# Crazy Itchy?



## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

My dog has been crazy itchy for the last week or so.

1. No "bugs." No fleas, no flea dirt, no ticks, no "walking dandruff," no lice... nothing.
2. Itchy spots began on his flanks, both sides, and are extending towards his back, on his chin and elbows.
3. He was getting little pink dots - but they seemed to be irritation from nibbling at himself and have gone away now.
4. He is starting to get more and more dandruff. 

He got frontline yesterday.

Any ideas??


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Do dogs get issues with being in contact with plastic? I was crating the dog in a plastic kennel for a while. He hadn't been crated for ages before then. 

??


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## Sheena Tarrant (Sep 21, 2008)

Anne Vaini said:


> 2. Itchy spots began on his flanks, both sides, and are extending towards his back, on his chin and elbows.


Anne, there are a ton of things this could be, but what are "itchy spots"? Do you just mean areas the dog is chewing, or is there hair loss, or scaling in these regions, or skin thickening? The lack of evident 'bugs' doesn't mean that bugs may not be there - you won't see mites with a naked eye just looking at the dog. 

How old is the dog? Diet changes? Could be a food allergy, could be mites, could be a fungal infection...


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

Could just be that time of year. My skin is as dry as the Sahara right now too and my damn back itches right where I can't reach. Add some salmon oil and Vit E to his diet.


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## Kyle Sprag (Jan 10, 2008)

I have had some similar problems, Vitimin D, Try Cod Liver Oil caps, not just Fish but .COD liver


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Do dogs get issues with being in contact with plastic? I was crating the dog in a plastic kennel for a while. He hadn't been crated for ages before then.
> 
> ??


Contact allergies are very rare in dogs. Inhalant/environmental allergies and external parasites are not at all rare, unfortunately.

As you probably know, for allergies, fleas are number one, atopy is number two, and food is a distant number three.

Flanks, chin, and elbows....

Is he rubbing his face on carpets, furniture?

No foot or belly itching? No chewing on paws? How do the insides of the ears look? Inflammation or debris?

No odor in folds, armpits, etc.? No waxy or greasy feel to skin?

Is this brand-new, sudden, just a week ago? Did anything besides the plastic crate change? 

The pattern of itch isn't strictly typical of food allergy (and food allergy is the least likely of the Big Three), but you know that food allergies develop on repeated exposure, right? That is, a new food does not have to be in place at all for a food allergy to start.




Sheena Tarrant said:


> .... The lack of evident 'bugs' doesn't mean that bugs may not be there - you won't see mites with a naked eye just looking at the dog.




eta
Is he having sleep disturbed? Drawing blood with scratching?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Kyle Sprag said:


> I have had some similar problems, Vitimin D, Try Cod Liver Oil caps, not just Fish but .COD liver



Fish liver oil in a therapeutic dose is very high (too high, depending on the dose and the rest of the diet) in oil-soluble (accumulating) vitamins. 

Fish body oil is not.


Good catch that fish oil is a great anti-inflammation agent, and I hope Anne is giving it. I suspect that she is, with the diet research she has done.


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