Itchy Doodle. Advice please.

[Matildathecat]

Our five year old Golden Doodle seems to have become really itchy, especially his back. I see him rolling on his back as if trying to relieve an itch. He chases his tail which looks funny but I think he's chasing the itch. He also stands by me in the evenings and gets me to scratch his hind quarters.

I've only just really put all this together.

He has wavy fur about three cms at the moment. He eats the weight control dry food by Barking Heads with a bit of wet added and anything else he can scrounge.

Any tips? Happy to bath in any good shampoo. Happy to change his diet. Less happy to consult the vet and get a huge bill unless I've tried other things first.

Thanks in advance.

He could have a problem with either the chicken or the rice in the BH, but I would expect that to affect his tummy too.

It could be environmental, my friends dog used to react badly to febreeze, and another had a horrible reaction to Vanish carpet shampoo.

Could be fleas?

Things that have worked for me in the past when there isn't an obvious reason are adding salmon oil to food (mine have this daily), and/or [[http://www.dorwest.com/Products/EG/easy-green-powder-for-dogs-and-cats Dorwest easy greens (again I use this every day) (probably cheaper from Amazon). My recent rescue came with quite a dull, scurfy coat and was quite itchy, two weeks later having both every day she is sleek, soft and shiney.

Link fail easy greens sorry.

Home remedies bath with shampoo like dermocanis or episoothe, add go quality oil to food like yumega.
I would advise against changing foods without good evidence like allergy testing to back up choice of food as you old stab in dark and choose something that makes it worse. Only about 5% of dogs tested have food allergies.
90% of the dogs we allergy test are allergic to house dust mites so I would put in all those controls, around 50% have allergies to common grasses so I would be rinsing feet after walks.

Oh yes and flea control should be perfect to rule this out of the equation. This includes spraying the house.

Thanks for the advice and sorry to be so rude in not replying sooner.

A few days ago he did an almighty roll in sticky black mud so no option but a big bath. I used aqueous cream instead of shampoo and it was wonderous! Really soft and soothing. His fur feels far softer and silky and I haven't seen any itching since. I can feel a little spot which I think might be a hot spot so will keep an eye on that but for now he seems loads better.