Itching and Licking

by Alex De La Luz
(California)

My dog Rocky is 4 yrs old and has alway itched, chewed and licked his paws, many areas of his body. Its seem to be uncomfortable for him but it drives us crazy not only that we can hear him itch, chew and lick but we don't know what to do to make him comfortable. He eats salmon and potato dry food, fish oil caplets, I use oatmeal shampoo, or shampoo for itchy/sensitive skin and allow him to air dry. I use Frontline plus for flea control. I tried many other products to help him and spoke to our vet and she has intructed us to do the many things which we have done with no success. What can we do to help him. Thank you

My Comment:

Hi Alex

I would really consider to have a allergy test done.

I would also do a examination for malazecia, by doing a impression smear – so thats really easy and fast to do.

But, allergy test is it time for now, if not done already.

I have used the normal skin test for many years but recently I have started to use blood samples tests.

The one I use is from called Heska, but it might be different from country to country or different regions in the world.

It is also very easy to make this test and it is possible to have a “quick scan” done to see if any antibodies is found from the different panels.

After this a more specific test based from the scanning is done to find the specific allergens reacting and being responsible for the allergy.

The main areas in the body where the allergy shows up is around the eyes and anal area, ears and the paws. Not all areas need to show symptoms, sometimes its only one of them.

But a recurrent itching and irritation on the paws could be an allergy.

Otherwise the food and supplementation looks fine to me. I hope this gives you some ideas you can bring back to your vet for a further discussion.

All the best

Per Schonbeck

Comments for
Itching and Licking

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Dec 08, 2010

Food Allergy Trial - When?
by: Per Schonbeck

Let me clarify this in order to avoid confusions.

and thank you so much for your comment Stacy

Atopy (allergy to inhaled allergens) and food allergy (allergy to digested allergens) can have the same symptoms. Sometimes food allergy do have some gastrointestinal symptoms as well but not all the time.

Atopy is much more common than food allergy, but food allergy is often the first thing owners think of when it comes to itching and licking.

Therefor I almost always recommend to perform a test for allergy (atopy) first to rule out this possibility.

If this is negative (no atopy) then I do a food trial.

I prefer this order because food trials take weeks to perform and most owners/clients need to be motivated to perform this test.

I find it much easier to complete a food trial if atopy already is found to be negative.

All the best

Per Schonbeck

Dec 07, 2010

Response to Itching and Licking
by: Stacy

Please stop feeding your baby the Salmon and Fish Oil Caplets ASAP!!!!! Your dog is showing chronic signs of a food allergy and I know this for sure because I just went through the same thing and if I can save someone thousands of dollars with my knowledge I will do just that. Even though Salmon and fish oil are supposed to be good for dogs in this particular case you should stop using them immediately. I was feeding my dog salmon and giving him fish oil supplements thinking that this would help and it only made the itching, licking and biting worse. We are working with a dog nutritionist who has been wonderful in helping us with this situation. We had to strip our baby's food down to the bare minimum with non allergen foods that he never had before. That's the first step..then start adding food trials later. This is a lengthy process so if you would like more information on just how we alleviated the problem feel free to email me at aerobicatlstacy@mindspring.com. I hope this helps!!!!

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