Dog is so itchy

[2fallsagain]

I wonder if anyone can advise. My poor dog is so itchy. Constantly licking his paws and it's moving to other parts of his legs now. He is making himself sore. We have tried the anti histamine from the vet but it's so expensive and seemed to stop working so well. It's nit a long term solution I don't think. We have various creams from the vet which do help but it's just soothing the itch rather than sorting the problem. It's been going on for several months now so I don't think it's the arrival of spring. We tried some treats (nutri paw I think) which made no difference. I'm going to try Piriton and happy to try other supplements or creams.

Is it worth buying online allergy kits or having him tested at the vets. I don't think it's food as his tummy is absolutely fine. We cut out chicken but that did not seem to make any difference.

The vet says the next step is allergy testing but just wanted to see if anyone had any experience or advice?

It really could be the food. Our dogs tummy was fine but they were constantly chewing their paws raw. We changed to a hypoallergenic complete food and it resolved the problem in days.

That's interesting. He has been on the same food (butternut) since we had him). I suppose they can suddenly develop allergies.

What one did you swap to?

I'm another saying it's probably diet related - issues don't always show up in their poo.

You can get hydrolysed diets which basically eliminate all proteins - you could give him a few weeks on that and see if that makes any difference.

Long-term you can look at more unusual protein sources rather than your typical chicken, beef and turkey.

We saw a dermatologist with our dog. She said chicken was the most common allergen.

@2fallsagain we have this with our labrador. He had a bit of conjunctivitis last year just after he was 2, and this year he is itchy. The vet suggested that allergies can manifest after 2 years old, and that it could be allergies to the environment or to food. It wasn't so bad over winter but has started again since January.

We are working through a bunch of different foods to see if we can identify whether it is food related (doesn't seem to be so far), and have worked out the dosage of 'human' antihistamine that would be needed for his weight. I say 'human' as it us t he same stuff, just need to know the dosage.

Interestingly, he had a different problem recently, and is on steroids to treat this, and his itching has stopped completely, so either the steroids are solving it, or the itching was related to his current problem (IMPA).

Thanks all. The problem is he is just a dustbin and will eat anything that's dropped on the floor so difficult for him to eliminate any food completely!

He was stuffing a Greggs he'd found in the bushes on our walk the other day.

I might try a different food for a while to see if it makes a difference.

@HappiestSleeping the impa could have caused the licking and biting I suppose

What is he eating? Most dogs need a diet high in protein, medium fat and very low in carbs. Veggies are fine. Some meats are allergens but you'd need to do an exclusion diet to find out.

If he is eating anything with added grain this would be something to look at. Many dogs are ok with it but a lot are not.

He eats the butternut food which I think is high protein and low carb I need to check though.

Fortunately, it was only itching in my case, he wasn't biting. And I'm not sure if the IMPA caused the itching, or whether the steroids he's on for it are easing any allergies. Could be either, and the vet can't say other than to see what happens as the steroids reduce.

To be fair, the IMPA was the more serious problem, the poor bugger was suddenly unable to stand. He's on 2 x 10 minute walks per day at the moment, so is climbing the walls.

Oh, and the steroids are making him ravenous. Can you imagine a labrador who is more ravenous than usual?

Oh no poor thing, that sounds awful for you all.

My retriever has been like that since Christmas, with horrible yeasty ears. I think the paw licking can be a yeast infection too. I think she could do with a flucanazole treatment - if dogs can have that - as the topical ear things aren't getting rid completely.

It does seem that they can have flucanazole but if course you are meant to get it from the vet at 20x the cost

Check for harvest mites.

My dog is an itchy dog, scratching and biting until he has raw bald patches.
We tried antihistamines which worked a little at first. He has had allergy tests that show he is allergic or intolerant to so many things. The main being potato starch and chicken. The vet said he is "allergic to life".
We have tried many different foods and he has now settled with scrumbles. We tried cytopoint which made him tired and upset his tummy.
He now takes apoquel which is expensive and not something we'd like him to take forever but it has made such a difference. Within 24 hours of his first tablet he was like a new dog!

1. is your flea control watertight? - fleas are the single biggest allergen in dogs and cats.

2. it’s worth persevering with the diet trials (food allergies account for ~30% allergies)
   either going for a completely different protein and carbohydrate source to what has been fed before (for example white fish and sweet potato ensuring these are the sole ingredients) or a prescription hydrolysed diet, this needs to be done for~8 weeks without other foods in treats or titbits being fed.

3. atopy - environmental allergy - a more common player than food, this can be outdoor allergens such as pollens, trees, grasses and leaf mould, or indoor such as house dust or storage mites. Allergy testing may help you identify these, occasionally something may be identified and removed from the dog’s environment but often it is something which you can’t avoid like house dust or pollen.

treatment

allergy testing can be used to form an allergy desensitising vaccine, this can improve signs in approx 70% dogs assuming a correct initial diagnosis but is expensive/time consuming and the aim is generally improvement rather than cure.

Over the counter treatments such as anntihistamines and essential fatty acid supplements can help reduce the allergic threshold.

topical shampoos, mousses and creams can help soothe the skin, improve the skin barrier to allergens and reduce the load of bacteria/yeast on the skin which can cause secondary skin and ear infections.

prescription allergy treatments include apoquel tablets, cytopoint injections (or less commonly atopica capsules)

steroids are cheap and cheerful but have more side effects.

like eczema/asthma in people, skin allergies in pets are usually lifelong, often frustrating to manage and take perseverance. The aim is generally to keep the skin as healthy and reduce allergy triggers as much as possible to reduce the need and frequency of stronger medication.

It is often better to stay on a lower dose of medication (such as once a day apoquel or monthly cytopoint) to keep the dog comfortable and prevent secondary ear/skin infections or bad flare ups which need stronger treatment.

the medications are expensive but you can ask your vet for a written prescription which might save you money online

I was going to say try excluding chicken from his diet, but I see you have. I would get him allergy tested at the vet. The ones for dogs and humans that you can buy are notorious for their unreliability.

As a PP says, make sure there are no fleas around.
Then check diet.
You might need to dose your dog with over-the-counter Piriton so sort out any minor allergens.
Those three steps were enough for our itchy dog.

Failing that, you might have to go down the route of Cytopoint etc.

Thanks so much for all the advice. I'm going to treat for fleas as I realised we over due a treatment (reminder from vet failed), give him some anti histamine and try some pro biotics alongside a change of food. Then review in a couple of weeks.

I meant an EFA supplement.

Yumove digestive care has been brilliant for our dog and stopped her ear issues completely which the vet said was probably allergy based. You could give them a try.

Oh thanks I'll look it up

Have a look at Holly Barkers sport dog page on FB (canine nutritionist but not the hardcore ‘raw or nothing’ type - lots of kind sensible advice for all budgets). She has loads of ideas for itchy dogs. She also does consults if you are really struggling but loads of freebie advice in the search function.

She mentions salmon and chicken regularly as factors for some itchy dogs.

I've heard that butternut isn't great - too many legumes apparently! Years.com and different dog are meant to be a lot better. My dog is very itchy, but a lot better now that she eats different dog. She didn't get on well with years.com, but I think many others are fine on it.

Butternut Box are not members of the UK Pet Food Manufacturers Association. Whilst all pet food sold in the UK should meet a minimum standard, members of the UKPFMA all sign up to an elevated standard voluntarily. I would be wary of any manufacturer who doesn't think it is worth joining.

Their parent company isn't a member either.