Itchy 9 week puppy

[tuggy]

I have a 9 week puppy, been with us a week and a half now.

We have her on the exact same food she was reared on with the breeder (Royal Canin) so that hasn't changed.

She is really itchy. Scratches herself all the time and whines while she does it, as if she is scratching so hard it hurts!

Its worse as night, she wakes us up with her scratching/whining.

At the vet check up we mentioned it and she went through her coat (very short, she is a boxer) with a comb and no fleas. She gave us frontline anyway which we put on Monday night.

Maybe related, maybe not - A week ago at a vet check she had mites in her ears (apparently very common) and we put drops in twice a day and now apparently they are gone.

Breaks our heart hearing her little whimpers when she scratches... what could it be?

was she kept inside with the breeder or outside in kennels? and if inside was the house as warm as yours is? our dog has always had a bit of dry skin when the heating goes on the winter.

have you given her a bath? and if so what did you use to wash her?

there's a possibility of mange too, I know nothing about that though

She was inside the whole time, but I'm not sure on the temperature... our house isn't overly warm I dont think. I haven't bathed her yet, did buy some puppy shampoo from Morrisons and was going to try it today. Just didnt want to wash the frontline off... put on Monday night.

Thank you for replying.

Do you have any piriton?

Our puppy was itching herself raw at about 9/10 weeks - I rang the vet to check it out, and gave her about a quarter of a piriton tablet to ease the itching.

It worked really well and broke the cycle of itch, scratch and habit for her.

As she's so itchy, when you bath her, rather than putting neat shampoo staight onto her skin, dilute a bit in a jug of water before it goes on. It'll prevent the shampoo stinging if she's made any raw patches and make it easier to rinse off thoroughly too.

There are a hundred and one causes of itching - food can be one of them. It might be worth feeding her on a very plain diet of chicken and rice for a while to see if it an allergan or not.

I'd take the piriton route first and ease the symptom. It might just be a stressy habit.

is she scratching any specific area particularly?
My older girl scratched her armpits and soft stomach and her ears red raw.
She had leapt into a bed of wet dead nettles.
A course of piriton and an antibiotic and it was sorted.

I'd advise against bathing with anything other than a vet shampoo/wash as if she has skin condition any soaps will irritate it further

My dog has a skin condition which is worsened by summer weather and certain foods.

Try boiled chicken rice for a few days and see if this makes a difference. If it does test out a few of the hypo allergenic foods on the market. There are loads out there, but I found JamesWellBeloved suited us best. He is now however on BARF and Nature Diet which he loves.

We also have a soothing shampoo from the evts for him called Malaseb and a topical cream for any sore patches. During the summer he has to take a half a piriton a day. We think he has a pollen allergy as well as food allergy.

It's not always easy to find the root cause of itching but it is well worth the effort when the problem is solved. Food was the first thing we were advised to change.

Thank you very much everyone, will give the suggestions a try for her!

Definately go back to the vets. An itchy pup could be many things but is definately not normal. Ear mites rings bells as that can be a sympton of an allergic dog really hope not as it is a nightmare to get control off.

But I am not a vet so do go back to your vet asap Itching in the night and disturbing sleep is not a good sign so I would treat this as a quite urgent case.

My lab's skin probs started from puppy hood. If you have insurance you can go down the route of referral to a skin specialist and allergy testing. Mine is allergic to house dust and house dust mite (so no relief in this house) and is much worse in summer than winter. There are all sorts of treatments; anithistamines didn't work for my dog and he has to be on low dose steroids in the summer. A daily cod liver oil tablet improved thing hugely.

My dogs itched like crazy when I got them. I changed their food to Burns, and give them a high strength cod liver oil capsule and an evening primrose oil capsule everyday. Swimming in th esea helps them alot (they do this everyday), but your pup is too young and you may not live by the sea, so that's not helpful - sorry.

Another vote for 'burns'dog food.

Can't add anything further than has already been suggested other than the say boxer puppies are the best

Our puppy was very itchy for a while at about 5 months. I couldn't find fleas (and she was treated anyhow) so took her to the vet who couldn't find fleas either - but she had had a tick on her ear.

We got a shampoo from the vet called epi-soothe which cost £££ but seemed good.

The next week she got another tick and although we removed it with a tick tool she was itching like crazy - all over, but especially by the tick site. We kept up the shampooing. One day we realised she was no longer scratching.

In the end, I suspect it was a tick allergy and if it happened in future I might ask for an antihistamine. I'd have thought ear mite allergy is certainly a possible cause.

BeerTricksPotter- you hit the nail on the head I think! I suspected this as the itching was worse at night when she was in her bed.

So last night I put her in with a wool blanket instead of the cheap polyester blankets I had for her..

Hey presto itching greatly reduced down to almost nothing.

I think we have found the cure!!

thank you everyone so much

oh that's good :) glad it turned out to be something so simple to fix