Dog - Deland,FL

She might have allergies. As weird as it seems my dog developed an allergy to grass later in life. We ended up giving her a little bendryl when the itching got bad, and that seemed to take care of it.

Look for a food without corn in it. When I had my Bassets I fed them Diamond Brand Lamb and Rice-- same ingredients as the Nutro Max but MUCH cheaper!

Put coconut oil in her food, its really good for their skin.

Have you taken her to see your veterinarian? In the abscence of fleas, dogs can itch for a variety of reasons, but the most common would be allergies. They can have the same allergies to the same things that we do (pollen, dust mite, etc.) but their symptoms show up as itchy skin. They can also be allergic to certain food ingredients - not necessarily poor quality commercial foods or colorings or preservatives, but the individual ingredients themselves, like chicken, egg, wheat, corn, soy, etc. Skin mite infections can make them itch, and if they develop a staph bacterial or yeast infection on the skin from all the scratching they are doing, that can itch even worse. You really need to have her seen at the vet to see what else could be causing the itching and then how to best treat it. Sometimes Benadryl can help if it is allergy-related, or certain shampoos can help give some relief, but I wouldn't just give her anything without having her examined first. She also really could have fleas and you just don't see them.

i think our dog might need her oil gland checked. she is constantly rubbing her back near her rear on things.

we recently changed her dog food (from one vet recomended to a different top brand) and she seems to be doing better with her skin. we also started feeding her a microwaved (cooked) egg almost every day. eggs are cheap and it seems to be making her coat shinny not greasy!

also look into mange...i think you would have noticed that though.

Go to the pet store and buy her a conditioning spray. Emu oil is a good one. They are $5-$10 per bottle depending on what you buy. You can also buy anti itch sprays - these work good too. She could just have dry skin that started a bad cycle or it could be something else. One time my dog had an allergic reaction to grass! He had to be put on an antihistamine along with the conditioning and anti itch sprays!
Are you sure there are no fleas? My dog is also allergic to fleas so even when he is on Frontline, if just a couple fleas get on him and bite him, he itches really bad and gets inflamed.

**And Vitamin E and/or fish oil pills are good in their food too.

What kind of dog food do you use? Many dogs are allergic to the cheap store brand and grocery store brands, especially with the amount of corn and cheap protein used.

Have you asked your vet?

Sounds like it could be allergies and can also be tied to a grain-based diet (i.e. "regular" dry dog food that has grain fillers). A trip to the vet will be necessary to figure out what it is.

She may have a food issue. Dogs that are allergic to corn have this problem. I would try to switch her to Bil-Jac or Blue Buffalo. The content in these foods help the skin and coat. Also, you may want to add salmon oil to her food.

Hi E.. Although everyone could be right with the allergy theory, our (female) dog had chronic skin problems. I finally switched vets (after years!) simply to get a second opinion: Ask your vet to run a blood panel concerning her thyroid level. This new vet did, and was dead on! Her levels were crazy low, and she now takes a thyroid med and is greatly improved! One of the #1 symptoms of a low thyroid level is chronic skin problems. The next would be extreme lethargy. (which we were experiencing both!). The primary candidates of low thyroid level are older female dogs who have been spayed.(our dog on all 3 counts!) It seems that she will probably need to take this med for the rest of her life, but as the vet pointed out, he'd rather have her on that than anti-biotics for the rest of her life! Please, check it out, actually, I would encourage EVERYONE to look into this, because as someone else said, I switched vets because I literally thought our Roxy was close to dying. She is a brand new dog, trust me! Good luck, all! (another plus to all this is that there is no need to constantly run back to the vet once you get this solved, and believe me, we did as well: we called Roxy the million dollar dog, from all the MORE vet visits, MORE shots, MORE meds, etc.!!!)

Make sure she has plenty of chew toys and outside activity.. LLots of time they chew and scratch if they are bored. Also she could have heat rash , does she scratch till she is leaves spots of no hair

My dog did this when we moved to Florida. The vet told me he was allergic to Florida. (Hooray! We were going to be there for a few more years.) His vet recommended changing his food. He was already eating Nutro Max (which the vet liked) but he suggested we switch to Hundenflocken Solid Gold
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/?product=1&co...
It made a difference. It's expensive and hard to find. But he ate less of it, which defrayed the cost a bit. I think the vet may have prescribed steroids for a short time - can't remember for sure, it was several years ago - but the switch in food definitely helped - only problem is that we had to buy the food @ a pet store and we ended up getting a puppy! :o}

A couple years ago, our other dog (previously mentioned puppy) started scratching all the time and scratched holes in his skin. It was awful. He had gone beyond the scratching and was barely mobile, wouldn't come out of his crate and had stopped eating. I thought he had cancer and was going to die! The vet called them hot spots and gave me some topical medication and steroids, I believe. She had me feed him boiled chicken and rice until he was eating regularly again. He recovered relatively quickly. I seriously considered continuing to feed him "homemade" food. In the end, I didn't because he is free fed.

I hope you find the answer for your four legged friend!

Take her to the vet and ask. a) you may not know for sure if she does or doesn't have fleas and b) maybe some other issue.

For some dogs it is a stress thing believe it or not. She may need more exercise, walks etc. My dogs like to go out and run around in our yard but it's small. They LOVE their walks, esp our Golden. She jumps up and down when we pull out the leash. On a good day, they get 3 walks a day. This keeps them VERY happy!

She may have seasonal allergies, which frequently manifest as itching rather than sneezing, the way ours do.
Dogs can have Benadryl or Zyrtec. Call your vet to find out how much to give.

take her to a groomer for suggestion. Sometimes the dogs have dry skin that makes them itch. My SIL used to have to give her beagle a bath with Aveeno baby wash to help the dry skin.

Our lab gets bathed with a new shampoo with olive oil in it to help and she is cleaner longer.

My boy had very sensitive skin and would scratch until he was bloody. I switched his food to Nutro Ultra holistic and also started using Vet's Best tea tree shampoo and spray on him....itching stopped IMMEDIATELY with the first shampoo and spray. I used the spray on him daily for a month or so, and then only on occasion as I think the food switch helped and by then it had kicked in and purged the old Pro Plan from his system and he was absorbing all of the new nutrients better.

http://www.vetsbest.com/products/dog-topicals.php
http://www.vetsbest.com/products/dog-shampoos.php

I have tried several of the Vet's Best products and love love love them all. I even tried a holistic pain reliever when my boy was getting very old and seeming to have trouble with his hips...he would gobble it right out of my hand, and he seemed to feel better after a day or two on it. I have bought the products at Petsmart, but haven't seen it there lately, but Petco seems to always have it. Good luck!

Once a month bath should be often enough. Oatmeal shampoo is very soothing on their skin.

I think bathing is not bad for dogs and they do it when they groom them. I know there are good and bad shampoos for dogs so ask a vet about what to use. Also many dogs are allergic to things. It sounds to me like your dog may have an allergy for which there is medication, or needs a bath but check with a vet. You didn't say what kind of dog she is but many breeds are prone to allergies. Poodles are one that is I know as we have always had Poodles.

Change the dog food to something with no grains. Use Murphy's Oil Soap to bathe her.

My dog has sensitive skin... I bring her in for cortizone shots to the vets.. It helps A LOT... I know it's not the best for them all the time, but I knew she was uncomfortable... I used to bring him 1x per month, now I bring her about every 4-5 months.. and it's cheap.. Like 25.00 for the shot....
Also, try feeding your dog a more natural food... Mine is on Nutro..
:0)

My dog itches a lot. It turned out to be an anxiety thing. He obsessively chews his feet and scratches his ears. Prozac helped some, but was stupid expensive. Depending on the breed of dog you have allergies or a skin condition could be the culprit. I'd start by googling the dog's breed and read up on likely health issues.

sounds like she has allergies...give her a childrens chewable claritin and see if that makes a difference.