Advice on dog itchy skin

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We have a 4 year old JRT. Around a year ago he started scratching a lot and has very sore skin on his tummy.

Vets view was that it wasn't worth doing any tests to find out the cause as most likely it would be something like grass which was unavoidable and that the treatment would be the same anyway.

So he has been having a monthly injection to stop the itching at a cost of approximately £80 a month which we have claimed back from insurance (subject to excess).

Today we have received insurance renewal information and the cost has doubled , which we believe is due to our claims over past year. If we were to look to another provider it would preclude existing conditions.

We are therefore looking into alternative solutions eg diet, a cream we could buy from pet store etc

Does anyone have any experience or advice for us?

You can give them piriton

I used to have a Jack Russell who was allergic to everything

He used to have half a piriton everyday to help with the scratching.

I would put sudocrem on where he was scratching on places that bad he created sores but the piriton helped

I gave him them with the vets advice so please do seek medical advice first.

Look into allergies and try an elimination diet to see if anything triggers him more.

My dog was allergic to;-
Grass
Beef
Chicken
Rice
Wheat
Any sort of grains

It was bloody hard work

In the end, all he could really eat was fish4dogs which is fish and potato

Childhood ddog was allergic to grass seed. Consequently she always smelled of Germolene... No way would dm have taken he to vet and paid £££ when her Go To Remedy was cheaper!!
Ddog lived to 20 + so can't have been bad for her!

Waitrose bottom butter is good for this!

My Frenchie had very itchy skin. He would scratch himself until he bled, I had use cone of shame on him to stop him. I have tried to change his food by eliminating most common allergens (beef, dairy, wheat, egg, chicken, lamb, soy, pork, rabbit, and fish according to Fetch website), but nothing changed until I bought special shampoo and started with food additive.

I add a scoop of this once a day:
www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/natural-vetcare-dog-skin-supplement-75gm?weight=75g?

I wash my pup once a week with this shampoo:
www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Pooch-Hypoallergenic-Fragrance-Colloidal/dp/B07HFGKCTZ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&s=pet-supplies&keywords=Pro+Pooch+Oatmeal+Dog+Shampoo&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1594650131&sr=1-1-

He stopped itching within a week I think :)

I hope this will help your pooch too!

So hard to understand why some vets prefer not to treat or diagnose problems but prescribe Apoquel? I wonder why ? The itch prevention meds are great but can make it more difficult to diagnose the problem,

Firstly you could rule out things that can be easily quickly and cheaply treated
parasites - fleas mange ticks -
fungus - yeast ringworm

and then try to isolate any allergy - grass pollen dust food.
if avoidance is not possible then try Piriton.

be careful with products with zinc if the dog can lick it off as it poisonous to dogs.

If it is a grass or pollen allergy then rinsing the dog after every walk can help, or at least rubbing with a towel.

We had this with our dog. We put sudo cream on and googled it and it was recommended as long as they can't get near area so put a buster collar on or rub in well it went down after few days it was due to being shaved poorly whilst having an op

I think I would renew the insurance so the skin condition was still covered and then use that year to try to find a new solution to the problem - then if you cannot resolve it you will at least be covered.

Thank you everybody, lots of things to consider.

I shall certainly try the food supplement and wash stuff, and am thinking of trying to narrow down on food to see if there is anything there.

He has regular flea/tick and wormer treatments so I don't think it's that.

He has a booked in appointment tomorrow for his injection so he will be having that but I am going to try some of the other things that will be ok alongside and hope that we can find another relief for him when his current injection wears off (eg piriton or a cream) and yes, we are going to renew the insurance for this year and see what happens .

It seems a bit strange that this only started last year and not as a puppy, or is that quite normal? He is still a young dog , particularly for a Jack Russell!

My dog itches if she manages to eat any "human" food that the kids have given her (so I know if they've fed her pizza crust). I get around the issue buy only feeding high quality dog food and nothing else, no treats except maybe some chicken occasionally.

I would think diet. My dog scratched the fur off his backend, the vets tried all sorts, shampoos lotions steroid injections but nothing worked then had a chat to my local pet shop manager who told me to take him off the food he was on and use a different brand. Within a week he’d stopped itching and his fur started growing back!

I would look at diet too. Our dog gets very itchy skin due to allergens. We've got him on a fish based diet which helps plus piriton before walks at this time of yeast.
He is mostly reactive to pork and beef diet wise. Definitely has environmental allergies too

Try diet. My dog is on lilys kitchen grass fed lamb biscuits. Grass fed = no grains and lamb is one of the rarer proteins dogs are allergic to. Or try a fish based diet. I also have a jack russell cross that started to itch back legs around 4 years old.

Did you move and the itch started? One of my old neighbours had a staffy who had terrible issues with his skin. Changed to bottled water and it stopped!! We are a high fluoride area and the water is disgusting!

Sulphur blocks in the water bowl help.

//www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003TJX6EQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_wBxdFb6YJYXW8

@Franticbutterfly

My dog itches if she manages to eat any "human" food that the kids have given her (so I know if they've fed her pizza crust). I get around the issue buy only feeding high quality dog food and nothing else, no treats except maybe some chicken occasionally.

Hmm this may be key. He has good quality dog food (Lily's kitchen grain free) but my husband gives him a lot of treats and bits of his dinner. I told him yesterday that this has to stop