Very itchy puppy - help!?

We have just got a beautiful baby boy pup, cocker/springer and he will be 12 weeks on Saturday. Hes great, has loads of energy, and gobbles down his food (then tries to eat our other dogs food!).
The problem is, since the day we brought him home he has been itching so much, and he bites himself everywhere, on his tummy, his feet, his back and the end of his tail and he chews his paws. He is very vocal while he does this too! Its very distressing to watch and feel there must be something I can do.
Its definately not fleas, I cannot see any lice, all I can find on his skin is a bit of flaky skin (like dandruff) on the bottom of his ears (its not food, definately skin).
Should I change his diet? Yhe first couple of weeks he was on pedigree puppy with one cereal meal and now he is on Butchers puppy 3 x and one cereal meal.
Anyone got any ideas please?
He is due at the vets next week for his final innoculations.

definatly go to the vets and get this seen to, i have just been to the vets with my gsd for the very same thing, he has an allergy to flea's, he doesnt have to have them for this too kick off just for one to bite, my vet has given him a course of steriods and a special shampoo to help calm this down that he is to be bathed twice a week in.

hope this helps x

Hi,

if you're sure it's not fleas (have you treated him?) then my guess is that there is some kind of allergy going on... Have you contacted the breeder to ask if he was itching before you got him? Was the breeder also giving cerial? If the breeder is sure he wasn't itching before, that is a good start for trying to find out what he's allergic to... What's he getting since you've had him that he didn't get before... It's going to be a process of elimination, I'm sure your vet can help you on your way with that... If the itching is very bad I would advise you to get an earlier appointment with the vet... Another week of severe itching is not good for a pup during these very important weeks...

good luck, and I hope the breeder and vet together can quickly help you get to the root of the problem! Please let us know how you get on

My collie x has a bad allergy to fleas and you never see fleas on him but he only needs one to set him off itching all over and it shows itself as white dandruffy flakes. I bet he has fleas..it can only take 1 or 2.
I'd take him to the vets though and get him treated properly.
I use Exmarid shampoo on Otis first them give him 2 doses of frontline 7 days apart and it does the trick. I also use piriton just until the meds take effect.
However with yours being so young he needs to go to the vets first to check what's ok for him and check that it is fleas too. Good luck x

Poor little chap. A vet will have to rule out mange and other parasites first IMO.
Cereal can be a problem for some dogs, but I`d want to rule out nasties first. And you might want to wash your hands after handling him till you know he`s clear?

Thanks for all your replies. From what you have all said it sounds very much like a flea allergy. The vet said when we took him at 8 wks that she could not treat him for fleas as his breeder had done it 2 wks before. Although there is no sign of a flea (he is mostly white so its pretty easy to check!) or flea dirt. The house where we brought him had not only his mum there but another little dog too and cat so I would be surprised if he had'nt been flea bitten.
I don't think its mange as my old dog (now recently passed away) and my other cocker got mange and their fur started to fall out in patches. His coat is beautiful condition.
I have given him another bath with mild puppy shampoo and although he hates the bath it does seem to help him a bit.
I have treated my other dog with Frontline in the hope that that may have helped him but unfortunately she seems to have a slight reaction to this ( she did once before, but funnily enough she was fine when I had to use Stronghold on her) it makes her more itchy than ever!

Could it be cat fleas he`s brought with him? My last GSD was allergic to cat flea bites.

Hi, just an update on our pup Ted. He has been to the vet and had is final innoculations and since I last posted on here we noticed he was losing a bit of fur around his mouth on each side and the dandruff had got a lot worse on the bottom of his ears. The vet took one look and said mites! So its mange and he has had one treatment of Stronghold and we also treated our other dog Lily at the same time. They both have to have a second dose in a months time.
They had this on Thursday and no improvement yet with the scratching and biting but its early days yet.
We do get foxes in our garden as we back onto open farmland and already hes sniffed out fox poo, it only has to be the tiniest bit and he will find it!! Typical spaniel!!
Hope this Stronghold does the trick as I feel so sorry for them both and you feel so helpless.