Need Help: Scratching!

[Louise and Toby]

Toby has been scratching for a couple of months. He has a fair amount of fur gone from both sides of his face and now he's moving to his head. It's esthetic really - sure don't want the cute doodle look to go away. His ears are perfect and nothing unusual can be seen on the skin. He has not fleas - we've used Frontline on him and he takes Sentinel. I've ruled out shampoos - he's been to two different groomers. The vet checked him last time wwe were there and he said we could give him Benedryl. Don't want to do that. Not sure if it's dry skin, boredom, just a habit . . . . Any ideas anyone??
Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The thing that's odd about this, though, is that it's just the face & head. Any kind of dry skin problem would involve other areas of the body. Itching & scratching caused by allergies does involve the face, but is mainly concentrated around the eyes and mouth, as well as paws & lower legs, ears, axilla & groin, and/or tail.

[Cam & Oski]

Karen: you're right, this definitely seems more like a contact dermatitis since it's limited to a specific area (head/face). Is there something that Toby likes to rub his head/face on? Or does he get any special wipes or something applied to/to clean his face/beard?

Tegan: did the your vet tell you what they thought was causing Kali's skin probs?

Louise: has the olive oil helped at all? I'm curious & need closure! :)

[Tegan]

Our vet thought Kali's itchiness is probably due to allergies. We're trying to find out if it's a food allergy or an environmental allergy. We've found a few things we know she has problems with (wheat and chicken) but even avoiding them she's still itchy. We're trying her on a fish based food that does seem to help but hasn't solved her problems. The trouble with Kali is that she gets into everything (inside and out) so it's been really hard to figure out if it's a food allergy or not.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tegan, you may find it helpful to read our "Allergies & Food" section in the Food Group...a few of us have researched this fairly extensively. Although we hear all the time about dogs having food allergies, it's actually fairly rare; only 3 out of 200 dogs actually have a true allergy to any food. Itching IS one of the symptoms, but again, in this case, it wouldn't be only on the face & head areas. At any rate, there is a lot of helpful info & links for learning about food allergies and how to tell in that part of the "Food Group."

http://doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/allergies-and-foodwhats-the?gr...

[Tegan]

Kali is itchy all over, not just on the face and head. It was Tobey, who's mom started the discussion that was itching on the face and head. We are fairly sure she's allergic to wheat and chicken as whenever she has them by accident she has a flare of itchiness (she usually starts gnawing on her paws as well as itching like mad) and with the chicken she also has some rather unpleasant gastrointestinal problems. She has been doing much better on the fish diet we have her on. She still is a bit itchy but it's much better than it has been on any other food and her digestive tract has been much happier with the new diet. She used to get diarrhea all the time but now it's only when she gets into something she shouldn't. Our vet figures she has a mix of food and environmental allergies.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Sorry, Tegan, I did get confused, it was Toby & Bruce both who are itching around the face & head, not Kali.
You still might want to check out that discussion. Jackdoodle has the environmental type, atopic dermatitis, very severely. He sees a veterinary dermatology specialist and will be having the intradermal testing soon...it has been exhausting, very expensive, and frustrating. When I first started bringing it up in forums, I was just amazed at how everyone just immediately started talking about food. I have become much better educated since then, by necessity. Food allergies do resemble environmental allergies; food intolerances are what cause the gastrointestinal symptoms. I found that the picture became much clearer when I started seeing the specialist, and she had suggestions for managing Jack's discomfort that worked much better than what the regular vet suggested. (EFA's in the form of evening primrose oil have really helped.) But Jack's case is so severe, we are going to have to try the immunotherapy shots. It's easier (although reallly expensive) to diagnose the inhalant type than the food type, but the food type is a lot easier to treat once you know what the heck the triggers are, lol. Anyway, you might still get some useful info from the Food group discussion, please feel free to check it out.

[Tegan]

Thanks =) Poor Jack! I hope the treatment works for him. We're lucky enough to have a vet in the family so that's been a big help for us. It's been a lot easier now that we've started to find out what Kali is allergic to. One of our biggest problems is that where ever we go people always want to give Kali treats. Most of the time they ask first and I say no (but thank them) but some people just give her treats without asking before I can stop them. Some of the time it's fine (although it always makes me annoyed) but there have been times when she's had a flare and gets really itchy. It's so frustrating that she has to suffer just because people think it's ok to give a dog a treat without asking it's owner.

[Louise and Toby]

Hi all !
Well, thank you all so much for your input on this topic. I so appreciate your ideas. I haven't tried the benedryl or olive oil or primrose oil yet. I have started the process of putting the boy back on Kirkland Lamb and Rice. I think, best I can figure, this MAY have started when we switched him to Kirkland Chicken. I'm only trying one remedy at a time so I can know WHICH is working - know what I mean?? I'd rather get to the cause than just control it. I may do the benedryl too since I can tell when that wears off. It's not a real severe problem, for which I'm grateful. I will let you all know how this works and if it doesn't what is next. Wonder if I have to do the whole long switch over process with the food. . . . .

[Janie]

Good luck in figuring it out.