for a staph infection. He gets a pepcid with a pea sized amount of PB and then I either mixed in a very small amount (tablespoon or less) of PB with his meal or a hard boiled egg. Besides that, his surroundings have not changed much. We did get new carpeting a week or two ago. I, for the life of me, cant figure out why he would be itchy.  I am curious if your dogs have every been itchy, and if so what was going on!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

One thing that I like to recommend to people who are just starting to experience this is to keep a journal and the timing and the circumstances around the reactions.  What were they eating, did they get table scraps, what kind of treats, what food, were they somewhere different etc. because they are all questions that the Dermatologist is going to ask you and it is going to be really hard to remember what was going on when.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would put the focus more on the weather & environmental conditions than on food, treats, table scraps, etc. I know that your Lucy does have both food and environmental allergies but that really is very rare. 
In Jack's case, our dermatologist was certain his allergies were not caused by food because of the timing of his flares, so we had no discussion about food at all other than things related to storage mites, like switching to grain-free food, keeping the bags out of the house, using an air-tight storage container, washing bowls and containers, not buying more than a 30 day supply, etc. 

But a journal is a good idea. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Exactly I didn't mean to imply to just track the food, but also the timing of the flares and what was going on when they happened.  What month was it, had you been on vacation somewhere (like Lucy was always worse in FL even on her immunosuppressent shots).  Stuff like that.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes. Relationships of flares to baths or grooming is also a good thing to track. One of the worst flares JD ever had started immediately after I brought him home from the groomer. I always noticed that he seemed worse when it was very rainy and damp outdoors.