Discussion
Evening all.
Basil Beagle is itchy. He has been for a couple of days. He is scratching in various areas, front leg, armpit, side of muzzle and on his back, My first thought was fleas, but after scrutineering I can find no trace. Also , we use Advocate flea and worm every 4 weeks, and he is midpoint between treatments.
I have washed his bedding, and he has been bathed and groomed, but still he itches.
Not making the skin raw, and there is no obvious signs of irritation. other than him going bat s
t mental trying to itch.
It is obviously causing him some distress, and if it is still bad Monday, I am off work so will take him to the vet.
But in the meantime, Any ideas?
Might it be pollen allergy? it is that time of year.
Basil Beagle is itchy. He has been for a couple of days. He is scratching in various areas, front leg, armpit, side of muzzle and on his back, My first thought was fleas, but after scrutineering I can find no trace. Also , we use Advocate flea and worm every 4 weeks, and he is midpoint between treatments.
I have washed his bedding, and he has been bathed and groomed, but still he itches.
Not making the skin raw, and there is no obvious signs of irritation. other than him going bat s
t mental trying to itch. It is obviously causing him some distress, and if it is still bad Monday, I am off work so will take him to the vet.
But in the meantime, Any ideas?
Might it be pollen allergy? it is that time of year.
Edited by Flat6er on Friday 27th April 20:15
Edited by Flat6er on Friday 27th April 23:12
There are so many possibles that it's impossible to guess!
Diet,
Grass,
Pollen,
Mange,
Shampoo etc
Any chance of seeing the vet tomorrow. It's not nice for a dog to be itchy and the quicker he's treated the quicker the he should respond to tx.
It's probably a contact allergy rather than mites as there are no sore patches. Dogs can have Piriton but I wouldn't give it without checking with your vets first. Normally a dog is seen before Piriton is px. Hope Basil is feeling better soon.
Diet,
Grass,
Pollen,
Mange,
Shampoo etc
Any chance of seeing the vet tomorrow. It's not nice for a dog to be itchy and the quicker he's treated the quicker the he should respond to tx.
It's probably a contact allergy rather than mites as there are no sore patches. Dogs can have Piriton but I wouldn't give it without checking with your vets first. Normally a dog is seen before Piriton is px. Hope Basil is feeling better soon.
Our cat has what sounds like the same problem.
She has had blood tests came back clear, allergy tests which came back showing she was allergic to grass and fish!
So we have taken any 'problem' foods out her diet but still the problem persists. She has a steroid injection each month and is completely fine whilst that is active then turns into the itchy and scratchy show when it starts to wear off.
Its doing my head in trying to work out what is causing it.
She has had blood tests came back clear, allergy tests which came back showing she was allergic to grass and fish!
So we have taken any 'problem' foods out her diet but still the problem persists. She has a steroid injection each month and is completely fine whilst that is active then turns into the itchy and scratchy show when it starts to wear off.
Its doing my head in trying to work out what is causing it.
bexVN said:
There are so many possibles that it's impossible to guess!
Diet,
Grass,
Pollen,
Mange,
Shampoo etc
Any chance of seeing the vet tomorrow. It's not nice for a dog to be itchy and the quicker he's treated the quicker the he should respond to tx.
It's probably a contact allergy rather than mites as there are no sore patches. Dogs can have Piriton but I wouldn't give it without checking with your vets first. Normally a dog is seen before Piriton is px. Hope Basil is feeling better soon.
Well, we are 4/5 days into a course of Piriton, and a 2nd dose of Advocate. To be honest there is no marked improvement he is still scratching/ nibbling away on the back of his front legs, his armpits, back and muzzle. Diet,
Grass,
Pollen,
Mange,
Shampoo etc
Any chance of seeing the vet tomorrow. It's not nice for a dog to be itchy and the quicker he's treated the quicker the he should respond to tx.
It's probably a contact allergy rather than mites as there are no sore patches. Dogs can have Piriton but I wouldn't give it without checking with your vets first. Normally a dog is seen before Piriton is px. Hope Basil is feeling better soon.
The diet hasn't changed over the last 6 months, he settled on to adult food no probs and stuck to a mix of Nature Diet and James Welbeloved.
Grass/ Pollen, Well the Piriton should sort that out shouldn't it?
Mange, The vet gave him a good going over, and saw no obvious signs of irritation or cause to scratch.
Shampoo, Well He was done last Friday before I posted, with a combo of pet shop bought flea shampoo, (just incase) and a 2nd wash with his puppy shampoo.
The only other thing I can think of is there is something in his crate, one of his beds or even our carpet that is irritating him.
I have washed his bedding, and the cover we put over his crate before going to the vet with him, so I am stumped. Could it be washing powder? We use Ariel biological.
How about a switch to non-bio and wash his bedding again?
I had the same problems with my lab when he was two years old. He started scratching and biting his paws until they were bleeding.
Lucky for us petplan paid for the alergy test @£600 which was negative
In the end we changed his food to Wafcol Salmon and Potato and the vet put him on treatment that seems to be working for the last three years although he does have the odd flare up
He has Atopica pills every day and viacutin sprayed on his food - i also have steroid spray to treat flare ups
With the check ups we are spending £2.5k every year at the vet - paid by petplan
Lucky for us petplan paid for the alergy test @£600 which was negative
In the end we changed his food to Wafcol Salmon and Potato and the vet put him on treatment that seems to be working for the last three years although he does have the odd flare up
He has Atopica pills every day and viacutin sprayed on his food - i also have steroid spray to treat flare ups
With the check ups we are spending £2.5k every year at the vet - paid by petplan
Edited by sw67 on Friday 4th May 16:39
R300will said:
How old is he? Is there any other change in his behaviour? how long has been scratching? Is it always using his hind legs or is he rubbing himself against things?
15 MonthsNo other changes.
Scratching with back legs, Nibbling front ones, and propelling himself along the carpet on his face to itch his muzzle.
SW67 said:
some really alarming stuff. Poor thing.
Yep we have Petplan for life cover, so will book back to the vet and see if swabs or samples need to be taken. He is not drawing blood, or anything like that, although I think I am seeing things looking for redness, and am not sure if the pink of his skin is getting pinker, if that makes any sense.
Edited by Flat6er on Friday 4th May 16:51
He is now 5 - he rubs his muzzle on the carpet until it bleeds , scratches his tummy with his back legs until bald and spends hours chewing his front and back paws
The medication does not cure but keeps it under control
Our vet was very good at trying new things and got all treatment pre approved by pet plan
This all started when he was just over 1 but the vet tried the usual steroid treatment first
The medication does not cure but keeps it under control
Our vet was very good at trying new things and got all treatment pre approved by pet plan
This all started when he was just over 1 but the vet tried the usual steroid treatment first
Flat6er said:
The diet hasn't changed over the last 6 months, he settled on to adult food no probs and stuck to a mix of Nature Diet and James Welbeloved.
Food allergies can develop at any point between 6 months old and approx 6 years old, just because you haven't changed his diet doesn't rule out a food allergy.Flat6er said:
Grass/ Pollen, Well the Piriton should sort that out shouldn't it?
Piriton alone often isn't strong enough to control allergies, so you can't rule out environmental allergies from a poor response to Piriton. Many dogs need steroids to control the irritation.Flat6er said:
How about a switch to non-bio and wash his bedding again?
This might help, but you need to be systematic about making changes - if you make lots of changes at once it's hard to work out what's helped and what hasn't.If the dog isn't improving, I'd be getting back to the vets for some further investigations. Skin problems are difficult to investigate and need a systemic approach to diagnosis - you need to rule out infectious and parasitic causes of skin irritation first before going onto allergies.
Flat6er said:
R300will said:
How old is he? Is there any other change in his behaviour? how long has been scratching? Is it always using his hind legs or is he rubbing himself against things?
15 MonthsNo other changes.
Scratching with back legs, Nibbling front ones, and propelling himself along the carpet on his face to itch his muzzle.
SW67 said:
some really alarming stuff. Poor thing.
Yep we have Petplan for life cover, so will book back to the vet and see if swabs or samples need to be taken. He is not drawing blood, or anything like that, although I think I am seeing things looking for redness, and am not sure if the pink of his skin is getting pinker, if that makes any sense.
Edited by Flat6er on Friday 4th May 16:51
Ok, Well we took him back to the vet yesterday, The Piriton was making him puke and his itching was no better. They have offered some stronger antihistamine and antibiotic for the infection where he has been scratching.
We spoke about allergy, and she mentioned the usual, pollen, grass time of year type suggestions. Also, dust mites might be a cause. So on return home I hot the hoover out and lifted his crate out to give everything a proper going over. I was ashamed at how bad we had ley it get behind, and under his crate, Perfect breeding ground for all sorts of nastiness.
So we will see if this latest course of drugs and clean out has any effect, but now he is puking up the drugs (Which he has been wolfing down in his dinner).
I think a block of cheese and small and often dosage throughout the day might be in order.
We spoke about allergy, and she mentioned the usual, pollen, grass time of year type suggestions. Also, dust mites might be a cause. So on return home I hot the hoover out and lifted his crate out to give everything a proper going over. I was ashamed at how bad we had ley it get behind, and under his crate, Perfect breeding ground for all sorts of nastiness.
So we will see if this latest course of drugs and clean out has any effect, but now he is puking up the drugs (Which he has been wolfing down in his dinner).
I think a block of cheese and small and often dosage throughout the day might be in order.
Right, a bit of an update.
A week of stronger antihistamines and antibiotics had mixed results.
No real improvement on the discomfort, he is still licking, biting and scratching, but the infection (where he was scratching so much)has cleared up.
I took him back on Saturday, and they have suggested a skin scraping. so I dropped the little man in at the Vets this morning to be sedated, and have some layers of skin taken for testing.
Fingers crossed. but its more positive than groping around throwing different drugs at it.
PetPlan have agreed to consider the claim, so am awaiting a claims form.
A week of stronger antihistamines and antibiotics had mixed results.
No real improvement on the discomfort, he is still licking, biting and scratching, but the infection (where he was scratching so much)has cleared up.
I took him back on Saturday, and they have suggested a skin scraping. so I dropped the little man in at the Vets this morning to be sedated, and have some layers of skin taken for testing.
Fingers crossed. but its more positive than groping around throwing different drugs at it.
PetPlan have agreed to consider the claim, so am awaiting a claims form.
Jasandjules said:
bexVN said:
Hope they get some answers for him.
I don't know about you but I suspect allergy to wheat or somesuch which is in the food....If skin scrapes are negative then next thing would be allergy screen panel and then if diet is involved (and quite often it'll be a protein rather than a wheat intolerance) a diet plan can be set up accordingly.
Bex, Yep this is exactly the route the vet has advised. As ever your advice is spot on. I just wish we could have got to this stage sooner.
I am (as I am sure Basil is) hugely relieved that we are beginning to make progress, as The poor mite has been so uncomfortable for at least a fortnight.
We just had to follow the guidance the vet set out to start with to get to this position.
I am (as I am sure Basil is) hugely relieved that we are beginning to make progress, as The poor mite has been so uncomfortable for at least a fortnight.
We just had to follow the guidance the vet set out to start with to get to this position.
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