Constant Itching

Hello im new round here so i hope this section is the correct one.

I have had my Lab Cross for about 6 months now and he is just over 2yrs old. Since we have had him he has been to the vets about 6 times.
He started itching under his chin and not wanting to eat and the vet said he needed hypoallergenic food which we put him on but the itching continued, so took him back and they then put him on steroids and antibiotics which stopped him itching and he got his appetite back.
When i went back for a repeat prescription the vet said to bring him off the tablets slowly as they ran out which we did about 2 weeks ago but now he has started to itch again.
Went to the vets again today and they have said he now needs to have a scrape for mites and such like but it just seems odd to me that steroids would stop mites??

Just wondering if anyone else has had same sort of issue at all?

Thanks in advance
Simon

itching is a sign of food allergies ,red ears and itchy red feet does you dog show any of this ,as far as steroids and mites,i dont see the connection, i will look it up ,and it might be a good question for an other vet rather than the one you have beed seeing ..oh ....welcome to dogsie,lots to learn and share

Hello and welcome.

Firstly the steroids will not get rid of the mites (if it is) all the steroids will do is ease the itching.. it is only a relief mechanism

Did the vet not give you any treatment for mites (advocate) .maybe when you go back he will do so.

Skin scrapes according to my vet are 90% unlikely to show mites..as to take a good scrape , you have to take it from the exact skin, whee the mite is.

On your next visit your vet may take blood which may show up any irregulars in her blood, making her prone to allergies.

We are going through the same thing at the moment..my 6 yr old girl has suddenly started with the same..itching...
She has had tow lots of steroids, along with antibiotics... she is weaning off her second course now...

My vet has treated her for mite/mange... ruling out the obvious first... if she starts to itch again, he will take some blood...

Itching can be a reaction to many things...from food, grass, house/ dust mite /..a thousand and one things.

Trying to find the trigger.. is sometimes near on impossible.

Look at the food you feed, is it full of additives.. look at your lifestyle, what you use in the homes..chemicals.. and so on.

Lets hope you can find what triggers it.

Hi thanks for the replies.

Oscars files shows that he has already had blood tests and tested for mites and such like about 14 months ago. I feed him with wainwright's dry and wet food and thats all he has. He is kept off long grass, out of rivers has a plastic basket with an old quilt cover for padding - all of which were recommended by the vet.

I was reading through the site and seen that these scrapes are not that effective and paying £150 was pointless when i could spend it on something useful for him.

I understand that the steroids wont stop mites it just seemed strange that the first vet we seen said he had atopy but since we have bee back we have seen a different vet and he was the one that said to take him off the steroids and that he now needs a scrape.

He has white rings around his eyes, small patches of hair loss and shakes his head once or twice a day, all this stopped/dissapeared when on the steroids he had no intention of wanting to scratch at all.

sorry for long post
Simon

I really feel for you - its so frustrating not knowing what the cause is.

What flavour is the food that you feed him? Hypoallergenic food avoids the ingredients that dogs are commonly allergic to, but it doesn't necessarily mean that your dog isn't allergic to it.

The other thing to consider if steam cleaning your house - well particularly your carpets. Some dogs are allergic to dust mites and the steaming will kill them.

A friend of mine has a standard poodle that was put on hyper-allergenic food - basically chicken and rice. It got worse so she did the Elimination thing (only feed one thing at a time to see if the dog reacts). Guess what he`s allergic to? Chicken...and rice! He`s fine on Salmon & Potato.
Hyper-allergenic simpy means that most dogs won`t be allergic to it. Your dog might be. If you suspect it is food, try only feeding ONE thing - chicken, say. If he gets less itchy, you know he can tolerate that, so add rice or potato - as before, if that`s OK that`s 2 things off the list. And don`t give treats till you know they don`t contain anyrhing he might react to. I have a dog who gets hyper on food colourings.
Of course it may not be food - I had a dog who was allergic to certain pollens and to cat fleas.

Allergies are a nightmare and one of my dogs is allergic to so much. He cannot tolerate dried food and is allergic to storage mites, he is allergic to house dust mite, air freshners, most food stuffs including fish and chicken, the only food he can tolerate at the moment is Nature Diet lamb flavour.
Its taken a long time and some allergy tests to get to the bottom of everything.
I would reccomend stop using air freshners or carpet freshners of any description if you use them. Look at the detergent you wash his bedding in and don't use softner.
Put him on a basic bland diet for a few weeks and see if that helps, If it doesn't change the meat of the bland diet to another type of meat and try that.
Steam clean your house reguarly to eliminate dust mites as far as possible and perhaps get some allergy tests run at the vets instead of the skin scrapings.
Good luck let us know how you get on and if I can be of anymore help just shout.

just a little update. have spoken to another vet and he has looked through oscars files and the first thing he suggested was an allergy test rather than the scrape.

sooo i will wait and see, he is booked in tomo so will update

Simon

well i took oscar to the vet on monday, he took some blood and did a scrape - which came back clean.

Thursday he phoned with the results of the blood test and confirmed he has indoor allergies, he has now asked for the lab to do more specific tests and will phone tuesday with the answer.

So hopefully we are getting somewhere

Simon

Hypoallergenic food is simply food that most dogs are not allergic too. It is usually chicken and rice. I have a friend with a dog who is allergic to chicken...and to rice! So the only way to tell if it`s a food allergy (apart from having tests done) is to feed the dog only one thing at a time - say chicken. If after a couple or 3 days he is still itching, change it to lamb or beef and continue till you have some improvement. Then you can look at adding rice or pasta or potato etc.
Dogs can also be allergic to chemicals in carpet cleaners, detergents etc., so check out what you`ve washed his bedding in etc.