Hi moms. We have 2 dogs, a Beagle & a Cairn Terrier, and here lately when we let them in from being outside they come in and scratch and scratch and scratch. We've checked them for fleas and we find occasionally 1 or 2 on them, we've bathed them, we've sprayed the yard, we've done everything we can think of but they are still itching like crazy! It's driving me NUTS!
The Beagle stays outside most of the time but we do let her in when we are at home and at night. The Cairn stays in pretty much all of the time, we let her out in the afternoons when we get home from work so she can run and play. It's getting to where I don't want either of them outside because when they come in they are constantly scratching and biting at themselves.
Any ideas on what could be causing all of this itching and any ideas what we can do to stop it?
Thanks!
Just to clarify - there aren't any fleas excpet the occasional one or 2, that is what is so confusing. We take care of our dogs, the beagle does better outside than she does in the house when we aren't there. She acutally has a very good set up outdoors. So please do not take this as we are abusive to our animals or anything like that because we are not. They are part of the family too. :) I have an appointment with the vet, just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas for the in between.
1. All it takes is one bite from a flea, it's an allergy.
2. Steroid / Cortisone shot from Vet.
3. Add olive oil to their food to help the skin heal.
It's not always fleas. If your beagle is out all the time, I assume you are already treating for flea and tick, right? Not that it always works. With climate change, a lot of bugs are really flourishing and they are a bigger threat, supposedly.
Our dog (part Cairn) is itchy and the vet said all the stuff outside that irritates people can also irritate dogs - the pollen and stuff off the trees, and so on. Bathing - or overbathing - is a problem because their skin dries out so much, causing more itching. We use an anti-itch shampoo from the vet but she said only every 2 weeks.
Another thing to look at is food allergies. Some authorities recommended a grain-free formula, and there are some "sensitive skin" dog foods available through vets. We use Wellness Core grain free but our dog still has some itching. We switched to Hills Prescription Diet "D/D - potato and duck" available through a vet student friend, so I'm sure you can do that through your vet. However, it didn't help in our case, so we switched back - but you never know with your dogs. We were advised, in switching foods, not to go cold turkey. We did 3/4 old food to 1/4 new food, then half and half, then 1/4 to 3/4. Same thing when switching back.
They may tell you to try benadryl tablets - they'll tell you how much based on the weight of your dog. You don't want to do that long term, of course. If you try it, use the caplets and not the capsules, divide in half, and wrap in a piece of turkey or stick in a glob of peanut butter that you scrape off your finger behind the front teeth. It's easier to get the pills down and cheaper than those pill pocket things they sell in the pet store.
Good luck.
You need to call your vet. It could be hot spots - it could be a number of things. They're uncomfortable, so check with their doctor.
Oh my! I asked the same thing last year
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/9379301712956948481
here are those responses too.
for us, we had to get a shot from the vet. I tried the OTC, tried various bath products (it WAS NOT fleas or an allergic reaction to a flea bite), tried changing diet, adding fish oil, etc. Nothing helped but the shot at the vet.
It was about $80, but it lasted for a good seven months. It was just some kind of allergy.
good luck.
Could be allergies?
But in all honesty fleas multiply like crazy and if you have only found 1 or 2 I highly doubt that that is all there are....they are probably seriously infected!
Go to the vet & tell them what you have told us, especially the part about only finding a couple fleas. They will probably have you buy some over the counter shampoo & flea meds!
~My dog was itching & it turns out he has serious allergies! Had to switch him to salmon & sweet potato food!
Since both your dogs are itching, I highly doubt they both have allergies out of the blue & I bet they just have fleas!
It could simply be a flea infestation. We went through that once. Only found a few on our dog and our vet had to guide us in eradicating them. She explained that it was like a roach. You may only find one in your house, but chances are if you see one, there are actually 50. To make matters worse our pup is allergic to fleas. They may have a few bites they are reacting to. We went through that ONCE years ago and it was the worst she's every reacted, our dog has lots of allergy issues. And like I said, we only found a few on her and never noticed any sort of problems in our yard. And at the time, we had no houses or other dogs around us. This may also explain why two dogs of different breed are have similar issues at the same time.
It's also possible they have developed seasonal allergies. But it seems odd to me that both dogs would react at the same exact time. There are lots of doggie allergy remedies too. For our dog we did allergy shots for many years - but ours is an extreme case. Benedryll works for treating the itchiness. Double check with your vet and get the correct dosage for your puppies. Spraying the puppies with white vinegar after a bath helps with the pH in their skin. They will only smell like a pickle while they are wet. Once it dries you no longer smell it. (Our dog is an indoor doggie). Bathing in oatmeal helps alleviate it too.
Sounds like itchy dermatitis. It's possible your dogs are very allergic to flea bites. With these dogs, one bite can just send them over the edge.
If they go outside at all, I suggest Frontline or some other flea topical ointment. Where there's one flea, there's usually 100.
i have 2 dogs and a cat - they don't get fleas often (maybe once a year) BUT - i have one dog that is allergic to flea bites. she gets ONE flea and she is scratching like CRAZY and the other 2 pets are just fine. it also might have to do with the seasons. (allergies) - i would recommend keeping flea preventative medicine on them. also if the itching gets too bad they could break open the skin so you might want to keep an eye out for that. i've taken my 1 dog to the vet before for excessive itchiness. (even after the flea is gone the scratching can go on and on) they prescriped some kind of medicine to help with the itchiness.
My inlaw's dog suffers from seasonal allergies. The poor thing will scratch herself bloody if they let her. Their vet told them to give her Benadryl and it helped quite a bit. She still scratches on occasion, but not as ferociously as before.
