# Perpetually Itchy Dog



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

My mom has a Cairn Terrier, female, spayed, about 5 years old. She is ALWAYS itchy.

A little background: full-blooded cairn, she came from Florida and lived in TN for a while. She came to live with me and I found out that my mother's now-ex husband was abusing her behind closed doors. It was so bad. I've worked with her extensively to recover from that and she has -- she'll play, she goes outside, she listens, she can climb stairs, she can be trained, etc. Anyway, since he's been gone and I've been working with her its become impossible to ignore that she has a severe itchiness problem. She often has bald spots.

We've treated for fleas, allergies, and we have her on a grain-free diet with salmon which was vet recommended (http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/blue-buffalo-dog-food-wilderness-dry/). 

Nothing has helped. We've been through two years, and several vet visits. We've also done behavioral treatment, because I suspected a neurotic stress-response and it worked to get her to stop chewing the fur off her paws but she still is itching away the fur on her back. 

At this point, we can only relieve symptoms using allergy medication and hydrocortisone spray; we bathe her with oatmeal bath stuff for allergies and we keep her shaven as much as we can to help. She itches so bad that we can't do a skin scrape to find out why because she always has skin infections from breaking the skin. We treat them, she's itchy, and the skin scrapes say nothing. She's also prone to ear infections which go away when treated.

Whatever she has does not affect my rat terrier, who lived with her for quite some time. I've done everything that could possibly be vaguely related -- she's undergone teeth cleanings, got her spayed, up to date on shots, etc.. I suspected that doing this routine dog care wouldn't help the issue, and I was right. 

I don't know what to do for this poor dog...any advice?


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## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

Has your vet recommended any other diets? Hypoallergenic diets such as royal canin hypoallergenic, hills z/d ? Diets that have lower protein.I would ask about other diets to try or allergy testing.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I'll probably request allergy testing. We tried a bit of royal canine hypoallergenic but she dealt with the switch really badly and lost a bunch of fur, so we didn't know if it was a change or the food.

My baby doesn't have half these problems. Any and all food she'll eat, if it is soft and small enough.


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## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

Z/d is good for severe food allergies. But with food trials(which im sure you already know but anyways, they can only eat that diet, no scraps or crumbs from anything else or it will defeat the purpose).But the allergy testing will help tell you all the things shes allergic to. Ear infections are probably allergy related also. I hope she get better soon, poor baby, it stinks to be that itchy.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Yeah. I wanted to try rat cures but my mom thought I was insane (olive oil).

And we've stopped all bones and treats for her, woefully.


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## ahrat (Aug 12, 2013)

Is there a specific place she's itching? My beagle used to get what I guess people call "hot spots", specifically in his armpit area and some places on his belly. It usually happens in warm weather/climate, but can really happen anytime too much moisture is present. The main cause is a bacteria, but it causes the skin to get hot, so the dog licks and scratches which makes the sores worse. I can't remember what was used to treat it, I actually think it was apple cider vinegar, and some kind of ointment after we kept noticing it was a reoccurring thing and were tired of running to get really expensive ointments, but I remember we had to put a shirt on him every time this problem occurred because the dog just really wants to lick and scratch, which causes the sores to open even more.


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

Any spots that are specifically itchy? I was gonna say maybe mange, but if skin scrapes came back negative then that get ruled out.

I have a similar problem with my dog Bae. She is a pit and they are prone to dry skin and allergies. She had mange when she was a puppy but we got that fixed. She never had allergies in the past, but our vet said this is the only thing she can think of. I've brought her in about 10 times for this same problem.

For Bae, it's mostly her face, she will itch so hard on her snout and eyes that she has fur loss and even starts bleeding sometimes. The anti inflammatories help, but its only a temporary solution. I'm about to start her on a hypoallergenic diet. I know you said your dog is on a grain free diet, but what about her treats? Some people don't realize that if they do have a food allergy, they need to have special treats as well.

If you have ruled out all those possibilities including fleas and mites, I'd suggest looking into more behavioral/stress reducing remedies. Bae used to have some barking issues when people knocked on the door, so I was looking into anti anxiety treatments. I KNOW this sounds like a scam, but it worked for Bae. Try the thunder shirt!! It's relatively cheap, especially for a small dog and is worth a shot. A lot of hair loss/itching can be due to stress. Especially if its on her paws. Dogs will anxiety will chew at their paws until they are raw.

\Just some ideas. Hope she gets better!


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

They're on her sides, where she can reach with her claws/teeth. But not somewhere I'd think could accumulate moisture for bacteria. We've tried shirting her to prevent the itching but it was clear this made her miserable and just prevented her "looking" itchy, not BEING itchy.

And mange would've spread to my dog, wouldn't it?

She was itching even when I was home nearly 24/7, and I didn't see a stressor. She loves hanging out with my dog and I.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Try vitamin E oil, rub it into her skin twice a day. It should help a lot. My boy down home had bad dry skin and had scratched patches of fur off, we put this on him and it went away. I'll be honest though, it sounds like a nervous tic. The oil should help the itchy and dry skin but she may continue to scratch forever


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## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

Coming from tons of experience dealing with the food, I wouldn't recommend any Hill's or Royal Canin unless youre desperate. The food she's on should really help. If anything, I'd go higher quality. Acana, Now, something more organic/natural. Maybe it could be something like an allergy to a preservative or something. Have you tried a raw diet? Nature's Variety and Primal are great frozen foods.

Coconut oil or fish oil added daily could help? Coconut oil is actually awesome because you can mix it in her food, give coconut chips as treats, and apply the oil directly to the skin. 

Forgive me if any of these have been suggested, I'm going to go back and reread others posts but these were my first thoughts.


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

I'm inclined to agree with food allergy. Grain-free is fantastic, but even different protein sources (or the veggies in the diet) can be allergens.


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