Misty's Mom

My bichon was scratching really bad then we realized she is allergic to poultry. Never had this problem before, but now she does. She's also allergic to grass. We feed her orijen dry food and Evo 95% beef can dog food. We took her off all grains a long time ago. We also give her 1/2 teaspoon of brewers yeast every morning. Her scratching is a lot better. She also goes to the groomers regularly too. The things we do for our pets

Tothill

Our old dog had food and seasonal allergies.

We solved the food ones by feeding her a lamb and rice food.

The seasonal allergies came up in September every year. We never did figure out what was causing them, but she had to have antihistamines and a steroid for a month or so. She was slowly weaned off the steroid every year as winter approached.

jeaninmaine

I've noticed the mosquitoes going after my little yorkie-poo. She has a very thin coat on her underbelly so they don't have a problem getting at her at all. I've thought about spraying her with what I've used on myself but I don't want to harm her.

Caswews

Have you tried an oatmeal bath ? They make special soaps that have that in them at Petco and that helped my poor widdle avatar stop scratching. She gets one once an oatmeal bath once a month and it seems to really have helped.

RugosaB

2 things:

The dog may be allergic to flea bites, so even if there is only one, that you probably never see, he itches

When my dogs itch, the first thing I look at is their food. Some of the cheaper foods have corn as their main ingredient. That's why they're cheap- dogs do NOT need corn. When I buy the more expensive food, it's actually cheaper. They eat less because they are using everything they eat, and they don't need to see a vet. Though it's certainly not the only higher quality food (everything sold at the grocery store is the cheap stuff) Nupro Ultra is what my dogs eat

I had one girl that was allergic to the Alpo-like stuff the heartworm chewables were made of. Took us a while to figure that out

wanda lou

Allergies... Benedryl... benedryl... benedryl, my big guys takes a large dose... Just call your vet and they will tell you how much he or she can have..It helps alot.

Cagey

Last fall I adopted a dog and about a week after he was home he started scratching and chewing his "knee" area.
I did everything I could think of, I took him to the vet, changed his food in case he was allergic to chicken, bathed him in anti-itch shampoo and nothing helped. I read on the internet (can't put anything on the internet that isn't true) that sardines in oil help with dry skin and itch so we gave him one a day. I had a new dog bed for him and I took that away also. I also stopped bathing him and he got more exercise. Don't know which one of these helped, but shortly after I took the dog bed away he stopped itching. Could also have been nerves from the change in being adopted. Just glad it stopped as he was getting bald. Good luck - it sure can be frustrating for you and your dog

Grandma Nancy

We had this problem last year after treating for fleas with shampooing a lot. We started putting a bit of olive oil on her food and it helped a lot.

omaluvs2quilt

My yorkie has severe vaccine induced (pretty sure) food and seasonal allergies. Protocols for vaccinations are finally changing and leaning away from yearly vaccinations. I use titers instead, although much more pricey.

Food is a big issue, as she is highly allergic to flax & fish oil, which you will find in almost all foods no matter the "quality". Grains can also be allergy inducing, especially with all the GMOs out there. Whenever I do find a food that works, they change the recipe to add flax since that seems to be the "in" thing these days. My Dermatological Vet says it is one of the top allergy causing ingredients.

Probiotics (caninedophalus) have been helpful, and when they get really bad, allergy medications. There are quite a few you could try if benedryl doesn't work (it doesn't for mine). Bayleigh responds best to "chlortrimeton" and prescription "atarax" if it gets real bad, I've tried them all.

Shampoo with natural and minimal ingredients (oatmeal can also be drying, if they have a dry skin problem). Petco has one that is very limited ingredient and has no "hydrolized wheat protein". My daughter now makes our shampoo, a simple castille liquid shampoo. If she gets too bad, I will occasionally use a cortizone shampoo, but really prefer not to. You should actually bathe your allergy dogs more often, cool baths can do wonders for external allergens as long as you use a very mild shampoo. During peak allergy season, I also wipe her down with a cool wet paper towel before bed each night.

Best of luck, I feel your pain!

mjhaess

I have four dogs and no itching problems with three of them. I have a 4 year old Schnauzer that has severe allergies. I had him tested and he is allergic to everything. All kinds of food and grasses. However since I started cooking all my own dog food, his problems are less. I put olive oil in their food and that seems to give them a silky, soft and shiny coat. If it is dryness a little fish oil pill would go a long way to helping their problem.