Incessant itching and scratching....help!

[SachiBear]

My 5 month old baby Sachi is very itchy. She bites at herself (particularly on her back hips) and scratches incessantly. She also thumps her feet when you touch her almost anywhere. At first it looked like fleas, but I have taken her to the vet, and neither the vet nor I can see any fleas. The vet provided us with some fish oil caps because our climate is soooo dry, and although she's been on it for three weeks, the itching hasn't stopped. I put Frontline flea medication on her just in case it WAS fleas, but no luck...she is still scratching like crazy. I want her to be comfortable...I feel so bad that she is itching all the time. Has anyone experienced this before? Has anyone had a boxer that does this perhaps out of boredom?? Please help.

 

[Tally's mum]

Same problem!

My 8 month old Tally begun itching and scratching about March time, started with the ears and she got a really bad infection from this, now its on her neck, we have been visiting the vet every 2 weeks for skin scrap tests and ongoing steriods or anitbiotics today she was prescribed antihistamines and a gel which is antiseptic, looks like some sort of allergy but we need to wait a further 2 weeks to get the tests done. Maybe you should ask your vet about allergies??

Hope this helps - it really is upseting to see them so uncomfortable, best of luck.

Tally's mum

 

[gmacleod]

If she is itchy like that, then the cause is very likely allergies. Now that can have an envronmental cause, but just as frequently the cause is food. What do you feed her? If her food contains any form of corn, wheat, beet pulp or by-products then it's quite likely that that is the problem. Of course, it is possible for a dog to be allergic to absolutely anything at all, but those ingredients are very common allergens for dogs, irrespective of being fairly common ingredients in dog food.

 

[SachiBear]

Food

Thank you both! We have two dogs and free feed them. We feed our older dog Iams Lamb and Rice, and we had put Sachi on Iams Large Breed Puppy food, which does contain corn meal. She eats both the puppy food and the Lamb and Rice (it depends on what she feels like--we are taking her off of the puppy food). I will check the Lamb and rice bag for those ingredients next time. Can you recommend a food that doesnt have any of those ingredients?

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Jan]

Iams is really not very good food. Any food on the WDJ List would be a good choice. You may pay a little more for them, but you usually feed less and dog should be healthier too. You may save money on vet visits and they might live longer too.

Also, free feeding is not a good idea for many reasons. I would only leave it down for 20 minutes they pick it up. They will soon learn that if they want to eat, they must eat right away.

Good luck!

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[amandarobs]

I'm thinkin...

and thats kinda dangerous...my lab/mix is doing the insane itching and biting and never thought about the food allergery...i think that i'm going to look for something that doesn't have any of the stuff that Jan said, the corn byproducts and what not and see if that helps!! thanks!!

Amanda

 

[Tally's mum]

Thanks

Thanks for that info re food allergies, I'll change Tally over and see if that makes a difference, it may save money in the longer term for more vet bills