# General > Pets Corner >  Help scratchy dog.

## cuddlepop

We think Scorries allergic to something but cant afford to go throw expensive allergy testing at the vets so was wondering if anyone has tried "skin-eze " its on the top link for this pet section.?

Its an American product so was wondering if there is a british equivalent.

Have Frontlined him but still scratches and bites the fur on his back.
No obvious skin allergy to treat but something drives him nuts. :Frown:

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## simple338

i bought a cream from Pets at home a week ago called Skin-eze by Johnson's. Got if for my dog as she seems to have dry skin on one ear and scratched it an awful lot, thought i would try it before taking her to the vets and it seems to have worked, her dry skin has gone and the scratching has stopped as well, think it was less than £3 for a 50g tub

hope this helps

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## suzy

when we had our other dog, we had her skin tested for allergy's cos she was scratching, and it turned out to be a mite that lives in the biscuits, we had to use what she would eat in a week then throw the rest away, because the mites would beactive after a week of opening them. might be worth a try if dog eats biscuits. ( by the way we paid £500. to be told this, but it did help within a couple of weeks)

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## teenybash

To eaze his itch meantime you could try soaking his back with 50/50 lemon juice and water.....my old ancient lady developed severe skin prob this year and had treatment from vet to no avail....changed her diet to raw meat and tuna.....now totally on tuna and wilsons meal and skin has cleared up. If she does manage to pinch some ordinary dog food, she starts itching again......worth a try adding cod liver oil to his food. :Smile:

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## cuddlepop

> when we had our other dog, we had her skin tested for allergy's cos she was scratching, and it turned out to be a mite that lives in the biscuits, we had to use what she would eat in a week then throw the rest away, because the mites would beactive after a week of opening them. might be worth a try if dog eats biscuits. ( by the way we paid £500. to be told this, but it did help within a couple of weeks)


Suzy £500 is an awful lot of money just to be told its biscuits.

Is it mixer biscuits or dog treats.?

Still in shock as to the mites living in the mixer,yuck. :: 

Thanks for the info we have a feeling its dietray.

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## cuddlepop

> To eaze his itch meantime you could try soaking his back with 50/50 lemon juice and water.....my old ancient lady developed severe skin prob this year and had treatment from vet to no avail....changed her diet to raw meat and tuna.....now totally on tuna and wilsons meal and skin has cleared up. If she does manage to pinch some ordinary dog food, she starts itching again......worth a try adding cod liver oil to his food.


Was going to put him in the bath tonight and use some sensitive dog shampoo but I think we'll give the vinegar/lemon juice mix.
There's nothing on his skin and no visable dandruff so it sounds like an allergy to something.
Stopped using carpet shakes to see if that was the cause but it wasnt.
Doesnt sleep in a bed as such so no bedding to blame...he bags the sofa,which is leather,when we go to bed. :: 

He loves Tuna,sardines etc which they get at least twice a week.
Thanks for the suggestions teeny.

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## suzy

The skin specialist said its in all dry dog biscuits, when opened to use them within a week, its a shame cos I used to buy big bags as it worked out cheaper. she also had a slight allergy to housedust mites but there is not a lot u can do about that apart from not have carpets, cushions and curtains.

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## Liz

Skin problems are a real pain as it takes some detective work to find out the cause but dietary allergies are usually the number one suspect.

My wee cat Suzy has an ongoing skin problem for which I have tried many remedies but the best I have found so far is Viacutan. She licked the inside of her leg so much that there was no hair and it is now growing back in and the skin is a nice healthy colour rather than an angry red!

Good luck Cuddlepop.  :Grin:

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## bullielove

Yep - I would certainly back the idea that it may be diet related.  That was what one of our dogs was like, but he is fine on james wellbeloved which is good for bad skin.  There is also wainrights which is pets at home version but that didnt work for us.

Is he footlicking excessively - usually a good indicator of food allergy?

In the past we have also given him a piriton when he has been excessively itchy.  A bull terrier person recommended this to me and it done the job. Im no vet though  so if you were going to  try this I would advise that you check with your vet first as I wouldnt want to be responsible for anything happening to your dog.

Also if he has had fleas before frontlining him it may be a flea allergy which you may need something from the vet.  

Good luck - its horrible seeing them so uncomfortable

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## cuddlepop

> Yep - I would certainly back the idea that it may be diet related. That was what one of our dogs was like, but he is fine on james wellbeloved which is good for bad skin. There is also wainrights which is pets at home version but that didnt work for us.
> 
> Is he footlicking excessively - usually a good indicator of food allergy?
> 
> In the past we have also given him a piriton when he has been excessively itchy. A bull terrier person recommended this to me and it done the job. Im no vet though so if you were going to try this I would advise that you check with your vet first as I wouldnt want to be responsible for anything happening to your dog.
> 
> Also if he has had fleas before frontlining him it may be a flea allergy which you may need something from the vet. 
> 
> Good luck - its horrible seeing them so uncomfortable


Its strange because the only bit he wants to bite and scratch is his back @ behind.
He was frontlined because of the ticks,there really bad over here.No sign of any fleas.

Will try to eliminate possible culprits on a weekly bases,
Dont want to go back to dry dog food as that just makes him more hyper.
Just imagine a "beardie on speed" :: ,thats our Scorrie on Wagg.

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## Liz

This looks good! :Grin:  http://www.lintbells.com/page/yumega-plus

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## emb123

seems odd that it should be limited to one area.

One thought is the possibility of scabies and the treatment for humans and presumably pets used to be Derbac-M shampoo which is the pesticide Malathion although these days I'm imagine something less brutal is going to be available.

If it were an allergy I would logically expect it to be either around the point of contact if an external source/pest is responsible or all over his body if in his food.

Tea-tree oil is available for pet skin treatment (I have some somewhere) and I believe it's antiseptic and soothing (smells quite nice too!) and may be worth looking out.

My gut feeling says it's likely to be some sort of pest that's biting him and that although the bite is tiny, he may be sensitized to it which is causing the itchiness.

Johnsons do a natural pyrethrum dusting powder for flea deterring.  It's made of chrysanthemum (and it also smells nice) it's pretty harmless too, but insects just don't like it and won't go near it for some reason. You dust the dog with it then brush it out and he smells luvvvly!!    Worked with my Jack Russell and no side effects whatsoever.

I'm no vet or expert tho', just sharing a mix of thoughts in case it helps shed any light.

Good luck with this!  You'll get to the bottom of it in the end  :Smile:

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## northener

When we got 'Missy' she had a horrendous skin condition and was literally eating herself. Moptop will tell you just how bad she was.

The vet put her on steroids as a short - term relief whilst we tried to assess what was causing the rpoblem - she reckoned food allergy, I wasn't convinced. Skin scrapes showed no infestation of mites or other surface skin problems.

It worked like this:

Cut out ALL treats and move onto Royal Canin Hypo-allergenic mix. It's bloody expensive at about £60 per 15kg - but it is the best stuff you can get. Don not give biscuits, 'doggie' treats and chews, no scraps, no picking up stuff outside and scoffing it. Nothing but Royal Canin.

The droppings are virtually none-existant, which says how much of the mix is actually being processed in the dogs gut. Like I said - good stuff.

After about 2 or 3 bags of that and seeing a huge improvement we weaned onto James Wellbeloved Hypo allergenic (£20 cheaper but not quite as good). She now has just a raw carrot as a treat (she loves them) alond with a daily cod liver oil tablet and a tine of sardines (in oil NOT brine) with a meal once a week.

The vet was right (thumbs up for Wick vet'nary :: ). 

She still nibbles her back, but not to the point where she's breaking the skin or getting raw. I'd say it's more like over enthusiastic grooming now. Some dogs seem to be just prone to this and a diet that will work for most dogs makes them even worse.

So to recap.

No scraps/treats/processed dogfood.

Preferebly Royal Canin Hypo or the bare minimum should be James Wellbeloved Hypo.

You won't see an overnight improvement, it takes time. We got through 2-3 bags of RC before she settled down a bit.

Lotions and potions wouldn't have made a difference in our case, I'd suggest trying one method at onece )ie: not lotions and diet change at the same time) so you know which treatment is effective or not.

Hope this helps.

BTW: regarding steroids, they're cheap enough (£5 for a load) but only offer short term relief and not a cure. 
They can have long - term side effects if used constantly and caused Missy to empty her bladder on a more frequent basis. Once she decided to 'go' she couldn't hold it in, resulting in a couple of little 'accidents' on the carpet. This stopped as soon as she came off the steroids.

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## cuddlepop

Thanks everyone.

I think we're all in agreement its dietary.It seems strange that this only started this summer and its not been a particularly warm one so dont think its a heat rash.

The food he gets now is the same as he alwas got so nothings changed,apart from getting tuna/kippers or sardines twice aweek .Need to eliminate this from his diet to see if there's an improvment.

The fish diet has helped Dileas with her spinal arthritis but maybe Scorrie cant tolerate this so its two different meals at dinner.

Thats going to be fun as he loves the fish diet. :: 

Sorry Teeny vinegar and lemon didnt work,it just left him smelling like a chip shop. :: 

He loves going for his morning swim in the sea so maybe thats the culprite.

Well there's nothing like a bit of detective work to keep me busy .

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## porshiepoo

The thing with skin conditions is that it could literally be one of a million causes.

Our GSD has suffered for a couple of years now and we've tried everything. We've changed his food to hypo allergenic - nada, we've tried the "expensive" food - nada, we've tried Colloidal Silver and had some improvement, we've tried Camrosa and again had some improvement.
But eventually it all starts over again - he has a bald flank now and although he doesn't chew it so much now it's still scabby and hair refuses to grow back.
At its worst it was swollen, raw and had folded thick skin. A few years on and the skin is finally flat, still bald and a tad scabby. Sometimes it looks raw and then other days it's as dry as a bone and looks better. (when I say better I simply mean dry).

We've take him to the vets both here and in England many many times and had numerous things done from anal gland emptying to anti itch injections and more lately skin scrapings and antibiotics.
All the skin scrapings could tell us was that theres an infection (which we could see anyway) and all the antibiotics could do was work their wonder until the bacteria became immune (which happened to be during the second course).
Nothing has told us what the actual allergy is to.

What I will say is that while it's not ideal, he does seem to be growing out of the allergy hence its slight improvement.

Good luck with working out what ails your poor dog!

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