My poor Maggie that we lost 13 years ago suffered terribly from allergies. She was brought up in the colder climate of New England, but when we moved to GA, it was awful. We went round and round with ear infections, eye infections, skin infections all prompted from the allergies down here. She was always on some sort of medication basically year round. Other dogs I know of brought up down here don't seem to suffer quite as much. But, in any event, I'm especially aware with my new pup, Maui. She's only almost 14 weeks (on Monday) but I have noticed a lot of itching .... mostly at night and sometimes during the day after a lot of exercise. She does NOT have fleas, has been treated, I also use the flea comb and the Vet has checked her. But, yesterday after her bath and linen changed in her crate she was oh so comfy. Later in the day after a lot of exercise and then again at night she again began the itching. Her Breeder, when I mentioned it, said she wouldn't be surprised if it was 'exercised induced'. Anyone ever heard of that? I will ask the Vet at next visit in a couple of weeks, but just thought I'd ask.
Never heard of exercise induced itching. Just a thought is the washing detergent you use could cause some itching, I only say because I have had itching due to the use of some washing powders and fabric conditioners but my skin hasn't shown any irritation (until I started scratching) and a few hours after first contact on the skin. Worth a chat with the vet though.
Charlie doesn't suffer too much - but at this time of year the streets in London are thick with plane tree pollen and he will rub his eyes if we don't wash his paws, legs and face when he gets in. Once, he got very red itchy paws from something that he had walked through out on a river walk. So I wonder if it's not so much exercise induced as being outside induced. You say she doesn't itch after she has had a bath. As a fist step, you could wipe her over with clean water when she comes in from outside, that might help if it's pollen related at least.
Hmmmm .... maybe the outside, but she doesn't do it all day (well, occasionally like all dogs) because I use the same detergent when washing her crate bedding as for us. It just seems as soon as she gets up there on that bed, it begins. She woke us up about 5:00 a.m. this morning (from the crate because yes, I had to do the same thing last night!) ... took her out, she peed and brought her back with us and immediately the itching began! Finally just got up to begin the day ... she's playing now and no itching! Definitely a chat with the Vet I guess. Just thought I'd ask. Well, need to throw some clothes on and get her off for that walk! Seemed to work well yesterday with the high energy!
Here's Maui 'All Tuckered Out' after our walk this morning .... still curls up on that tiny bed we had for her when we picked her up! Think she needs a bigger one! 14 weeks today .... it's been quite a ride!
I would leave it for another few weeks if she's happy to curl up and sleep her current bed as the next one needs to be much larger - I would be looking at an adult size for Maui to move to
Funny you notice she starts itching when she goes to bed. Snowie is the same: when he comes up to bed at night (in our bedroom with us) the scratching gets worse together with chewing his feet and sometimes around his tail. No fleas (the base of the tail is one area I believe is usually related to fleas). We can't figure it out but it does seem that either it is related to our bedroom or perhaps the time of the day? He also scratches throughout the night (drives me crazy cos it wakes me up). Perhaps what you say about exercise induced might make sense -- it might be a heat rash? Our bedroom is somewhat warmer than the rest of our house and maybe he is just too hot (if this is the case I wish he'd go downstairs and sleep on the cold kitchen floor, but he refuses to sleep away from us!). He is generally allergic and we have now cut out all chicken and feeding him only duck to see if this makes any difference (recommended by our vet). So far the scratching has reduced although it is by no means cured. He is 3.5 years old and has been allergic ever since he was stung by a bee at 3 months and then received a cortisone injection and Phenergan injection as well as all his puppy vacs, rabies, and kennel cough vaccines at the same time as the bee sting, cortisone, and Phenergan (what was that vet thinking??!). Of course I cannot be certain there is a link, but... We have found that feeding him raw food improved his skin as well as salmon oil supplements. The itchiness also reduces immediately after being washed, but frequent washing is not an easy option for us as we don't have a bath and he won't go into the shower and hates the hosepipe. He goes into the pool a few times a day so at least he washes off any allergens that he might've picked up outside on his paws. I will be interested to hear how you deal with Maui's scratching -- I know how you feel watching your poor baby so itchy, it is just awful.
Thinking the same thing actually Rosemary. This is only what she uses occasionally in the kitchen. She does love to curl up in it though. Recently, a few times she will wander in her crate which is where I would prefer anyway! We've been doing morning brisk walks right after she eats and poops, several exercise/play sessions during the day and again after dinner to help with her extreme energy. She's still crazy at bedtime and even though I give a 'chance' to stay on the bed with us, I usually end up bringing her out to the kitchen to go in the crate. The 'nipping' is getting quite bad. She'll sleep till about 5:00, get her up to pee and back on the bed and she's fairly good till about 6:00 when I get up and begin our day. I am thinking about getting another smaller crate to just keep in the bedroom and be done with the whole on the bed thing till she can start to behave!
@MF ... Maui sees the Vet again in another week or so, so I will let you know. As I said, there are definitely no fleas and using the same detergent with both our and her bedding couldn't be it. It's so hot and humid here. She will go in the pool, but still a tad timid to get all wet all the time. I've also been wiping her down after being out. So, we will see.
MF, a quick suggestion regarding the hosepipe. Willow doesn't like being hosed down, but loves the hosepipe because OH makes it into a game with her. She loves biting the water jet, so he lets her chase it, and then every now and again it chases her back and gets her wet. It's a time-consuming way of her getting hosed down, but at least she enjoys it. Is it possible to try the same thing with Snowie? I keep meaning to find some tine for clicker training getting in the shower, for when it gets colder, but I've not got round to it yet.
Expect the nipping to get worse before it gets better , what you could try instead of a play session later in the day is some training, just simple sit, stay, down and come type activities but it can help to tire little ones out. You only need a few repetitions of each as it's important to finish on a positive . Just when you think the nipping has ended you get the teething stage It seems as is Maui is making her own choices as to where she sleeps if you're having to pout her in her crate as she's not settling on the bed with you. Why not just pop her to bed in the crate and see how she settles. Juno always slept in her crate from her first day home with us although the first 10 or 11 days the crate was in the bedroom, and she now sleeps in the kitchen without any fuss.
Great idea on the training at night! I will try that tonite! Regarding the sleeping .... ah yes, I knew it was a mistake. Our Maggie was in her crate from day one as well. As she got older, and better mannered of course, we let her sleep with us until she just couldn't get up on the bed anymore. This time, I had such a big crate (forever home) all set up for Maui, but when we got her, we had to travel, spend the night in the hotel and the small crate I bought was just not big enough .... she was a lot bigger than I had expected! So, first night in the hotel we let her sleep with us. When we got home, rather than disassemble the big crate, we just went on with it and it worked for awhile. Sure she thought it was play time when we went in, but if we ignored her, she settled down. However, now with the nipping we just can't do it. I just ordered a smaller (but still big enough for her as she grows) crate to keep in the bedroom. It will also be used when we travel and she comes with us. And, for now, those will be the sleeping arrangements. They have pretty shipping where I ordered, so hopefully it will be here in a day or so. In the meantime, tonite I also think it's in the crate .... no 'chances'!! LOL!! Besides, I am picking up my one year old grandson this afternoon to keep for the night and all day tomorrow .... it's going to be wild around here!
Sounds as if you'll appreciate some quiet time on Wednesday after having young little grandson to stay
That's okay, I knew what you meant, and I thought of that as well. I do plan on asking about that though, thank you.
