Itchy Dog

[DontDoItGeorge]

Our Lab has an itchy belly, I'm sure it's an allergy thing. It started in the spring, he was fine all winter.
It just affects his belly area. There dong seem to be any spots, its sometimes more red than others.
I've tried stinky stuff in his food which didn't make any difference.
I'm now trying Yuderm in his food and rubbing stinky stuff straight on his belly. I'm also trying a piriton daily.
Has anyone's dog had this problem? Any tips would be fab.
Incidentally hes 18 months old, it happened last year too and ended up taking him to the vet. They gave him steroids for 2 weeks which stopped the itching but made him wee everywhere. And I'm not keen on giving him steroids.....

[thesunwillout]

We've got an itchy dog.

She's on grain free kibble and meat.

Check for fleas, they can hide so well.
I've found sudocream works really well, I think our dog reacts to pollens or grass, not sure.

But sudocream works well.

Any inflammation goes down fairly quickly.

[DontDoItGeorge]

Thankyou for replying. We also use grain free kibble, hes had the same food since we got him.
That's interesting about sudocrem, I didn't know you could put it on dogs!
I also think it may be grass allergy but grass is hard to avoid!

[thesunwillout]

Well I just thought if you can put it on baby skin you can try on the dog.

It's fairly mild and I have put it between her toes too, always calms down.
I only put a tiny bit and rub in well.
It's definitely seasonal with ours.

[DontDoItGeorge]

The only thing that worries me with that is he tends to lick stuff off straight away.

[ruthieness]

Itching does seem to be a very difficult thing to diagnose and it can be two things at once! - it is also often easier to treat for some problems than to test for it.

Zinc is toxic to dogs so put a very small amount of sudocrem on and rub in well -

If your dog becomes a obsessive licker in the same place then think about getting a soft cone of shame to stop licking.

Itching might also be a fungal infection - yeast or ringworm - could try an antifungal/antibacterial dog shampoo

if it is a grass allergy then rubbing the dog with a towel after every walk is a good idea - or rinsing the dog to get rid of pollen.

[MadMumToThree]

I have an itchy cocker spaniel. Since putting her on a raw diet and cutting out all dog treats ( now just has a chunk of raw carrot/cucumber/raw chicken wings etc) she has improved enormously.

[ruthieness]

have found one way to test for Mange is to smear Vaseline on the dogs skin - say over a bit of his tail - the mites will burrow into the skin to avoid drowning and you will see little spots of blood appear almost instantly if possible film it and show your vet.
Fleas and allergies do not have this result so it’s pretty accurate for a positive test

• it is possible to get a false negative if you happen to pick a place without any mites but you can try a few places where you can see the skin - wipe off thevaseline afterwards if your dog will lick it

[RosesForeverRed]

That's a good tip @ruthieness
I've used "non stinky stuff" but I've come to the conclusion that it made the itching worse as the dog loved the taste so licked it straight off

[RosesForeverRed]

Does the vaseline trick have to be on bare skin?

[ruthieness]

I think have to be able to see some bare skin to see what happens

[ruthieness]

The Vaseline trick will not work if the dog has been swimming or has been washed as that too will cause mites to hide.

I think the important thing is to make sure that the itching is not fleas mites or yeast - all instantly treatable as opposed to “allergies” which take long term management. Anti itch medicines are great and are very expensive but they can just mask the true diagnosis. “Allergies l” should only be explored once other causes have been ruled out.

[RosesForeverRed]

Interesting thankyou

[FelicityBennett]

Our lab was extremely itchy, we changed his food as above to grain free but also unusual protein as per vet so he went onto duck and potato and was a lot better on that

[Sunnydaysstillhere]

Ddogs can take human anti histamines.

Vet told my friend who gives half each to her llassa apso duo!

[ProperVexed]

If you want to go homeopathic have a look at stopitall and Karen Ruggles.co.uk. My friend swears by this stuff for her dogs and horses. The website is poor (imo) and waffles on a bit, but might be worth a look.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Our lab had very itchy paws this summer, so the vet suggested putting her on piriton during the pollen season, and it really helped.