itching

have noticed that blackie has been very itchy lately and has now got some small patches where his fur looks thinner. what should i do??? hes not got fleas but could it be mites and do we need to visit vets? apart from this he is happy, playing and eating ok.

Has blackie done it in the past? Is he an itchy dog like one of mine is? Maybe he has suddenly got an allergy to something in the house or where he goes when you are out? Could be just the change of coat as that aggravates them at this time of year.

Don't know if it's mites, as I wouldn't know what to look for, my vet recently told me that my dog didn't have them, it was purely "him" that was causing the itchiness, but then he is a very allergic dog and has ecezma very badly sometimes, which results in big red raw "hot spots". Maybe somebody else can come up with something for you as it doesn't sound like it's what my dog has. Maybe give him a good thorough grooming and a combe through and if it does get worse then take him to the vets, but I hope it doesn't.

I recently de-flead my house even though the dogs are Frontlined regularly and shampooed all the carpets, and guess what, neither of them have scratched once since I did it! Just goes to show doesn't it!

Maybe try the Piriton tabs as they are very good if he is allergic to something. I give one morning and 1 night but mine are 40 odd kgs. dogs. Sorry, I'm not much help am I!

Murph doesn't scratch so much since I started him on EPO and rock sulphur in his drinking water.....hope you get it sorted soon!

Yes my dog is a scratchy itchy dog too and we are forever at the vets with him. He is a Bichon and weighs just over 10kg and the vet looked up in his book that it was okay to give him up to 3 Piriton tablets a day (8 hours apart)

My dog is on steroids at the moment for a week - he finishes them tomorrow and then it will be back to the scratching again

That's odd Blackiesmum, Cassie has just recently started with the same itching as you describe. She has no dry skin or any fleas etc that we can see but seems really itchy, more so than usual. This makes me think it may just be their coat changing at this time of year?