Our dog is scratching herself to death..

[mactlman]

a customer of mine put his 6 yr old schnauzer down last week due to allergies. the dog would scratch until it had big, gaping wounds and was bleeding all over the house. wore a cone most of it life. he spent thousands trying to help it and even took it to OSU vet hospital for treatment which only helped for a few months.

[Team V-T2]

There are different types of mange a dog can get. Here is a link to explain further: http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvett...ic_mange-12823

My Lab/Husky mix had sarcoptic mange. This is a mite under the skin that causes them to scratch and lose hair. It almost looks like dandruff. It is not the really bad kind of mange. The Vet did a skin scrape and showed me the mite that lives under their skin. At the time about 10 years back there was no cure for it. My Vet said he had a shampoo that would reduce the itching and scratching. Also, he gave her some medicine that was not FDA approved for dogs, but would help. And it did. She would go years with out any issues. Only would show up when she became stressed.

My Labsky's issue was not related to food allergies at all. Hope this helps to look at other possible causes. Best wishes for your dog.

[JER-1 BIG BASS]

Take her off tap water, chlorine, and chemical will dry them out. Switch to well water or drinking water, I've seen it happen ,
just a possibility.

[earthworm77]

Dino-vite

[LOSTTEXAN]

Times have changed, we don't do pets anymore since the since the thousands of years old "Ol' Yeller" standard has been hijacked by various interests.

[LewStulePH.D.]

4-5 Benedryl per day ?

Here is the chart: and:

[delee36]

get an allergy test done by a vet

[SoonerFan]

My Scottie couldn't walk across the room without stopping to scratch. We would vacuum huge clumps of fur every day. Four hours after his first dose of Apoquel he was back to normal. It is pricey, about $2 a day, but worth it.

[NoFishOnBoard]

Just take the dog to the vet. They get paid because they can figure out exactly what's wrong with your dog.

My dog started something similar recently. He's never been a "scratcher". He's 10. About two months ago he started scratching so bad he was bleeding in places and he pulled huge clumps of hair off his body. He was so twitchy that if you petted him is back legs would give out and he'd drop to the floor. At night he'd wake me up because i could hear his leg thumping at the bottom of the stairs as he scratched (he's a big dog and that leg will wake you up when it's pounding on the floor).

First trip to the vet said "flea allergy". That didn't make any sense to me since he doesn't have fleas and in 10 years he's never acted like this. They gave him a steroid and an antibiotic. The scratching stopped within two or three days and he was good throughout the entire cycle of meds.

Within a week of stopping the meds he was right back to scratching. This time they said it was a general allergy and gave us Apoquel and a weekly shampoo. He's been on it for a few days and the scratching and biting has slowed. I hope it's just a seasonal thing.

Take the dog to the vet, get it figured out.

[coolwhip]

Buddy had same issue with his dog....it was dogs tail that he was scratching and biting. Damn tail infected bad and almost fell off...haha....Dog had fleas and he didn't realize it. Flea treatment stuff only works so good I guess...I believe there is a flea treatment pill that lasts 3 months at a time that he is using now...but to get rid of the fleas right now he had to use Nitenpyram for like a week. Then he had to treat his home.

[bilgerat]

Here is the chart: and:

Wasn't doubting or questioning you, that just struck me as a lot ... I'm more edjumicated now

[BrianFLA]

Switched my Shepard to,wellness core large breed, give her an omega in the am and pm, and a medicated bath once a month. Too often bathing can cause skin to get dry an itchy. If your vet suggests prednisone.... run and find another also make sure to get all the shampoo off their coat.

[LewStulePH.D.]

Wasn't doubting or questioning you, that just struck me as a lot ... I'm more edjumicated now

No problemo.. I had the same reaction when I took the male to the vet and told Him that I gave the dog half a Benadryl™ He said that isn't nearly enough as it is done by weight, so ergo, I'm just passing on that edjumication.

[ejiguy]

My English Setter developed same symptoms, scratching herself raw all over and loss of hair. She is 13 years old and never had any issues. The only thing that changed was that we gave her Nexgard for the last 2 months. It is a pill taken orally to prevent and kill fleas and ticks. First gave her Benadryl then went to vet because it wasn't enough. She was given an antibiotic daily for 2 weeks and twice daily antihistamine and special shampoo used twice a week. She is good as ever and will not be treating her with the Nexgard. Going back to Frontline between shoulder blades. Hope this helps!