Constantly licking & scratching - updated 06/10/2014

[laura2001]

Has anyone got any ideas??

Not a greyhound, but my Mum's lab x collie, now 18 months old is constantly licking and scratching her belly. It started when she was about 6 months old, and has been continuing on & off since then. Initially the vets have had lots of thought of the casue including: a grass allergy, fleas (not that we found any on her), hormonal, (so was spade), reaction to buttercups and now fox mange.

Poppy has been on various antibiotics, piriton, and skin conditioning tablets. We've tried camomile and sudocrem. She has had her food changed in case it was that, but it clearly isn't. Her belly, although not red/pink is now hairless, and this is now spreading.

I'm not sure if it is behavioural, rather than medical. My Mum is getting to her wits end. She's a happy dog, not overweight, is walked reguarly and currently lives with 5 other dogs  and 5 adults (whilst we live with them), so there's always something going on.

Poppy is currently on treatment for fox mange, but I have suggested to my Mum that she should ask for her to have a skin scrape in case anything can be found, which she is going to do after this tretment finishes.

None of the other dogs are affected, even her brother, who we own.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[mtbbuxton]

Has Poppy done a thorough food intolerance trial?  When Mayo developed itchiness, we had to change him onto a diet made up of a novel protein and a novel carbohydrate i.e. something he had NEVER eaten before.  He had to be on this diet for a minimum of 6 weeks to establish if it might be food related.  It wasn't his diet, so he had skin scrapes and hair tufts taken to check for mites, bacterial infection etc.etc.  In Mayo's case we think it's leaf mould allergy, as his itching is seasonal and fortunately he responds to Piriton.

Something else the Vet told us to try was freezing (and then defrosting) Mayo's kibble before we fed it.  This was to kill any storage mites it may contain.

Could you try putting a t-shirt on her?  That way if it's behavioural, it may help to break the habit.
Hope you can find something to help her

Moira x

[vickyb]

I'll second all of Moira's comments.

When Maddie joined us she had trouble with the skin on her tummy and developed big acne style spots. A long course of Cephorum ab's and low dose steroids eventual cleared it up for a while but it comes and goes for no apparent reason but is worse on grass, especially in spring and summer or wet grass and gets better when we're on holiday because she's on the beach.
She had lots of allergy tests and came back as allergic to maize and storage mites which as Moira says are present in kibble so hers should be frozen to kill them but I don't always. I'd definitely be asking for skin scrapes if they haven't been done. It's horrible isn't it, our heinz 57 Trixie, poss collie x used to suddenly go mad scratching and we never found out why but bursts of steroids managed it.

[ritab]

Gizzi was always itchy when we got her and when I eliminated the usual causes from her diet it stopped. Not before I had tried skin treatments and thought of things like grass or dust mite allergies. A recommendation from other hound owners to feed Burns Pork and Potato and it stopped almost overnight. Burns P & P is no good if there's a maize allergy though, but it could be a starting point.

Hope it's that simple.

[laura2001]

Aug 28, 2014 18:38:36 GMT -5 mtbbuxton said:

Has Poppy done a thorough food intolerance trial?  When Mayo developed itchiness, we had to change him onto a diet made up of a novel protein and a novel carbohydrate i.e. something he had NEVER eaten before.  He had to be on this diet for a minimum of 6 weeks to establish if it might be food related.  It wasn't his diet, so he had skin scrapes and hair tufts taken to check for mites, bacterial infection etc.etc.  In Mayo's case we think it's leaf mould allergy, as his itching is seasonal and fortunately he responds to Piriton.

Something else the Vet told us to try was freezing (and then defrosting) Mayo's kibble before we fed it.  This was to kill any storage mites it may contain.

Could you try putting a t-shirt on her?  That way if it's behavioural, it may help to break the habit.
Hope you can find something to help her

Moira x

Thanks Moira. We've tried a t-shirt, but she's a houdini & always manages to wriggle out of it, no matter what size!

Mum's not done a thorough food tolerance trial like you've suggested, but have swapped food eliminating poultry/wheat/maize, but nothings helped. Thanks for the suggestion of freezing/defrosting food to eliminate storage mites, we're trying that from today.

It's so frustrating isn't it. Glad Mayo can be helped with Piriton & you found the possible cause.

Laura x

[laura2001]

Aug 28, 2014 19:18:17 GMT -5 vickyb said:

I'll second all of Moira's comments.

When Maddie joined us she had trouble with the skin on her tummy and developed big acne style spots. A long course of Cephorum ab's and low dose steroids eventual cleared it up for a while but it comes and goes for no apparent reason but is worse on grass, especially in spring and summer or wet grass and gets better when we're on holiday because she's on the beach.
She had lots of allergy tests and came back as allergic to maize and storage mites which as Moira says are present in kibble so hers should be frozen to kill them but I don't always. I'd definitely be asking for skin scrapes if they haven't been done. It's horrible isn't it, our heinz 57 Trixie, poss collie x used to suddenly go mad scratching and we never found out why but bursts of steroids managed it.

Thanks Vicky. Poppy did develop spots a couple of months ago, which looked like acne, hence the vets thought it was hormonal. These have now cleared up, but she's still licking/scratching & has a bald belly.

Poppy's had her walks changed from fields/beach/heathland in case it was something environmental (grass/pollen) & nothing worked. The redness starts to clear up, & then comes back with worse, even when the routine hasn't changed.

It's really puzzling. Mum is going to take Poppy back to the vets next week & will ask for skin scrapes. Luckily, she's not depressed with it, but it must be uncomfortable for her.

Laura x

[sharonhigh45]

Laura sorry no adice but just wanted to say I hope Poppy feels better with her itchy scratchy soon.
Shazx

[laura2001]

Aug 29, 2014 2:09:25 GMT -5 ritab said:

Gizzi was always itchy when we got her and when I eliminated the usual causes from her diet it stopped. Not before I had tried skin treatments and thought of things like grass or dust mite allergies. A recommendation from other hound owners to feed Burns Pork and Potato and it stopped almost overnight. Burns P & P is no good if there's a maize allergy though, but it could be a starting point.

Hope it's that simple.

Thanks Rita. Mum may change her to this food if the skin scrapes come back negative.

I'll keep you all updated if we find out what's causing it.

Laura x

[laura2001]

Thanks Sharon x

[laura2001]

Just thought I'd update, as it's been a while. Poppy has had a skin scrape, which came back as either an allergy to dust mites, pollen or other environmental factor (whatever that means!), with further tests ongoing which we're still awaiting results for. We've taken to freezng her kibble, as suggested by Moira, and she's on a corticosteroid spray, piriton and conditioning oil tablet, & the good news is, 1 or more of the above seems to be working (she says keeping her fingers firmly crossed!!) Although Poppy is still scratching, this has now reduced dramatially & her fur is very slowly starting to grow back.

I will update again when we get the full lab results back, but wanted to thank you all for your advice and suggestions

[Letty's Mum]

Glad Poppy seems to be improving, must be awful to feel the need to scratch like that x

[sharonhigh45]

Hope Poppy continues to improve and a cure can be found, will watch for updates.x

[ragsysmum]

Fingers crossed for Poppy's improvement to continue.

[lurcherlot]

Good news - I hope the recovery continues