Just posting to see if anyone has any ideas before I return to the vet (hoping to get an appointment this week).
I have a three year old Shih Tzu. Last year he developed a nasty dermatitis on his stomach and groin, which resolved with antibiotics, medicated baths and Apoquel. He also started licking his paws a lot around this time (he had never had any skin issues before or any predisposition to licking).
The vet diagnosed that he was an atopic dog (I think mainly due to his breed) and said that he should go onto Apoquel for the rest of his life. She said there was no point doing allergy testing as it often gave false positives.
I'm happy to pay for medication, but I wasn't very keen on him going onto an immuno-modulating drug for the rest of his life without trying other things and so started giving him weekly baths with medicated shampoo. Since doing that, his skin has been fine and there have been no further episodes of dermatitis, red skin or any hot spots (i.e. his skin is perfect).
However, he is still really licky. It's always his paws and he seems to get into a trance when he's doing it. If I don't 'wake him' from a licky trance he will keep going for literally hours and will leave wet patches on the sofa. Occasionally I'll put a collar on him to stop it and then he settles without any scratching, rubbing or other signs of skin itching so I genuinely don't think it's that. Also, he doesn't tend to do it when he's on my lap. I also should mention that even when he was on the Apoquel he still licked a lot.
I'm taking him back to the vet, but I was wondering if there was anything else I could ask her to consider before he gets put on lifelong Apoquel? He does burp a lot so I was wondering whether it may be reflux, but then I imagine he swallows a lot of air when licking. Or could it be habit? Or stress (he's always been a pretty nervy little dog)?
Apologies for the long post. Any thoughts or similar stories greatly appreciated!