Hi Apologies if there is already a thread addressing this but I couldn't find one. This is my very first post here and I am desperate. I have a lab who is blonde/white and he is 2. He has a problem with eczema on and off. He has recently finished a course of steroids again from the vet but is still itchy and steroids are not the answer. I tried neem oil with him but this never helped, I have tried coconut oil but that's not helped. We recently got 2 kittens and they brought fleas into the house and the dog had fleas then also. he had NEXgard tablets from the vet but I think this may have set his skin off again. Poor Reg was scratching most of the night again and I can't seem to find a solution for him. The answer isn't steroids we need to manage it but it's knowing how? Can anyone help at all? I had a black lab who sadly passed away aged 10 with stomach cancer but he never had any skin issues. Thanks. Lisa
Welcome to the forum. Very sorry to hear that your dog is having serious itch problems. Did he improve on the steroids at all? What has led you to feel that they are not a suitable treatment? I'd very strongly recommend that you take your dog to a veterinary dermatologist. A specialist such as that will have masses of experience in dealing with this very problem and you will be much more likely to end up with a solution that would help your dog. You can ask your vet for a referral or do some online research yourself to find one and then get your vet to refer you to the specialist (it's best to involve your vet as then they can send your dog's medical history to the dermatologist).
My last dog, a chocolate Lab had problems with itchy skin, sometimes leading to 'hot spots' for most of his life. If possible you should try to find out the cause of the itching. I have to say I didn't have allergy testing done as my vet at the time told me investigations could amount to several thousand pounds and I didn't have insurance. However, I have since read on here that people have had tests run for much less than that, so you could inquire with your vet. What I did do was a trial and error thing with food, and found that a diet of tuna and brown rice, with some raw carrot, helped a lot. ( He lived to a ripe old age of 14 1/2 years so worries about it being an unbalanced diet were unfounded.) Every so often however he did need some steroids (prednisone) but a really low dose was enough to nip it in the bud for at least a few months. I learnt to take early action as if it went untreated he ended up needing antibiotics as well. When my Lab grew old he needed treatment for arthritis so could no longer have steroids, so at that point I started using Malaseb baths. In the last year of his life he also went off tuna and rice so I started feeding Symply salmon and potato kibble. Many years ago my parents had a Westie with skin problems and their vet believed flea control was key and they also used Malaseb bath weekly.
Welcome to the forum, and I am sorry to hear about your poor boy's skin problems. I would also recommend a dermatology specialist vet, who will look at underlying causes rather than just treating the symptoms. Fingers crossed you can get to the bottom of the issue.
Sorry to hear about this, your poor dog. We are having skin allergy problems with Molly (5 month old chocolate) and she has also been on steroids. We have stopped them now and after she's been off them for 2 weeks the vets are going to take blood tests in an attempt to identify the trigger. In the meantime, its coconut oil and bathing with Zincoseb shampoo (from vets). Good luck with finding a control that works for your boy.
So sorry to hear about your boy! I think all the advice above is good, and yes I'd try to find a specialist dermatology vet if you can, and/or try to check out for food allergies. The only additional thing that I'd suggest is (high quality) salmon oil. My boy Pongo (nearly three years old, yellow boy - see avatar!) had a real problem with hot-spots in the folds of skin round his neck; they were horrid, raw and bleeding and although steroid cream and antibiotics cleared them up I hated to see him having to wear a cone and look so miserable. I get his food from csj canine, and they offer a high-quality salmon oil; so on the off-chance a bought a bottle of that and started giving him just one squirt on each of his meals. Within a week, his hot-spots had completely cleared and his fur was fabulous - thick and glossy and luxuriant. He has not had a single hotspot since then (and that was more than a year ago, so we've been all the way round the seasons). Salmon oil doesn't work for every dog, I know, but it was frankly a miracle cure for Pongo (I don't usually believe in this sort of thing!) and it can't do any harm. I think it is also meant to be good for joints and brain function so it's all good stuff. The brand I get is from csjk9.com and it isn't expensive - a bottle for about £15 lasted me nearly a year. Hope you can find some help - I know how miserable it is watching them suffer and not being able to help. Please let us know how you get on! Rosie
KNowing WHAT makes him itch would help, and when. Itching from food intolerances is less common than itching from environmental things, which can be seasonal as it was for my boy. More and more Vets think gut issues are the root cause of itching and it seems true for my boy. ONce we got them cleared up all the itching stopped. And, boy, did I ever just make a long story short. I agree a Dermatological VEt and complete blood work is a place to start. The problem with the darn gut issues is they are hard to pinpoint. You do have options besides steroids. Atopica and Apoquel are new meds that help many dogs, these two drugs are considered lesser evils than steroids but still not without their possible side effects. A Derm Vet might take skin scrapings, do mini inoculations or take blood tests and then concoct allergy shots for your dog. There are also holistic methods such as feeding raw local honey which is thought to act as immunization does by introducing small amounts of the same environmental agents, pollen, the bees use that bother the dog. RAther a long shot and it didn't do a thing for my dog over a year. But he sure liked the honey.
