Last summer, my black lab, Dallas started scratching himself like crazy. I checked him for fleas and there were no evidence of them at all. We were bathing him every two weeks (at the time we were living in Ft. Bliss) and the dirt there is insane. We took him to the vet and he stated to try changing his food and to minimize the bathing to once a month. We did as the vet instructed. Dallas did not get better, he started getting worse. At this point the licking, chewing, and scratching is compulsive and now he has developed some dandruff.We took Dallas back to the vet after we moved back home (Dallas, Tx), vet recommended to change his food again and to give him benedryl. Dallas is still NOT BETTER. My husband took Dallas to another vet. They checked him for parasites, fleas, and hot spots. Turned out our lab had a fungal infection in his ear, they gave him a medicated bath, gave him an injection, and prescribed him ketoconazole tablets. Again we were instructed to change his food and to give him weekly baths with chlorhexidine. Here we are, 2 months later and he is still not better. I can see that he is starting to lose hair, dandruff is present, he smells horrible no matter how many baths I give him (once a week at the most) and it's starting to stink up my house. He is still constantly itching, scratching, chewing, and I feel horrible for him. I don't know what else to do. The last couple of foods he was on were as follows: Nuturo Diamond Naturals Blue Baffalo Salmon with sweet potato -Current I asked my husband if he was sure they did blood work & scratch test, but he doesn't remember. (<--That helps alot, NOT! ) [attachment deleted by admin]
Re: Itchy Dallas I'm sure it's really distressing to see your dog in such a state. I voted 'allergies' because I've had two itchy dogs (both Labs) who had reactions to things in the environment. My first dog, Nicolae, was similar to Dallas (though not as bad). We suspected it was a food allergy and tried several kinds of premium dried kibble (e.g. Hills and Royal Canin Labrador). What finally worked was a home prepared diet with no preservatives. My current dog, Obi, has a pollen allergy and scratches and chews his feet - human antihistamines are very effective at treating this but they don't work on all dogs. There are lots of 'my dog was itchy and I did X and it cured him' stories, though, in which X could be almost anything. However, based on my own experience, I'd try changing to a raw or home prepared diet.
Re: Itchy Dallas Hi Tammy. What a worry for you. How old is Dallas? And is he eating ok? His weight steady? I would have thought chlorhexidene baths a bit hard on his skin to be doing that for long. I think I would go back to your vet. He may need several tests and some trial and error stuff so seeing the same vet for consistency would be important. Think I would be asking for blood tests for definite to rule out anything systemic and agree switching to a raw or home cooked diet just in case there is an issue with food or additive allergy. Hope it gets sorted out soon..
Re: Itchy Dallas Thank you for the replies! It really does pain me to see my baby like that. I can only imagine how he feels. :'( Dallas just turned 2 in December. Dallas eats like a horse, sometimes I feel like he eats too much and too fast. At one point Dallas weighed a whopping 120lbs. We've increased the amt of daily exercise and he has gotten down to 90lbs (15 more lbs to go). I use chlorhexidene & anti-fungals/bacterials alternating weekly. I've been doing a lot of research and I believe that it could be allergies, but I think it could also be a yeast infection(due to the stinkiness). I watched this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMmIEQuK_8
Re: Itchy Dallas Poor you and poor Dallas. I think in your situation I would make a written record of what has been diagnosed, prescribed and tried, and take it to my vet. I would tell him that we really need to get to the bottom of this and ask him to review the dog's treatment. Possible questions to ask if you haven't already are: What do you think are the possible causes of the symptoms we are seeing Why do you think the treatment is not working What do you propose to try next What other tests and avenues of exploration are left to us. Tell them that you are very upset that this has gone on so long, and worried about your dog, and that you would like as much information as possible. Some vets think people aren't interested in the detail, whereas I think people want to know what is going on. I also think sometimes with difficult or challenging conditions we are reluctant to 'pester' the vet, but you may need to be persistent about returning if the treatment isn't working. I always say to a vet, 'how long should I wait before coming back if this has not worked' and 'pin them down' to a specific date. I agree with Jac, only if the vet is completely stumped would I switch vets as you will have to go over all the same ground again with the next one. Better to put your heads together and work through the options systematically. Hope you get to the bottom of this soon
Re: Itchy Dallas I typed up a written record last night. Great minds think alike I will add these questions to the list. My only problem is that I work and go to school full time. It is very difficult for me to already juggle that with also having a special needs child. I have tried time and time again to let my husband (full time student & SAHD) "take care of things", and he just doesn't. Which makes life even harder for me. :-[ Thankfully the semester is almost over and I can take Dallas to the vet myself and actually LISTEN (& take note) to what the vet has to say and suggest. I happen to be a type of person who is thorough in everything that I do. I have scheduled Dallas an appointment for Thursday. I'll keep you all posted.
Re: Itchy Dallas Hi there, I've read your posts and actually think you have had a fairly good work up for a young itchy dog. The commonest causes of itching in a young dog are allergies to parasites especially fleas, allergies to environmental allergens such as dust mites and pollen and allergies/intolerance to foodstuffs. Most allergic dogs are predisposed to develop bacterial and yeast infections which make the itching worse. Hence, a sensible work up for an itchy young dog is to eliminate parasitic involvement by skin scraping and strict flea control (whether you can see fleas or not a strict flea control program on all household pets and the environment) change the diet to a strict exclusion diet x six weeks or so and control secondary bacterial and yeast infections using products such as chlorhexidine and ketoconazole. I usually get owners to do all these things together x six weeks then review. If the dog is better it is fairly easy to work out which of the interventions has helped. If there is no improvement then assessing for environmental allergens by blood or preferably intradermal skin testing is the next step, as would assessment for the presence of multi-resistant bacteria or yeasts. Hope this helps.
Re: Itchy Dallas Aha! I saw one of your previous posts mentioning you were a dermatology vet specialist (rather than an ortho one for Tarka) - I thought this one had your name on it!
Re: Itchy Dallas My husband just got out of the military, we moved back home and were living with his parents for a few months.(Until I found a job.) Their dog is an outside dog, which meant when I moved there with my dogs, they would be outside dogs too. :'( He did have fleas and the vet said it was exactly that, allergies to the fleas and their excretions. However, Dallas was already having all these symptoms before we moved and I KNOW he did not have fleas. We have already moved into our own place. Our dogs are inside, they've been dipped, our yard has been treated, and his symptoms still persist. **sigh** I called the vet and he did have a skin scraping test that came back negative. We have been doing the chlorhexidine baths and he took a round of ketoconazole tablets. We've changed his food as well. I am now considering the raw diet. Thanks everyone for your replies. Tammy
Re: Itchy Dallas The raw diet is really worth considering. Let us know if you have any questions; there are several people on here who raw feed.
