Itching and no fleas

[Heather & Brinkley]

Hey!

Brinkley has been itching a lot lately. I think I can pinpoint it to the warmer weather change as we live in a hot area... But I don't really know.

I'm also wondering if he could have a food allergy but he is on Orijen. He actually itched a lot before I made the food switch and it really cut down once he began eating Orijen so until now I thought it may have been a grain allergy.

I KNOW for a fact it isn't something scary as mange because my friend's very young Doodle had been itching a lot, to the point that he lost his fur. The puppy tested negative for the scary version of mange and they treated him for the other type of mange that doesn't show up on a scrape test. Since Brinkley had played with him I had Brinkley tested, and we also treated Brinkley for the lesser of the two evils as a precaution. Plus, my friend finally narrowed it down to a chicken allergy.

Brinkley isn't his losing fur and he doesn't have any raw spots, except one tiny spot on the bottom base of his tail... But I don't think he ate it raw. Instead, the itching wound some of his fur pretty tight last night so I think it is pulling... So I will cut the mats he created so he gets some relief.

But if he doesn't have fleas what else could it be? I'm leaning towards dry skin. Awhile back my vet said I could put a little bit of some kind of oil in his food but I can't remember what kind or how much!!

[Heather & Brinkley]

Right... I wash his skin....I was just saying I think it would be hard to not rinse him well because his shaggy fur is gone and that's normally when it is hard to get all the shampoo out. I think someone mentioned that he may have a residue and shampoo that wasn't totally washed out.

I already him with oatmeal shampoo.

[Heather & Brinkley]

That should have said "I use oatmeal" not "already." Oops!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna and I have seasonal allergies around the same time of year (during the snow melt and when the leaves fall - probably mold allergies).  We each take 1 reactine in the morning for those times of the year and it works like a charm! 

Thanks for the tips about bathing Karen - I hadn't thought to leave the shampoo on for longer.  Luna has an oatmeal-based shampoo; not for allergies, it's just a mild puppy shampoo but I imagine leaving it on would help regardless.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I use Douxo Calming shampoo on JD, and in the past have used Relief Shampoo. Both are formulated for dogs with itching from allergies, and both have instructions on the labels to leave the lather on for at least 10 minutes before rinsing. I don't know that this would be the case with all oatmeal shampoos, but it couldn't hurt.

One more tip I didn't mention earlier: don't use any leave-in products like detanglers  or finishing sprays, etc. on a dog with itchy skin. Anything like that leaves a film on the hair which will attract pollen and air-borne allergens.

[Lynda Kamrath]

What about soaps?  What kind of soap do you use on him when you give him a bath?  And are you careful to rinse him thoroughly.  I know that soap can cause them to itch.

[Heather & Brinkley]

I use an oatmeal shampoo...and he has been washed thoroughly. Sometimes I find it a bit harder to get all the shampoo out when he's very shaggy (I don't stop though until he is shampoo free) but he recently got a short haircut so it is a lot easier to get him totally clean.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Heather, I don't know if this will help but Quincy was also scratching more than normal and it wasn't a seasonal allergy as he did it all year long. I started him with EPO and fish oil. . I have also eliminated any type of wheat from his diet, oddly this resulted in the biggest improvement. He wasn't getting wheat in his food but was getting it in some of the treats ( mostly things DH would sneak to him when I wasn't looking)  I find he is much better and is no longer scratching out little tuffs of fur. He still has an occassional itch but nothing really out of the ordinary.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Thanks!

[Roy Henderson]

We first tried benedryl (sp) then otc canine allergy meds, we also tried oatmeal soap but the scratching presisted after giving up and going to the vet we realized that the allergy was gone but oiur dog had an infection from all of the scratching. The vet gave us a steroid shot and the scratching stopped immediatly we gave Ellie a 10 day course of anti-biotics to deal with the infection and it never came back. The vet told us that it may come back someday the steroid is not a cure but rather a treatment that won't work for everyone, but it was instant relief for us.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Thanks!