Itchy itchy itchy dog. What are we forgetting?

[Renn_aissance]

Dog is:

• On Benadryl
• Had thorough bath with oatmeal shampoo and good brush out
• Washed her blankets and bedding, cleaned her sofa
• Up to date on flea, tick, dewormer
• Itch seems to be largely around her head and neck but doesn’t reduce when she’s not wearing her collar; no sign of ear infection, had ears checked at the vet last week
• An anxious creature with a tendency towards compulsive behavior and was raised by cats. She grooms herself very like a cat- licks her paws to wash her face, etc. Some of her scratching around her face starts as grooming and turns to scratching. So some of this may be behavioral. She has some bloodwork* being done tomorrow, after which she starts on Prozac.

The bloodwork is to rule out Addison’s disease- it’s unlikely but some changes on her last routine bloodwork made her vets think we should do an ACTH test.

None of the above have helped her stop scratching. It’s relatively recent onset, within the last 3 weeks, and pretty constant- every 10-20 minutes or so she’ll scratch some part of herself, and she comes up for help rubbing around her cheeks and jaw. She is not desperate and can be distracted, and she sleeps through the night. She has recently developed trouble with an inflamed third eyelid, which she has briefly prolapsed twice, but which goes back where it belongs with anti-inflammatories (opthalmologist appointment next month) so she really needs to not kick herself in the face right now. We know she has some kind of environmental allergies (weepy eyes and itchy paws) and she usually does a couple weeks on Benadryl spring and fall. Vet suggested we start with Benadryl up to 3x/day. I’m not sure that’s made much of a difference. Other ideas we can try or discuss with the vet?

[yaya]

Maybe discuss Apoquel?

[Renn_aissance]

That’s next.

[jherold]

Check her diet. Years ago I had a shepherd with food allergies. Was doing fine on a certain brand for years until she started rubbing her face constantly. After spending $ at the vet, I remembered that the last time we couldn’t get her allergies under control it was related to food. Found the bag and noticed that it said “new and improved.” The improvement? They added wheat. Wheat is a common allergen. So check what’s she’s eating especially if you’ve just started a new bag.

[Renn_aissance]

Huh. That’s a thought. She’s on Orijen Fit & Trim and has done well on that for years. I don’t see anything online that they’ve changed the formulation but I’ll check with the pet store just in case.

[Displaced_Yankee]

I was also going to suggest diet. Just because it has been fine doesn’t mean it is still fine for your dog, even without any formulation changes.

We had our dog on Purina ProPlan adult chicken and rice for years. She had some awful GI issues in October. Once resolved we tried to put her back on the regular ProPlan but some GI issues started to creep in. We put her on the ProPlan Sensitive Skin and Stomach (for her stomach) and she seems better than before.

No harm in trying a small bag of something else? Something formulated for skin issues?

[Sparrowette]

Please, please, please! Try that “gentle” oatmeal shampoo on your own hair. You might be surprised.

A few years ago, I ran out of my own shampoo and saw my dog’s oatmeal “gentle” shampoo as something I could use until I got my own again.

I was so surprised at how horrible it was!! This “gentle oatmeal shampoo” was not gentle at all! My scalp was itching to high heaven due to the drying and my hair was dried out to where I had to take measures afterward to get it back to the condition it had been.

After that experience, I stopped wondering why the dogs hated getting a bath!! I started using human shampoo on them and things got better.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Hill’s prescription Science Diet food for digestive disorders saved my dog from vomiting and loose bowels her last 2 years of life. They also make formulas for dogs with allergies. You might want to ask your vet about a prescription.

[S1969]

What breed?

Some breeds are known to have more skin issues; the eye issue makes me wonder about breed?

Doesn’t sound like you’ve scraped for demodectic mange, so I’d do that first.

Then maybe consider an elimination diet and/or allergy testing.

Then Apoquel.

[Renn_aissance]

On shampoo: it’s the aloe and oatmeal shampoo my vet recommended for my horse’s skin allergies. She has done well with it in the past.

Breed: she’s a Finnish Lapphund, an arctic breed living in the US Midatlantic, which explains her difficulty with pollen. The eye issue is not known for her breed. We await the ophthalmologist appointment with great interest. Being able to prolapse your own eyelid and then get it back into place by yourself is a particular skill.

We haven’t done a scrape for mange, the vet thinks it’s not likely. Her skin and hair coat are in good condition with no patches or redness. She thinks an allergic condition is more likely. We have been treating it as contact allergies because it’s seasonal. I hadn’t thought about something she’s eating since that hasn’t changed, but it’s worth exploring.

[frugalannie]

I’d try an Apoquel trial with your vet’s ok. If that works, and pills aren’t your dog’s favorite thing, maybe Cytopoint, which is an injectable. I have a 9 yo Cairn terrier who gets itchy, very itchy, every spring. One dose of Cytopoint stops it cold, and keeps it at bay for the rest of her allergy season.

[fourfillies]

Sounds like you’ve run all the options. Try Apoquel. It was life changing for our very itchy Corgi. He only needs it Sept to Dec yearly. We tried Cytopoint last year and it helped but Apoquel resolves all symptoms within the first 3 doses and sustains him symptom free on one tab a day.

[S1969]

@Renn_aissance

Breed: she’s a Finnish Lapphund, an arctic breed living in the US Midatlantic, which explains her difficulty with pollen. The eye issue is not known for her breed.

Ah yes, I remember now.

No, I agree that your vet is probably right about demodex. For some reason bully types tend to have more skin issues and if that were the case I’d do the scrape because it’s easy. But based on her breed and no patchiness, etc., I agree it’s unlikely.

Food changes can’t hurt to try; it is one of the few things you can control. If you do trials, keep good notes; it might be hard to know if something has made a difference at first.

[widge]

What material is the collar? Some metals are allergens and can be absorbed through the skin, which could keep her itchy even after removal.

[Renn_aissance]

Go figure. She stopped scratching this afternoon.

We will be talking to the vet about Apoquel tomorrow. We have done a one-week course of that to break the cycle for her in the past, and it works well. Because she has a lot of feelings she sometimes starts a behavior because it makes sense and then it becomes more stereotypic. Hence starting Prozac tomorrow. I think there’s a component of that to her scratching as well as something environmental. Hopefully the Apoquel will help that while the Prozac comes on board.

@widge She’s worn the same leather collar with brass fittings for the last 7 years. We do clean it regularly.

[Jarpur]

The AKC Pupdate I received a few days ago had this article:

Can Dogs Be Allergic to Humans? – American Kennel Club

One veterinary dermatologist states that 30% of dogs seen in their previous practice were allergic to humans!

[Heinz_57]

@Renn_aissance

An anxious creature

My BC gets itchy when he’s stressed. The two times we moved this year, he did a lot of scratching for about a month, 6 weeks afterwards. No signs of skin irritation, I treated him for fleas even though he doesn’t have them, switched up foods and bathed him in various antifungal/bacterial/soothing shampoos. None of it helped. Once he was less anxious about life it stopped.

[Warmblood1]

It sounds like the scratching stopped, which is great. Makes me think this is an environmental allergy and that potential allergen may have been removed from her environment.

That said, some pets respond better to different antihistamines. You might ask your vet about prescribing something other than benedryl.

You might also consider allergy testing at this point. Sometimes you can pinpoint the allergen and remove it permanently from the environment. Some dogs are allergic to everything but have a positive response to allergy injections. I’d be less inclined to believe it is a food allergy unless there has been a diet change to coincide with her not scratching. If you could find out what the allergen is, it might make your life a lot easier.

I also agree with others, Apoquel can be a godsend.

[cilla1]

Is she wearing any flea collar? My sheperd dog had a awful reaction to flea collars.

Regarding food Orijen Is a very good brand (fare better then Purina and Hills in my opinion), ask if something has changed in compositon. I see Fit & Trim is mainly based in chicken and fish, sometimes herrings can give allergic reactions. I also see that it is very high in protein, wich is good for primitive dogs like yours but you could try something less proteic

[Renn_aissance]

Last night she started itching again, started kicking at her face, and this morning she woke up with her eyelid starting to prolapse again. The good news is she already had a vet visit at 8:30 and I hope I got to her eye in time to get the drops in.

Apoquel it is. And I hope I can get this ophthalmology appointment moved up.

I have to consider whether there’s something inflammatory going on in her body that relates to both the itching and the eye situation- vet says unlikely unless allergic in origin, most of her bloodwork is great except the electrolyte balance change that’s leading us to rule out Addison’s (and we do annual labs so she has a baseline.) Just weird to have two things come on together.