Itchy Dog

[RottieMum21]

We have a 16 month old Rottweiler (girl) who is showing signs of seasonal allergies - she's constantly licking her paws/chewing her nails and seems to be very itchy, has runny eyes and quite bad dandruff 😢

Our vets aren't very helpful and only gave us hibi-scrub for her paws which didn't help. I've bought some oatmeal shampoo from Pets@Home which I used at the weekend and we're going to be trying her on raw food (she currently has Royal Canin Large Puppy food, which she's been on since she was weaned by the breeder) as I have a colleague who put her dogs on raw which cured their skin problems

My question is, has anyone tried human antihistamines on their dog? Like cetirizine? I've read online that it's safe for dogs, but obviously the vets were less than helpful/forthcoming when I asked them... I just want to give her some immediate relief

Obviously if the itchiness doesn't improve with the special shampoo and raw diet, we will explore alternative medication from the vets

Can you not buy them for dogs from an online vet?
I personally wouldn’t risk giving human antihistamines to a dog because of the weight difference/dosage but I’m not a vet haha

You can use human piriton on dogs

make sure it’s piriton and not piritize and you can google the right dosage for weight

a vet told me to use piriton with a previous dog as it was cheaper than the prescribed stuff

I was going to say change food.

our dog had to have hypoallergenic dried food or was constantly chewing her paws. She had biopsies and all sorts & nothing the vet did helped.

change of food cleared her issues really quickly. No idea about antihistamines though.

It could be a grain allergy. That's what was wrong with my dog. As long as we fed her grain-free, she was fine.

My dog started scratching and had dry skin, which seemed worse after chicken, so he doesn’t get too much chicken in his food now. I also add a squirt of omega 3 salmon oil to food each day, this has stopped the dry skin and has now stopped the scratching. I do bath him in Duoxo shampoo.

We use chicken and beef chews for treats, so we're going to cut those out completely and I'll speak to the raw food place about a feeding programme 😊 I don't want my poor baby suffering!

This was the same with our dog. It did take a while but eventually it cured the issue.

OP there is an anti itch fungal spray on amazon by Cooper and Gracie and I used to spray my dog with that and it would stop the itching and provide instant relief in the mean time.

I use human piriton for my itchy dog, I was advised by the vet to use it in conjunction with evening primrose oil which apparently is more effective.

i also use chamomile tea which I brew with a few teabags, cool and put in a lunchbox. I then add cotton wool pads to the tea and stick it in the fridge - result is cooling, skin calming wipes. My dog actually rolls over on his back to have his tummy and legs wiped when he sees me coming with the chamomile wipe!

agree also with cutting out grain and chicken.

good luck, hope you find something to help your girl (love rotties!)

Ask your vet to put your dog on Apoquel.
My dog has seasonal allergies with the same symptoms as yours that no change of food, shampoo etc has ever helped. Apoquel has been an absolute life changer for her.

I can't say about the antihistamine, what I will say though is consider a change in diet.

Our dog was an awful paw licker/chewer. We sought advice from the pet shop and they recommended cutting chicken from her diet, which we did about 6 weeks ago and the difference is amazing!

You can have blood test to check what they’re allergic to. I put mine on raw, just got worse as time went on. Blood test shows allergy to chicken and beef, oats and grass pollen. Fish and potato hypoallergenic diet with no meat fat in ingredients, with piriton to combat the pollen seasonally cured mine. Honestly get the blood test. Could spend months and ££s trying to figure out via elimination, only for the season to change and no know where you are re the symptoms again.

Ours also had a grain allergy, and symptoms sound very similar to yours. We switched to grain free food around 3 years ago and he's been fine ever since

Our dog was given Piriton by the vet. She's now on Apoquel. We had an allergy test done and she is allergic to beef, wheat, rice, corn, soy, peas and house dust.
We get her food monthly from Butternut.

Both my frenchies are on apoquel and it's honestly a life changer for them

A tea spoonful of coconut oil in their food every day will help their dandruff. Gives them lovely shiny coats and wards off fleas too as they hate it.

Tbf I never used dog anything on either of mine, they just get a scrub down with Alberto Balsam shampoo and conditioner. Their skin is fine and coats are lovely.

My dog has always been really itchy - at one point he had a bald spot between his ears, which looked like a little patch of cradle cap. He was back and forth to the vet for over a year and he had ear drops, antibiotics, steroids, antifungals... nothing worked long-term. I've now got a routine going that seems to work:

• He is on hypoallergenic/grain-free food with fish oil mixed in daily
• I make sure he is brushed regularly
• His ears are cleaned out with special pads - they look like finger puppets so you can get right in about the ear canal, and they're antibacterial
• His flea and worming treatments are given like clockwork
• If his head is bothering him, I massage it with a bit of coconut or jojoba oil

He is much better now, thankfully!

One of mine suffers from seasonal itchiness and I've tried piriton (no effect whatsoever), hibiscrub baths (same), and keeping a strict grain-free dog food diet supplemented with healthy skin oils daily. It has helped but honestly the only thing that makes him itch free is 4 weeks worth or steroids from the vet every Jul/Aug. He gets a rash on his belly and under his armpits otherwise, and while I apply a soothing balm designed for dogs, he just seems to be sensitive to something in the environment in late summer.

I do have an anti-itch spray (which makes him smell vaguely like a citronella mince pie!) but not convinced it really did anything either.

Hello, aw no bless her! Hope she's okay - there's nothing worse than when they're poorly 😞.

One of ours has allergies - initially we had a vet telephone appointment (this was during one of the lockdowns and they were only seeing you in person for emergencies) so we tried changing his food first which helped a bit but he still wasn't right. Got him another appointment and the vet explained that some dogs have food allergies, some have environmental allergies and some have both (guess which option he's got 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️). He's on hypoallergenic Royal Canin and the vet prescribed him Apoquel so he has a tablet a day. He is also prone to ear infections and is very sensitive to pretty much everything. Such a diva.

Really hope yours is on the mend soon! Xx

Hayfever? Mine gets a black belly this time of year and scratches like mad, it's a grass allergy.

Our dog was on daily Apoquel, then on Cytopoint injections...cost us €140 per month. She was a rescue with bad skin issues...itching, sore, and even broke out in cysts which required removing.
We had changed vets and she advised taking her off chicken. She hasn't had chicken since November, and hasn't needed any medication at all...the symptons have completely gone.

The vet said it's down to the size of the proteins in the food...chicken is the worst, so we stick to duck, fish and lamb now. All her treats are fish based. B&M Bargains do an amazing range called Fishermans Dog - all salmon and very good.

I won’t give my dog apoquel, I’m not convinced about it’s safety.

OP - another option you might like to look at is non-stinky stuff, it can be used topically and as a feeding supplement.

Ours was the same. We moved to poultry free raw diet. And we also gave her a tin of sardines in sunflower oil. The fish and oil sorted her itching out overnight and the raw diet has really helped too. Also, we got her anal glands expressed - as this can also cause itchiness.

Thanks everyone, lots to consider and I'll speak to our vet about Apoquel

Definitely going to start by cutting out the chicken and beef treats and might try her on Piriton too

You can use human antihistamines on dogs.
Check the inside of your house. Neighbour spent thousands at vet’s, had food delivered from USA, had endless shampoos, creams etc… The dogs coat was falling out— he looked as though he’d had cigarettes stubbed out on him at one point. And then she found the dog was reacting to the spurt out air fresheners she had in her house. Got rid of those and the dog recovered.

My dog gets itchy paws in the Spring. I fill a shallow bowl with diluted Hibiscrub and soak her paws, then dab them dry.