Itchy Bum

[blue_star]

Has anyone expiranced their cavalier having an itchy bum. Toby has been driving me mad for the last few days.
He hasnt got any anal glands so that isn't the problem, he also is wormed regularly and i'm seen nothing in his poo.
He is constantly just 'scooting' and going round in circle. I can get one part healed up, but then he moves on to another part, normally knocking the scab of the first one! Its not just his bum he is marking but also the base of his tail.

He does have a skin conditional although on his back these appear differently (normally scabby first before the itch), but his bum and tail are clear!
Any advice?

[sallymum]

If i was u i would make an apponment with the vets. When Toby has actually got scabs there must be something going on. Better to be safe than sorry.

[Davy]

SiânE developed an itch bum a while back. But instead of scooting she found out that rubbing her bum on the side of the sofa was much more fun. We called it the SiânE dance.

SiânE dance

She didn’t have any problems causing it, she just liked doing it. It was a laugh at first but then she became obsessed with doing it, even waking me up at 6 in the morning crying with joy while she was having her wicked way with the sofa.

We used a dog gate to stop her getting access to the sofa but then she would try other things like the radiator or even us! The only way we found to stop her was to distract her every time she started doing and eventually she forgot about it.

[Caraline]

Yeah I'd get the vet to have another look. It sounds like you are on top of things like parasites, but I'm wondering if he may have picked up some fleas. These usually congregate around the base of the tail.

How long ago did he have his anal glands removed? Another thought I had was whether he is getting funny sensations from scar tissue from the anal gland surgery. This thought is not based on any knowledge or science at all... just my mind wandering to this area.

[Karlin]

Any dog that is scratching its rear or scooting for no apparent reason should be checked by a vet and *if* absolutely nothing can be found I'd strongly recommend asking for a referral to one of the low cost MRI clinics and get a neurological exam and possibly an MRI. These are both behaviours that can be connected to syringomyelia. There are now a number of low cost scanning centres in the UK. Biting at hindquarters is another frequent symptom. Be sure to see a vet and eliminate all other possibilities but most dogs will not tend to start doing something like this for no reason at all -- and this type of repetitive behaviour with no apparent source and no apparent resolution is often in one way or another, neurological (eg obsessive compulsive or linked to something like SM or both). Given that 50-70% of cavaliers are now believed to eventually develop syrinxes, this is really something that should be checked by a specialist as it could be a likely sign of discomfort and possibly pain. Hindquarters are often affected by SM.

Low cost clinics are listed here:

http://sm.cavaliertalk.com/diagnosin...wcostmris.html