Help! My dog's so itchy - how can I help him?

Hi! This is my first time on Dogsey and I'm hoping someone can help me. My dog is itching so badly this year and seems to have little spots on his skin causing the problem. We took him to the vet who told us to bath him with a medicated shampoo. It seems to ease the problem for a day and then it's back to scratching again. I thought about antihistamines but I don't know what to try. Has anyone got the same problem? If we go to the vet again it'll probably cost another £35 plus any medication prescribed and if I can't find a remedy that's what we'll do. However, if anyone can help with recommendations I would be very grateful. Fingers crossed and thanks in advance!

Welcome to Dogsey. Assuming your dog is on an anti-flea treatment which will rule out fleas it could be a number of things:
* Harvest mite is around now in the grass and it has just started to drive my two made. Activate and drop-on treatments in my experience does not stop the harvest mite, but the Frontline Spray does. I've checked with my vet and I spray my dogs feet with it which kills the mite.

* Last year one of mine had little scabs all over him and was scratching and scratching. It turned out to be food intolerance. I changed him onto Burns Fish and Brown Rice and then latterly onto Orijen and the scratching stopped immediately. When I first found out it was a food intolerance I was advised to give him an oil supplement to soothe his skin. Until I put him on Orijen I was giving him a few drops of Fish 4 Dogs Salmon Oil which again immediately helped his dry skin from scratching.

Good luck and keep us informed.

I would go back to the vet.

Also, I would use something like frontline in case its mites.

Other things you can use are

- sponge the dog down with apple cider vinegar
- dorwest easy green, garlic & fenugreek tabs, mixed veg tablets

As someone famously once said, rule out the probably first and then you are left with the possible.

Is your dog, house, car treated for fleas regularly?
Is your dog, house, car treated for dustmites regularly?
Has your dog checked for walking dandruff, mange, harvest mites etc?
Are you using a biological detergent, carpet freshener, air freshener?

Are you walking on farmland which may have been sprayed/fertilised recently?

Have you got any wildlife in your garden eg hedgehogs, rabbits, foxes, etc

Think about giving Vitamin C, Fish Body Oil and tell us what you feed him and if any changes have occurred

Hello jenny.g, Thanks for the advice. Funnily enough our dog is a Tibetan cross and I'm wondering if the type of coat they have makes them susceptible to this type of problem. We have him treated monthly with the flea treatment from the vet but I didn't think about using fish oil for his skin. We already feed him Burns food as when we adopted him from the local shelter he had a bad stomach and couldn't tollerate ordinary dog food. I'll get some fish oil tomorrow and try it. I gather the Frontline spray doesn't harm them if they lick it, so I'll try to buy some of that too. Many thanks again!

Don't forget dust mites, the number one cause of skin problems in dogs............

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my cry for help - much appreciated and I will be trying everything until I find an answer to the problem. We have foxes and other wild life in the area but never thought that they could be a problem. We have had to deal with grass seeds and tics over the last two years but never knew there were mites in the grass too - well we live and learn. Hope we can help the little fella as he's a real sweetheart. Many thanks again!