Itchy dog

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I would really appreciate some advice. I have a cockerpoo who has had problems with her ears for months. She has had antibiotics and steroids. Sometimes it smells. Rarely has discharge.

She occasionally drags her bum and does like a scratch. In the last week she has started to lick her paws. She will spend a long time licking her groin area.

The vet has said it's allergies and prescribed apoquel. I'm concerned that this is not a great drug to be using daily.

I have tried anti itch treats and probiotics. Powder in her ears. Changed her diet and she now eats butter box.

There is so many options I just dint know where to start. Nothing seems to work. Even the prescribed drugs don't take away the ear problem completly.

What else can I do?

Thanks

Laundry detergent allergy?
Carpet shampoo /freshener?
Someone's perfume /aftershave?

Has she had her anal glands emptied?

Sadly cockerpoos are a breed highly disposed to atopy (allergies basically). Most of these will be to multiple sources, so household (dust mites etc), pollens outside, sometimes food too. Apoquel is safe long term.

It is important to realise that atopy is not cureable but may be controllable. You may need a combination of apoquel, maybe cytopoint injections, and probably steroid only ear drops. You need to go to your vet for a long complex conversation about control.

And on another note if she is insured do not change insurers as they will exclude ear and skin conditions. It is not a cheap condition to treat but we have so many more options than we did even 5 years ago.

Yes had her anal glands emptied twice. I have now put her in a fibre supplement to prevent them getting full.

I've got a lifetime insurance taken as a pup so no plans on changing it.

Have you tried diet? My dog's symptoms cleared up when I removed chicken.

The vet thinks it might be allergies and has suggested sending her for more testing to pinpoint it I've not done it as he said that the outcome would prob be apoquel still.

He said as well it's ears and bum it's likely to be something she's eating. She is not eating diary and I feed her quality food.

I'll take her back to the vets. I hate that she seems to uncomfortable and sometimes her ear smells so horrible!

I wonder if all allergies show up on dog tests though. They don't for humans. Only ige-mediated allergies show up in blood tests.

Gluten and chicken are the most common allergens. If it were me I'd trial exclusion of those first before committing to a lifetime of medication.

My dog has allergies & has monthly cytopoint injections during the summer & they work a treat. I always claimed insurance but the monthly rate has now increased too much so I had to cancel the policy. So I dont know if it’s worth claiming.

Both my dogs have seasonal allergies and take apoquel for half the year. The eldest suffers from itchy skin and her anal glands need expressing if not on apoquel, the youngest has itchy skin and gets ear infections if not taking it.

I know there is a lot of negativity around apoquel but it has been life changing for mine. 6 months of the year would be spent with them being sore, itchy and miserable without it.

Our cockepoo had similar. We tried steroids and various meds before changing his diet. Then we swapped his food for one that cut out main allergens - chicken, wheat and beef - and he cleared up very quickly. Still don’t know which of those were the issue so have kept all three out of his diet.

Chicken is an extremely common allergen for dogs. So I would cut that out. My old girl can’t have beef either.

My poodle mix is the same minus the bum.

Last year it was a double nasty yeast infection in both ears , which by Christmas time needed surgical flushing under GA.

this year, at the moment, touch wood it's just the one ear that's kicking off.

she's 15 months, so this is only her second summer. The vet said that she could still grow out of it, and that allergens are still quite new to her system at the moment. No mention of apoquel.

Ive only just moved to Petplan and they've whacked a lifetime exclusion on her ears. 😭

Shes raw fed, with a strict ban on any UPF treats or cooked meat. For several months i excluded beef and chicken but it made no difference.

I agree OP it is a worry about the long term, more so because my insurance won't cover it.

I have a Cockerpoo pup too and removing anything chicken based from his diet worked for us in terms of him stopping scratching and stopping runny poos.

We were also advised by vet to bath once a week with oatmeal based dog shampoo which we did and this also helped his itching.

i appreciate your situation may be entirely different but these are things that worked for us. He’s 6 months, had one ear infection (treated with antibiotics and daily cleaning) early on but so far nothing since.

I'd ask for a referral to a dermatologist.

Another vote for cut out at least chicken. My girl itches like she has fleas if she has chicken or beef, including chicken eggs. So no chicken, no meat and animal derivatives, no albumen, no avian derived supplements and no beef for mine.

My dog is sensitive to wheat and gluten, all grains including rice, dairy, chicken and any meat that has been grain fed, so beef and lamb. All of these will cause ear infections. It was a long process to find out!
She now has white fish and potato kibble. Both Arden Grange and Fish 4 Dogs do versions that she loves. And she is so much happier!
My vets were useless and told me ear infections couldn’t be caused by diet but they were wrong.
It might also be worth looking in to supplements? I have heard good things about All Natural Pet but there are plenty of brands out there offering probiotics and other stuff to support allergies.

Chicken and wheat are very common allergies.

We put our girl on a grain free and chicken free diet and it cleared up the same week.

Whilst your food may be high quality, what are the ingredients of it?

Didn't Phoebe do a song in Friends called 'Itchy Dog'

Oh no, that was 'Smelly Cat'!

...or was it the Small Faces that did the song?

She's such a pretty dog 💅 but I have to send her to daycare wearing this so the staff don't forget and give her treats!

shout out to all the funky-diet pawrents doing their best....

Itchy dog, itchy dog, it's not your fault!

Thanks for all your help. It sounds like the first step is to review her entire diet.

I think I will put her on the apoquel for 4 weeks whilst I transition her and then wean her off. I'm hoping this will give her some relief whilst I am changing things up.

My next question is what food? She loves meat but I will need to cut out chicken and beef. No grain.

At the moment I spend about 100 to 150 on her food a month but would like to reduce this a little.

Is it worth me using probiotics are they a bit of a waste of money?

Really appreciate all your help.

You should be able to raw feed for less than that a month. We feed 75kgs worth of dog for around £175 a month. Your cockerpoo probably won't be over 20kgs at a guess so should be much less unless you feed premium brands. I'd also avoid veg if you think there's a yeast element as the sugars from carrots etc can feed the yeast.

The beauty of raw feeding, when done well, is it really can be single protein for elimination purposes. I feed the 80-10-10 model. Barf UK on FB is good for a transition guide.