Info on Itchy Scratchy Skin

[schaferhund]

We have a german shepherd who has allergies and is constantly scratching. We have taken her to the vet and they suggested we switch her food to a duck and potato diet. We switched her and the scratching stopped by about60%. She's now starting to scratch alot more again. We are going to take her back to the vet, but in the meantime does anyone know of anything we can buy, like oils of some sort, to put on her skin to relieve the itching. She seems to scratch the most on her "armpits" and underneath her ears. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RoxyinLa]

My vet told me that you can use 2% hydrocortizone cream on dogs to stop itching. I had 1% and it does stop itching for a few hours, so this may help until you solve the real problem. As I was told, the hydrocortizone cream only gets rid of the symptoms, not the cause.

 

[schaferhund]

Hi RoxyinLa, thank you so much for the info! Are poor girl just cant stop the itching. I'll try it forsure thank you so much.

Patty

 

[bubbatd]

Check for mange ... have your vet take a scraping from the tips of the ears...is there any odor ?

 

[Brattina88]

What food are you feeding her?
You said that she's starting to scratch a lot more, now. Has anything changed in the envoirment? What's the weather like?
The problem with allergies in dogs is that often times the dog is not just allergic to one or two things like people with peanut allergies or something. Usually when a dog has allergies its multiple things such as food, flea, dust mites, mold, pollen, grass ect... The best thing to do is attempt to determine the main factors by process of elimination. Some vets do skin tests, but most do not.
My vet prescribed a benedryl like medicine during allergy season for my dog once I'd narrowed the offendors down. He also suggested supplementing meals with foods to boost her natural defenses like oranges, garlic, ect...
Foods That Help
Everything Allergy

 

[oriondw]

Benadryl

 

[sparks19]

my moms dog has scratching issues and her food cannot be changed as she is already on special food. They have an oatmeal based shampoo that they bathe her with every once in a while that seems to help relieve itching.

 

[schaferhund]

The first thing we did was have her checked for mange and that came back negative.

We are currently feeding her Natural Balance Duck and Potato. As for the weather, last week it was in the high 80's, this week it's been in the 50's to 60's and raining. Last time we took her to the vet they did give us some antihistamines. I have been giving them to her when she starts scratching really bad but they don't seem to be helping much.

The one thing that I have changed recently is I started using a little bit of chicken during training to reward her. She did start scratching alot after that, however in the past I have not used chicken and she scratched alot. So, I don't know if it's just a coincidence that this started again during the chicken or not. I have stopped the chicken now so we'll see if that's the problem.

I bought some Vitamin E oil and have been putting that on her ears and it seems to help. I've tried putting it on the rest of her body where she's itching but it's so darn thick and sticky that it's hard to spread in large areas.

We have also tried the oatmeal shampoo and it seems to relieve her for a couple days, but not for long.

Thanks so much everyone for your advice. You are all very helpful. I guess we'll just have to keep trying different things.

 

[Saje]

aloe vera gel
vitamin e is great too and if you break open capsules you can smear it pretty good.

how about allergy tests?

 

[shepluvr]

if you have her on an elimination diet that is ALL she should get. She may be allergic to the chicken.

 

[ledoc]

Seeing that skin is the "target organ" for allergies in dogs, the likelihood is that you are dealing with an allergy, or more likely a combination of allergies.In order to get some clarity on possible causes you need to think back to when the problem started. e.g. What age did the problem first start. Was it originally seasonal or not etc. Many animals become more allergenic as they get older (allergic to more things and often a faster, bigger response) and often the best you can do is manage the condition as identifying the actual allergens becomes almost impossible.
However, even without identifying specific allergens you can reduce the risk of an allergic reaction by e.g. feeding a hypoallergenic diet, making sure there is no flea or tick load on the pet, reducing dust mite loads in the environment etc.

 

[Pomp]

I just ordered some salmon oil for my dogs. I haven't used it yet, but have heard good things about it. Lots of Omega-3 which is good for the skin.

 

[schaferhund]

Thank you all for such wonderful advice. We'll let you all know if and when we figure out the problem.