# ITCH SCRATCH SKIN cures advice recommendations



## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi everyone-
I have been MIA for awhile, extremely busy.

I thought I would post my problem with Harry.
He is constantly itching anymore.
He has some small red spots, here n there.
Sometimes his ear flaps are red/hot ( NOT INFECTED)
And he scratches/bites from head to toe, including his feet.
So, with that said, lets say it is NOT a food allergy, then what shampoos, ointments, drugs, supplements, treatments have you used on your dogs problem skin?
Can you please give name, place where purchased and type of problem(s) it helped?

He was a year old october 15.
His skin has no flakiness.
Harry had been on Wellness core ( grain free, protein based) fish, and then I did switch him to wellness with grains fish, and am now switching him back to core fish. To try and rule out the food as the issue.
He did have a medicated bath at a groomers which did not help.
He does not appear to have any evidence of fleas.
He does not wear a flea/tick colar or have any spot on treatment.
His shampoos have been ones I have used before on him with no problems.
I tried Benadryl but didn't really seem to do much.
His belly doesn't have any hotspots, he is starting to get a few small dot type scabs towards the ends of the underside of his ears.
I hate seeing him constantly at himself


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## Jammies (Apr 4, 2009)

*Our sheltie has the same problem and we took her to our vet who sent us to a dermatologist. She is on medication which does help. She is allergic to the environment...grass, trees, etc. Let's see, is there a bubble for a dog to live in???*


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Jammies said:


> *Our sheltie has the same problem and we took her to our vet who sent us to a dermatologist. She is on medication which does help. She is allergic to the environment...grass, trees, etc. Let's see, is there a bubble for a dog to live in???*


What medication and what were the results of the medication?


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Could he have earmites or something going on in his ears? Is this the main area he is itching.

Isabelle has had bad fall environmental allergies since we moved to SC (I go through this and now my husband was just diagnosed with seasonal asmtha as well!). My vet was the first to offer shots but I wanted to avoid that if possible. She gets itchy as soon as she comes back in from going outside and she itches her back like crazy. So I actually cut down her back given her benadryl for kids and have used hydrocortisone spray for dogs that I got from the vet and an alternative that I like as well has been colloidal silver spray. Those have been able to stop hot spots thus far and she is back to doing a lot better. She now actually likes the sprays too, I think she has finally realized their effect.

Amanda


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

He is irritated from head to toe, so wouldn't ear mites be just in the ears and they would be dirty?
He is starting little scabs on the tips of his ears and will once it a while shake his head, but I thought he would need to have dirty ears too.
I was thinking of doing the spot on REVOLUTION. Covers mange mites fleas ticks, etc.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Scudder get this too. Fred has a couple scabs from time to
time. My guys are always on some kind of flea and tick control even in the winter. My vet told me it was a staff infection and it took over 2 weeks of antibiotics to clear. I wasn't convinced that was the proper cure. He still gets scabs from time to time. In fact, both my boys have some now. I really think it's an allergy to the high grasses they come onto contact with on our hike. I tried benadryl or maybe it was bactine ointment applied right to the scab. That's cleared them up pretty fast. Might be worth a try!


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Did your vet do a scraping for Demodectic Mange? It starts as little red bumps and then can bloom into something more severe. 99% of all dogs carry the mite that causes this. Some dogs will have just mild irritations at different times.

The site below site has the severe cases but some good info.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/demodectic_mange.html


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## TheVintageVamp (Oct 14, 2009)

I wouldn't use any sort of a spot-on flea/tick treatment if he has open sores or raw areas on his skin. I would think that could cause even more problems.

We had a cocker spaniel that had a terrible time with skin problems/allergies. Have you checked for any sort of a yeasty smell from his ears? Magic would get yeast infections inside his ears. We got drops from the vet for that. We finally discovered that part of his problem was the systemic flea medication he was on (Program) and the rest was other allergens. The vet gave him a two week course of low dose steroids (prednisone) and took him off the Program and put him on a grain free diet and supplemented with Linatone. This took care of his skin problems fully, as long as we watched him close. If he showed any signs of a hot spot, we immediately treated it with sulfodene spray. This seemed to stop them in their tracks for him.

I really would take him to the vet first to get their thoughts and maybe some immediate relief for him. You don't want secondary infections cropping up.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

I've never seen a skin irritation that this stuff won't fix-from a hotspot on one of our farm dog's legs to a place on a Scientist friend's arm that had been treated by two different Dermatologists with no success and was over a year old.

http://www.chrissystems.com/peace.htm


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## DanielBMe (Nov 25, 2007)

I think the first thing you need to determine is if it's a food allergy or airborne allergy. Definitely sounds like some type of allergy. 

Do you find Harry is chewing/licking the tops of his paws or licking the pads? Is he scratching his muzzle at all? Is he primarily just scratching his ears and sides? 

If he is licking/chewing the tops of his paws and not really scratching his muzzle, then I would say it sounds more like an airborne allergy, ex grass, pollen, ragweed, dust mites. If he seems to be licking the pads of his paws and scratching his muzzle or even rubbing his face into the carpet quite a bit, then I would guess that it's food related. Ear infections are also quite common with food allergies.

My guys are both allergic to beef. Within hours of feeding them beef, the scratching turns up and I can see them licking the bottoms of the pads. 

I would first try to rule out food but moving to a single source protien. Fish is good but you need to see what else is in the food. Try to move away from any grains.

It could take up to 3 months to see an improvement. You also need to look at what treats you are giving. YOu need to be diligent. Once you do that for a few months then you'll get a better idea. If the scratching doesn't stop, then I'd do an allergy test.

You also need to track if there are times when you notice the scratching increases or decreases. I just went through all this so know how difficult it is.


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

This problem is so frustrating. Sometimes after feeding Kodi chicken, he will rub his muzzle on the rug. But, he doesn't do it all the time. So, is this an allergy to chicken? And he had been doing so well with the itching. Then a few days ago, he was scratching like crazy. I put him in my lap to check him and sure enough, two fleas. It has been very mild here, in the 50's, so those little ba#%*ds are still around. He is so allergic to fleas I think he just hears the word and starts to itch. Don't rule out fleas. If the dog is outside and gets bit, the flea can just hop right off and you wouldn't see any signs.


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## Jammies (Apr 4, 2009)

Tom King said:


> I've never seen a skin irritation that this stuff won't fix-from a hotspot on one of our farm dog's legs to a place on a Scientist friend's arm that had been treated by two different Dermatologists with no success and was over a year old.
> 
> http://www.chrissystems.com/peace.htm


*Tom, does this actually cure the problem or just stop the itching? Do you know how often you have to put it on the dog? I've read the testimonials and this might be just what we need for our sheltie!!! It sure would beat the expensive medications that we buy from our vet!*


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

He had 2 baths yesterday, which have seemed to help. I noticed that his inside ear flaps were less red after the baths and this am his ears look decent.
He is still itchy this morning but maybe not quite as bad, but is itchy from head to toe.
His ears really have no sign of infection, and he does get at his feet...basically everything.
I did order the revolution as he doesn't have any really open wounds...yet.

I did have him at the vet, he just sort of was like...could be a food allergy, but didn't think it was much to be concerned with but since he never stopped it seems to have escalated alittle...

Went back to his grain free fish food, Between that and the revolution I am hoping it will clear up.
I will be ordering the colliodal spray today, to try and ward off anything from starting worse on his skin.

If it is a flea allergy, how long would a bite make his system go crazy for?


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Awwww. poor Harry. One thing about allergies, is they can develop them out of no where...so the same food, shampoo, etc. may in fact be causing this. Did the vet seem to think it could be bacterial? how has your weather been, if Harry is slightly damp a lot of the time from going in and out of rain or dew, I would look into bacterial. In which case, this shampoo really worked for Cash.

Amazon.com: ChlorhexiDerm 2% by DVM (8 oz): Kitchen & Dining

the hard thing is you have to never leave them wet-- blow dry every time they come in or are bathed.

Once when he had a reaction to a bug bite and would not stop itching all over the vet gave us this leave on cream rinse and cleared it up.

http://www.entirelypets.com/releco1.html

good luck. I know how frustrating itchiness can be for man and beast.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Tom King said:


> I've never seen a skin irritation that this stuff won't fix-from a hotspot on one of our farm dog's legs to a place on a Scientist friend's arm that had been treated by two different Dermatologists with no success and was over a year old.
> 
> http://www.chrissystems.com/peace.htm


Is there anything else on that website worth purchasing, or do you think just the spray?
Was looking at conditioner, waterless shampoo, and something to keep the hair down away from the eyes without trimming it so he can seeeee...


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

This is my experience....

I have no idea what caused Dexter to scratch his ears, it could of been an allergy. I don't remember feeding anything different unless it was a treat that he reacted to. 

Anyway....Dexter would scratch and scratch his ears...the right one mainly, I took him to the Vet to check out the ears and the Vet did not see any mites. 

The inner leather part of the ear was red from scratching...I tried Cortizone.10 Cream with Aloe. I took a very small tab on my finger and rubbed it on the inside of the ear flap. It was just Dexter's ears that were red, after a few days of the cream, the ears were back to normal. I did notice at the time that Dexter was itching a lot, he was biting at his toes also. 

I think if Dexter was itching all over, I would be checking for fleas for sure and then changing his diet to see if I could narrow down an allergy....that is after, I took Dexter to a Vet to see if they knew what it was or possibly take a little skin scraping for the lab.

I haven't used the cream for Dexter's ears in a good while now, but he will still tend to scratch his ears now and then and I check the ears flaps to make sure they are not red like before. I haven't seen Dexter chewing on his toes since the ear redness problems.

Anyway....my experience....when I was at the Vet, he said, "if the ears got worse, we could always try a corticosteroid (I believe that is what he said). 

Dexter is still on his flea/tick medication, so I am ruling out fleas...it has got to be some mild allergy.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

*My plan*

So, I went to petsmart today, and between what I bought at petsmart and things online, this is my course of action.
Let me know what you guys think...
Excel diphenhydramine tablets, gave first dose this evening.

Treated his ears tonight with ear mite treatment from petsmart (even though currently no signs internally of mites)

For tomorrow he gets ANOTHER bath with...
Dawn dishwashing or vinegar mix because I was dumb with baby oil:redface:
I bought synergy labs vet formula hot spot & itch relief med conditioner..has lidocaine hydrocortisone and wheat germ oil in it.

Then I have one dose of advantix spot on left for under 10lbs weight (Harry is 16lbs) but I thought that I would use it to at least help kill any bugs which I can't seem to find, eventhough i have given him flea/tick shampoo the other day. I know the advantix is controversial, but he did ok on it over the summer and I didn't give it to him on a regular basis, he has no major open sores or anything.

I ordered Revolution spot on but that won't be here until Friday, and I am sure he will require a bath by then, which will wash off the advantix spot on.

I also ordered the recommend collidol spray.

From what I can tell thus far, is I suspect that it may have been the food, (went from fish grain free to fish with grains) and that it is just not out of his system yet, and from what I read through here it can take a few weeks for the food allergy to go out of the system.:Cry:

So, In the meantime I can help him with his skin and kill any bugs which by chance is causing the reaction, bug I have never been able to find a flea on him. It did get really cold here today and snowed, so hopefully it finally killed the bad bugs.

Man and if all of this doesn't work, then its not the food and I'll have one irritated dog for the rest of his life, poor thing.
I'll let you know how things go on Monday.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Poor little guy and it sounds like you are trying everything to help him. I would really be careful with how much flea treatment you are putting on him. Some dogs break out badly and get horrible skin irritations from that stuff as well. And with him having skin issues, I bet that doesn't help. Maybe instead the next bath just do an apple cider vinegar rinse- like a 1/2 cup with a gallon of water and don't rinse him after pouring that on?


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

I was thinking that I would give him a bath to was off the advantix next week and then apply the revolution like on sat/sun. I don't think the spot ons stay in the skin if you use certain shampoos???


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Well here is where we are at.
He does seem to be a little better, but its not so far because of anything I haved used.
His body doesn't seem to be quite as itchy but his ears still get inflamed, especially in the morning and evening, he mostly itches his ears ( one is always worse than the other), and his feet.

the pills I bought OTC didn't seem to do much.
The bath seems to help overall especially the redness in his ears even if temporary.

I bought the collidal spray and I really did not see where it made the itch go away or if it did it was for a short bit, just like hydrocortisone spray I bought.

I never did the advantix.
I gave him a med conditioner bath today, and then will put the revolution on him either this evening or tomorrow, maybe even tomorrow evening this way his is completely dry and his skin isn't irritated from the bath.

I'll post again if anyhting changes.

Since he is on a grain free fish based food, IF he is allergic to the food what the heck would possibly be in the food that he is allergic too? I can't see where it would be the food but I also can't see where it would be a bug making him itch this long especially since I can't find a bug on him at all!


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## Jill in Mich (Feb 24, 2008)

Sorry you're going through this. I know how frustrating it can be. It could be anything in the food, or it may not be the food at all. This sounds very similar to Tess' symptoms. I had hoped that following the first frost Tess' itching would lessen but in fact it seems to have gotten worse which makes me think we're mostly dealing with indoor allergens. Based on the allergy testing she had done I know she's severely allergic to dust mites and although I go through rigorous weekly cleaning for her I think the heat being on more often is what has increased her symptoms. I think the most important thing I have learned from the allergist is taking one thing at a time so you can determine what works and what doesn't. And, unfortunately, you have to be really patient because the symptoms may take weeks to clear up.


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## havapuppy (Apr 2, 2007)

I just ordered the Peace and Kindness product - hoping it helps with our Riley's "hot spot" issues! He's had a spot on his back that he itches until he has a bald spot for a while now. We had it scraped and that came back negative. His diet is grain free (Innova Small Bites). No other hot spots and his ears seem to be ok - although he has an issue with excessive wax... hoping P&K helps him - I'll post back!


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## waybrook (Sep 13, 2009)

Just an fyi. We have a golden retreiver and a lab. The vet we had in OH raised foxhounds and recommended Cruex (for jock itch) for hot spots. She told me thats what she used and it worked great on our retreivers. The golden would get a hot spot on her flank (usually in the summer) and the Cruex would clear it up in just a matter of days.


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## DanielBMe (Nov 25, 2007)

Personally, if I were you I'd move to Nature's Variety Raw medallions. I'd go with Salmon and stick to it for about 2 months. The raw has fewer ingredients and no grains. Also your Hav is less likely to have an allergic reaction to the protein. You may not like raw but it may be the best thing for your Hav.

I would also buy a medicated shampoo such as VET Solutions which is has deep cleansing action, antibacterial/Antifungal. Then also get Mal-a-ket Shampoo which is also a medicated antiseptic shampoo. Those are what the dermatologist recommended for my guys. Just make sure you check with your vet first. Washed them once a week with the VET Shampoo and leave it in for 10min, then rinse and used the Mal-a-ket shampoo right after and left that in for 10min. Then rinse and put in a leave in oatmeal conditioner. Do not blow dry. The dermatologist told me that the heat from the blow dryer will make the skin itchy.

Between that and the raw Salmon and being on a proper flea prevention program, hopefully you will see some relief. But as I indicated before you have to find a program and stick to it. If you add something new a few days later or change something, you might as well not try anything at all because you are not giving anything a chance for a long enough time. You can't try every possible thing you can think of and hope something works. *Seeing any relief in less than a month is very unlikely*. Foods or flea allergens can take a long time to make thier way out of your Havs system. You need to stick to one thing and keep a diary of what happens over time. That's the only true way to get at the root problem. It might be hard to do but it will give you the greatest chance at success.


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## BeverlyA (Oct 29, 2006)

I would suggest a change in the diet too. Since you are using Wellness already, I would try the Wellness Simple Foods Duck and Rice or Natural Balance Potato and Duck. 
I would love to feed Nature's Variety, as it is made less than a mile from me, but the kibble, not the medallions, is what made my dog the worst.
With four dogs the medallions aren't really an option for us because of the cost.

Good luck, I will be anxious to hear how the CC spray works for you.
Diet changes are slow to show up on the body. It will take some patience.

Beverly


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi everyone-
Well, Harry has been completely back on his Old food for a while now. Which is the wellness core fish. I am thinking that his problem was/is maybe 2 or 3 things really.
He is better now that he has been back on his old food and for a while.
He still has morning and evening scratching, but he is nothing like he was.
His ears are no longer bleeding, he doesn't shake his head and he is not nearly as itvhy.
He does still itchi, but just not as bad.
He does still shew at the side of his back paw, not the bottom. I do not know how to get him to stop that and he still has the same 2 scabs on it. I am thinking that after his next bath I am going to start wrapping it so he can't get to it, but I am thinking he will probably chew the wrapping off and I don't own an ecollar.

So, I did buy some solid gold barking at the moon to try him on it in a few more weeks.
I think he definately has a grain allergy, but that he may have other allergies as well that are not as bothersome as the grain allergy was. I think this because he still is chewing at that paw, and he will still bite in a flash towards his rear as if something bit him, but he is on revolution and I have never found a bug.
I think that the peace spray has helped the paw not get infected or so bad where he needs a trip to the vet...yet.
Just wanted to update all the helpful people in here.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

BeverlyA said:


> I would suggest a change in the diet too. Since you are using Wellness already, I would try the Wellness Simple Foods Duck and Rice or Natural Balance Potato and Duck.
> I would love to feed Nature's Variety, as it is made less than a mile from me, but the kibble, not the medallions, is what made my dog the worst.
> With four dogs the medallions aren't really an option for us because of the cost.
> 
> ...


I looked into the wellnes simple and really do not like the low protein, but may go that route at some point. It isn't very available to me either. The natural balance which is also very low protein is more available to me. 
I picked the solid gold barking because it was readily available, no grain, no chicken ( I suspect he doesn't tolerate chicken from puppy issues)


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## Chasza (Dec 10, 2008)

Every dog is different, but I will say that my personal opinion is that I don't prefer the Solid Gold. I like the natural Balance allergic formulas (not their original). It is low iin protein, but it is a good one to stay on while you see what's going on (of course, that precludes allergies to the meat source or potatoes or vitamin types).

Being winter, this is an excellent time to do this with the decrease in fleas outdoors- but they are still in your home. IF he has flea dermatitis, you won't find a flea or flea dirt on him because he will do so much licking to remove the evidence. It only takes one flea bite to set off a reaction that can last weeks. The flea does have to bite to be killed --- so it still might be fleas. 

My girl has food and flea allergies and I have spent the last two years in complete frustration b/c I couldn't get a food to agree with her while doing food elimination diets. Well, turns out that her flea dermatitis is so very bad that she stayed on high alert and that would cause reactions to foods that she could tolerate if the fleas weren't so bad on her. I didn't think she had bad flea problems b/c I never found the evidence. I couldn't use topicals on her b/c of past reactions, so I finally tried the pill Comfortis and when she improved, I realized that was a much worse problem than I had thought. That comment about biting at his rear in a flash is what made me think he might have flea issues.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Yes, he will bite in a flash, but that just started again, and it had gone away, plus it has been super cold here and for awhile, so I can't think it would be flea...but anything is possible.
Also, I agree with you on the nat balance, I may change my mind, but I bought the solid gold, and can always return and get the nat balance, he wa son it and did ok on it as a puppy, it was the duck n pot, but did better on his current core fish. Thanks for the opinion.


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## eurobichons (Jan 20, 2007)

Try Neem oil shampoo or ointment


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## DaisyMazy (Dec 18, 2009)

My Daisy who will be 6 months on Jan 22 has had the same issue. We have been to the vet a couple of times. Here is what we are doing: I changed her food to Wellness brand. She was not eating the other. I have to use 1 teaspoon of wet food and a teaspoon of chicken. She had two injections for "invisable Mites". (He said it was real....) He said his plan of action was to treat for the most logical and if nothing worked then he would suggest going to a dermatologist. He gave her a Chlorpheniramine. It is an allergy drug. I give her 1/2 in the morning. If she wakes me up scratching in the wee hours I get up and give it to her. I give her a bath in epti-sooth every 7 - 14 days. It took about three to four weeks of the above and she is MUCH better. She is down to 1/2 pill every other day. I have my fingers crossed that this will continue and she will be med free soon.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Invisible mites, how d u treat that?
Which Wellness did u go with? I like the wellnes line.


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## Jammies (Apr 4, 2009)

*I just wanted to say that we bought the Peace and Kindness and one day our sheltie had scratched at her chin and had it bleeding. I took some of the Peace and Kindness and put it on her and a couple of hours later, could hardly see it. A couple of hours later, I put it on her again, and it was totally gone! That stuff is awesome!!! Thanks Tom for the information!*


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## DaisyMazy (Dec 18, 2009)

I use Wellness Super 5 Mix Just for puppies. Then for wet food I use turkey and potato, duck and potato, and chicken & potato. It took about three weeks before I saw a change. The vet gave her two injections for invisible mites about the same time. I also purchased Peace and Kindness spray. I am not sure if it helps the cause of the itching but when I spray her she seems to get relief. 

I started out being so logical and doing one thing at a time logging weather when she itched etc. but after seeing her miserable I did whatever I could. Latest update she has only had 1/2 pill for the last three days. The other thing I did was pull up my carpet in the den and put flooring in. She is so much improved but don't really know what the cause of it was.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

well, he has been back on the nature's duck n pot grain free and does fine on it, so now I will be trying the solid gold barking moon grain free.
If he does fine on that then I know it's gotta be a grain intolerance.

I wanted to test the food out since I know right now its too cold for a flea infestation, so the bugs can be ruled out if he starts to itch.

Hopefully he is fine on the solid gold...fingers crossed
Then I would have 3 foods he can tolerate, which would be great!:hungry:


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## BeverlyA (Oct 29, 2006)

I have had all my dogs on Natural Balance Potato and Duck but I've never been really happy with it. I tried my best to stick with the Evo, but every day _one _of them would have a poopy butt :bathbaby: and that was still mixing it 1:1 with the NB for 2 months. I had tried a couple of the different Wellness formulas before, but my gang was never crazy about them until I brought home the Simple formula Rice and Duck. They all seem to enjoy it and I think it will be better for their coats.

Beverly


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

One of the websites says that if you feed the duck n potato that you should supplement for the coat.
I like the wellness, the simple is low protein just like the duck...but am trying new ones to see if I can expand out a little and have a choice since I have read it is good to offer a little variety so they don't develop allergies.

Plus if the store is out of something I can just get the other.


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

*grain free*

So, Harry has been on a few different foods and he has no more itching problems, I figured out that he is sensitive to the grains in the foods, I thought when he was a puppy it was chicken but he currently is on the core chicken with no problems.
So, he can tolerate core fish,
core chicken
natures duck n pota
solid gold bark moon.

This makes me happy since there are now a few I can pick from in case one is out of stock at the store.

So, there is hope for those having diarreah and or skin issues!


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## nancyf (Nov 6, 2007)

Last year when Bella was 1.5 years old, she developed inflamed feet. She was put on several medications, including an anti fungal med, and it cleared up. But I noticed that when the prednisone ran out and we were told to put her on Benedryl, she seemed to lick her feet more.

This year it became obvious that when the warm weather came in, the red feet returned. I put her on Benedryl at night so she would sleep but I've once again noticed that the Benedryl seems to take away her peace. Does that make sense? She's restless, seems to lick more. . . .

Has anyone else noticed this behavior with Benedryl? It certainly doesn't make her sleepy and I'm giving her the amount the vet recommended.

Another observation I've had is that after doing her business in the backyard, she'll kick her hind legs. Those feet are the first to show irritation. I'm thinking she's really getting that allergy causing stuff deep in those feet.

These allergies make me very observant to my environment like never before! I guess that's a benefit!


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## Sam375 (Feb 2, 2009)

Benadryl is suspose to cause drowsiness but in people/kids it can do the opposite, become a stimulant almost. So, it would not surprise me if the Benadryl causes the opposite effect you are seeking.

Claritin for kids is suspose to be nondrowsy, it makes my kid VERY drowsy and irritable. The Zyrtec is suspose to be non drowsy, different main ingredient, and it actually does not cause drowsiness/irritability.

People and I am sure dogs metabolize drugs differently from one dog to another just like people.

What about using some sort of bootie on the feet?


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## Feisty (Nov 20, 2009)

Ari started chewing himself a few days after he was neutered at 5 months. He wasn't scratching and he wasn't chewing his incision but it started a few days after. When it got to be a daily thing and he had chewed himself bald in 2 places we took him to the vet. She tested for mange and looked for fleas (nobody has ever seen any sign on him) and put him on Revolution for fleas and then some hydrocortisone pills. He continued to chew and made 3 more bald spots as well as chewing almost every last hair off his tail. We went back to his old shampoo but he kept chewing. We called the vet and she suggested since he was a nervous dog who is scared of other dogs that it was anxiety so she put him on anti anxiety drugs. He kept on chewing. We changed over from Orijens to Nutro and dropped the canned Tripett we topped it off with. The pills did nothing but reduce his appetite and he was barfing up bile (probably unrelated but we wondered) so we stopped taking them and left it with the vet who has not called back recently & I haven't pressed it. 
He is doing better. He started to scratch with his feet more and not chew as much. His tail is growing back as are a few patches but his skin has gone almost black in those spots. He does most of his chewing first thing in the morning and he started in our dry cold Feb and has continued into dewy warmer grassier April. He did it at the cabin where it is dry and dusty rather than grassy. He chews more in our presence like on waking and visiting with us rather than when he's alone in his crate for a few hours. It is a strange thing. I might try an allergy med and see if it is something from the environment and then try different foods.


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## nancyf (Nov 6, 2007)

Tom King said:


> I've never seen a skin irritation that this stuff won't fix-from a hotspot on one of our farm dog's legs to a place on a Scientist friend's arm that had been treated by two different Dermatologists with no success and was over a year old.
> 
> http://www.chrissystems.com/peace.htm


I finally bought Peace & Kindness spray last month and it really is a miracle drug! Bella had bad problems with her feet last Fall so even after giving her Benedryl this Spring, she was still chewing, licking her feet. This spray stopped her from that--immediately. Last night she was scratching her ears so I sprayed on the outside part of the ear and she stopped. Today the ears look perfect. I've even tried this on me and it works. Love, love, love it--gentle, no side effects, no RX needed, it's perfect stuff.


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## Narwyn (Jan 24, 2010)

irnfit said:


> This problem is so frustrating. Sometimes after feeding Kodi chicken, he will rub his muzzle on the rug. But, he doesn't do it all the time. So, is this an allergy to chicken?


Clover does this. I could never figure it out, until one day, someone just told me it looks like he's wiping off his face after he heats. Sure enough, he does it less if I feed him straight dry food, more if there is "gravy" or anything messy. I would imagine this is the same thing!

This sounds like Clover's seasonal (pollen) allergies. This is a stage or two before he gets REALLY bad. Really bad means scratching his ears and eye rims open and bleeding!! Benadryl just wasn't strong enough. Last year after some other scary problems that ended up being allergy related the vet put him on Temeril P, which is an anti-histamine and a low dose of prednisone. He gets a higher dose in the spring, and a pretty low dose the rest of the year. This was clearly right for him, with how bad he gets and his age. His skin is still a little itchy but it's not out of control. With the bad year we had, he'll have warm/red ears and scratch here and there on the highest dose, but he's not out of control.

I would explore environmental allergies for your guy.

~K


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## Feisty (Nov 20, 2009)

Peace & Kindness sounds like great stuff for dogs and people but the shipping costs are crazy. The company wants $27 to ship a $15 bottle to Canada so I looked for a distributor here and the closest one is an hour away by car and charges $12 for shipping. I've emailed them to see if they'll let me pick it up myself next time I'm out that way.


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## nancyf (Nov 6, 2007)

Feisty said:


> Peace & Kindness sounds like great stuff for dogs and people but the shipping costs are crazy. The company wants $27 to ship a $15 bottle to Canada so I looked for a distributor here and the closest one is an hour away by car and charges $12 for shipping. I've emailed them to see if they'll let me pick it up myself next time I'm out that way.


The ingredient, if I remember correctly, is a colloidal silver (I don't have the bottle with me right now to copy the exact name so it may be a little different than that). You can buy that at a natural food store/health food store. I hate paying shipping costs. We use Wellness canned food and I found it on line cheaper than at PetCo and with free shipping. That offer is gone now but I keep checking.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

My neighbor swears by Apple Cider Vinegar in a spray bottle for itching (she has a maltese)


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