Itchy Cavalier

[cwarner]

thats weird that you are talking about the foxes. YES we do. We take him with us up North and lately around our cottage and the lake, there have been many foxes, actually a litter was born in the Spring. Im going to go look up that mange you mentioned. We have an apt in tomorrow morning early, so we hope to get this soothed for him.

[waldor]

Our pup Sophie has been an itchy dog since the day we brought her home six months ago. She scratches at her ears occasionally, but mainly "below the waist": sides, legs, private areas below the waist, and base of tail. She is sometimes biting at something to the point of madness.

A couple months ago she couldn't reach the flat spot on top of her rump, right at the base of the spine before the tail, so she pulled her hair out and was almost bald. That's when I brought her to the vet and she was put on Temaril-P. I believe her itches are from allergies. There are often red bumps & tiny spots in the middle (looks like a large 'hive') - like a flea bite or something bit her - when she bites at herself. I have no clue how long it takes for a flea bite to stop irritating a dog.

I've found a few fleas on her over the summer, so the Frontline Plus isn't working on her. Two weeks ago, I switched to K9Advantix and we'll see how it goes. No fleas, but she's still biting.

A week ago I noticed she had some nasty eczema-like patches on her flank/hip area, so I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with a staph infection on her skin, and is on antibiotics. That happens with lots of dogs in our area for some reason.

I figure it's grass or flea allergy, or allergy to all the chemicals put on lawns in our neighborhood. Least likely is food, since the Temaril-P helps a lot. She's been off beef for three weeks and on Orijen "fish" flavor, so I doubt it is a beef allergy.

I really doubt it is SM because of the biting and spots and staph infection on her skin, unless I've overlooked some vital information on all Karlin's linked information.

[Maggles]

any dog with a break in their skin could get a staph infection... some SM dogs scratch themselves raw and then any open cut can be infected. a dog biting at itself for any cause, allergies, SM / neurological problems, a yeast infection, could open the skin and a staph infection could occur.

all that aside, poor Sophie! i am no vet but i agree that her symptoms seem like signs of allergies.

frontline plus completely stopped working for us. we started mags on comfortis (a pill every three months) and i haven't seen any more flea dander. there are other options out there but you might have to talk to a specialist for them. the comfortis was a recommendation from our animal derm...

good luck to you and i hope your poor baby feels better soon.

[waldor]

frontline plus completely stopped working for us. we started mags on comfortis (a pill every three months) and i haven't seen any more flea dander.

Our vet carries the Comfortis and also Sentinel (along with K9Advantix). I have not seen a flea on Sophie since going to K9Advantix, so I want to give it a chance. We really need the tick control aspect of K9A that Comfortis & Sentinel don't have.
Our last and worst option would be oral Sentinel or Comfortis and topical K9A at the same time, but I really hate the thought of putting all those chemicals on my sweet little dog.
I'll have to have visual proof that the K9A isn't working before I do that. Ugh.....

[cwarner]

Everyone has been so imformative. We appreciate all the input and we will let you know what the outcome is. I have also learned alot about these little guys too. Roscoe is our first and we just love him! We will definetly get another one some day. Wish us luck today!!!

[Karlin]

Good luck with the vet visit and hope one of those options proves to be the problem so that you can help her. It sounds like an allergy to something or a skin problem. Mange often has them biting at hindquarters like that so that might be it.

[cwarner]

Well, we went to the vet last Thursday then headed up North. It does appear to be allergies, so we were relieived. Roscoe is on an antiinflamatory med and and antihistimine and they are working wonderful, he's sleeping good and everything. So hopefully we have kicked the 'itch'.

[Merrybells]

A friend of mine who's a science researcher, found that many dogs are sensitive to flax. If you look through the ingredients lists of almost all dog food -- wet and dry, you'll find flaxseed, usually toward the end.

I've had this with my young Cavalier. She was itchy all over and driving me (and herself) crazy with scratching. I looked at the ingredients of the wet food I was using as a flavour additive to her kibble and sure enough, there was flaxseed in it.
I switched to cooked squash for flavouring and the itching stopped instantly and mostly.
I suspect there's flaxseed in the dry food, too, which is what's causing the remaining mild itch. But most foods don't list their full ingredient list on their websites. I'll have to check the ingredients on the bag when I go to the food shop. (I decant the food into airtight containers and discard the bags.)

Now I have to find a food without flaxseed.