Itchy springer spaniel..

Stressica

Long post so bear with me

I have 2 dogs, a 1 1/2 yo Jack Russell terrier, and a 3yr English springer spaniel,

The past year, well 6months have been more so, she's been very itchy/scratchy and chewing paws, even one tickle of her tummy sends her leg kicking

So she went to vet a couple months back, because at the time had an enlarged gland, antibiotics helped although gland still was slightly swollen,

went back again and he put her on Burns Oats/chicken (she was originally on Pork and Potato), I think the itching decreased somewhat but the weight fell off her (she was never very heavy anyway as she's very active) so I put her on (for 3/4 days) homemade dog food with either fish/chicken/rice + veggies, and again I think the itching decreased somewhat.

shes on pork and potato again atm and im so frustrated, its hard watching the itching and not knowing what it is, Im narrowing it down to either a corn allergy (its in pork and potato) or seasonal.. maybe pollen/heat allergy, she's an indoor dog but is walked 3/4times and goes swimming at the beach most days.

Im washed her with a coal and sulphur shampoo tonight, next im going to try ACV/tea tree oil.

If you are still reading Thank you

My vet said dogs everywhere are going crazy scratching due to the summer, any other people had a similar situation?

what do people think of burns' dog food? she was on pedigree before, until she was 2 and a bit and never itched before then (I cant remember/pinpoint when itching started)

if she doesn't put more weight on within the month i'm going to take her to the vet and get her bloods done again and maybe a skin scrape (btw mange/parasites etc all ruled out before)

borderlinemeath

If it's a food intolerance, the only way you're going to pinpoint the actual food is an exclusion diet, taking all the food out of the equation and starting from scratch. You fed homemade food for about 3/4 days but in reality it can take maybe 9-12 weeks to completely rid the system of the allergens that are causing the itching and discomfort so you would have to do a homemade diet for a lot longer to find the cause of the problem.

It may even be a cooked meat that your springer is reacting to, as the protein in meat changes when cooked and dogs find it harder to digest so if you can feed your dog a raw meat/fish diet then it may be easier to pinpoint the problem. 80% raw meat, 10% organ/offal and 10% veg/potato filler. Your dog may even be intolerant to potato so maybe don't include it.

Regarding the weight loss, Burns, IMO has always been a food targeted at dogs that need to lose weight, (and also portion size is quite small) so maybe if you want to stay on dry food, Barking Heads or Eden might be the way to go.

bodonnell

Our chocolate lab was scratching a lot lately, chewing her paws also, vet checked her over & could find no obvious cause for it. He gave her a flea treatment & a course of steroids. By second day on steroids she had stopped the excessive scratching but became very 'thrown down', lethargic etc.
Anyway steroids helped but possibly too strong a dose.

borderlinemeath

bodonnell wrote: »

Our chocolate lab was scratching a lot lately, chewing her paws also, vet checked her over & could find no obvious cause for it. He gave her a flea treatment & a course of steroids. By second day on steroids she had stopped the excessive scratching but became very 'thrown down', lethargic etc.
Anyway steroids helped but possibly too strong a dose.

Steroids don't treat the cause, they just suppress the symptoms. When the course of steroids is finished, chances are the problem can reoccur. Long term steroid use can cause problems, particularly with kidneys/UTIs etc, and lethargy is just one side effect from a course of steroids. A vet shouldn't use them as a remedy straight away but as a last resort, and only when all other avenues have failed.

tk123

My dog gets a rash/blisters from the cut grass in the park. I can tell when he'll have it because I have hayfever - when I'm bad with it so is he. I give him Pirotin and put Cortopin cream (both avalable from the chemist) on the spots for a few days until it dies down. I also keep him away from the grass as much as possible when he's itchy - eg go to the beach and into the sea or just avoid the park altogther for a few days. He goes to hydro every week so if he has the rash I bring some tea tree oil shampoo and wash him with that afterwards (normally we don't bother with shampoo after his swim) to soothe his skin. His recation has definitely gotten a lot better since swiching from dry food (cereal free JWB) to BARF but he still gets it a few times a year.

Coopaloop

My parents dog,a king charles has this problem,itching and biting to tho point he is making himself bleed,very hard to watch,so they bought him to vet and they did skin tests to see what he was reacting too and it turned out he was allergic to grass,dust and pollen,so a whole year round reaction. To be honest there is nothing you can do if its something like that,tablets will only do so much and you really don't want them on medication 24/7,one thing i did find while searching on line was a cream called derma paw,its in America and they deliver to Ireland,you can get socks to put on them too,its all natural ingredients too,and i have to say its been a life saver for the dog and my parents.

You should look into it.

Hope your wee dog gets some relief.

Stressica

yeah re the steroids they were mentioned by the vet but I told him I didn't want to cover up the problem and also not go against her body, ie as natural as possible.

Anyway we went for a 8 mile walk along the beach yesterday so she was in/out of the water the whole time, I let her dry off naturally, I consider washing her with the sulphur shampoo, but I wanted to see would the salt water help or aggravate it,

Today she had only tried to chew herself 3 times, compared to the usual every few minutes and what's better her stomach rather then being slightly red is a natural colour and I tried to tickle her stomach today and she didn't want to scratch.

That's why I am not sure if its a food allergy, because she had a big dinner last night after coming back from the beach and surely it would have made her worse this morning, also she never has any stomach upsets/digestion problems... I'm going to to check out other foods though because although Burns seems good, I'm with you on the whole weight loss thing and she never seems full, before Burns changed the recipe she used to leave some for "breakfast" but now its gone quickly (that could be due to the addition of our other dog though too)

Maybe it is a seasonal thing, but also generally she never itches outdoors, only when she's inside but so far today, hasn't tried bar the 3 times.

reeta

I am going through exactly the same thing with my 3yr old springer spaniel. It started a few weeks ago with her rolling around in the grass, something she never did, then trying to scratch herself against the washing line ! She was licking and chewing her paws also. Two weeks ago I brought her to the vet as she was constantly shaking her head (I was sure there was something in her ears), well the vet found absolutely nothing after a very thorough check. He sprayed her with frontline and told me to come back if she didnt get better. Then last week it got worse, constant shaking her head, they kept her in for the day and three different vets examined her, again finding nothing. The vet gave me steroids and antibiotics which she finished at the weekend. The scratching lessened but since off antibiotics it is starting to build up again. This morning she got sick 3 times (only bile) but I feel so sorry for her. She is on the same food since a pup (red mills), during the heatwave I brought her swimming a lot, besides that I cant think of anything else that could be causing this. Was going to ring the vet this evening, very interested in seeing replies here !

muckety

Our springer has had this for the past few years. It starts in summer and by late summer (September ish) its at its worst, then it improves. We had her at the vets and had her tested for all sorts... only thing that was found was an allergy to mites and pollens. We tried steroids but took her off them as it didn't agree with her. Dipping her in the sea helps it! (but we live in the midlands...). This year we took her off dry food and - maybe - its not quite as bad as other years..

I really don't understand why so many dogs are suddenly allergic to natural things like mites and pollens (seems everyone I know has a dog with this problem) - I never heard of it years ago.

Pixie Chief

It's only a very short term thing and you can't do it too often but to relieve itchy 'hot spots' when a particular spot is severely itchy and they are going to make themselves bleed you can maybe try a small touch of bonjela teething gel just on the spot? It has local anesthetic in it and stops the itch in it's tracks for quite a while. It was suggested to me for a rescue dog with severe mange and it worked really well but I don't know what long term effects of using it too often would be. Steroids didn't really work and vet couldn't suggest anything so I gave it a try. Might be of some use where a dog is utterly miserable?

Stressica

well thankfully other then itching/chewing she's perfect and has a voracious appetite, thinking of finding another food other then burns as idk it doesn't seem to fill her up (she'll try and get into the bag straight after eating) whereas when I gave her homemade dog food, she wasn't hungry until her next meal, maybe I might do 3 days homemade, 4 days burns or another dog food, one with no cereals preferably, I'm looking into BARF atm, I'm looking into everything really,

but the salt water definitely (either that or the coal/sulphur shampoo) helped so I might try taking her for a swim every morning (live right beside the beach) and see how her itching level are.

I don't think they're hotspots as its more of a rash? small pink/red spots that are itchy.. then again maybe that's what hot spots are, although I thought hotspots consisted of just one or two.

muckety

Did the salt water work?

Stressica

i've been taking her everyday since for a run/swim, and the days she goes everyday definite reduction it scratchiness, still a little but no way near as much, I can maybe go 1 day without going to the beach but I can see itchiness returning so I make a point of going everyday