I noticed the other day that someone was looking for advice on what to do about an itchy dog. Remember, I’m not Vet so take my suggestions with a grain of salt, and do what’s right for your dog!
Lets look at a few possible reasons for the itch:
Fleas
Dry Skin
Wrong Shampoo
Allergies
Fleas!
Fleas are the number one reason you catch a dog itching itself. Yet oddly enough not always the most apparent reason. Sometimes the little buggers can be quite resourceful in there hiding! There are a few tell tell signs of fleas. Flea Dirt! That’s right! You know those little dirty clumps under your dogs coat that looks like it went for a romp in the dirt? That can be flea dirt! You can feel it sometimes when you pet your dog if you work your fingers into the coat.
They like to hide until there is a small army of them! You can often find fleas in the following areas
1. Between the back legs and the belly
2. Around the private parts
3. Under the armpits
4. Around the neck.
Those are a few quick places to look. We had not seen any fleas this year and only whiteness mild scratching from our dog. I didn’t look too close at first. After I had bathed her I was looking at her underbelly and I could see a lot of little red bite marks on her. Poor Puppy!
To get rid of fleas takes hard work and dedication from YOU! You have to be committed to doing it. I may make a blog entry more in depth at a later time but for now here is a quick run down of things to do.
Bathing your dog in flea shampoo is not enough. The fleas are in your carpet, in your couch pillows and just about every other place in your house you would never imagine! You need to treat a flea 10 times more aggressive then you would lice! Bombing, Rug Powders, Cleaning Bedding, taking care of the yard. If there is a flea on your dog that means they are all over your house (if you have seen them or not!).
Read the labels on all the flea disposal products you buy, make sure they are SAFE to use around animals. Make an appointment to have your animals OUT of the house for the bombing process (Preferably having their fleas removed at that time).
This needs to all happen at the same time. You can’t go Flea shampoo your dog, then bring it home and bomb 5 days later. Too late, there back on your dog and when you bring the dog back in the house after the bombing guess what? There back in your house!
Persistence and Dedication, that’s the only way to beat fleas at there game! If you have a question about the flea disposal products contact your Vet.
Now, onto the easy part! Getting the Fleas of the dog.
Of course you can bring your dog to me and I will apply an all natural flea removal shampoo on your dog which will take care of your dogs CURRENT flea infestation. If you haven’t done anything on the home front its not going to do any good for you!
Once you have taken care of your house, brought your dog to me to remove his/her current fleas PAY THE MONEY to get some frontline or advantage topical flea treatment and put it on your dog to help take care of any ONGOING flea issues you may have. READ THE BOX! Don’t put it on your dog then go and bath your dog the very next day! There is a waiting period to allow the product to work into the coat, skin and take care of the fleas!
We got fleas so bad one year that it took me at least 2 months to get the issue under control and maybe 3 months before we were flea free. It took a lot of work but we made it through the summer! Fleas are no fun!
Helpful Link: Flea Control & Prevention in Dogs
Dry Skin!
A healthy diet is essential for maintaining healthy skin and coat. So even though Rover LOVES YOUR POT ROST its time to consider moving to a stricter regiment.
When I was a child we had a dog who was allergic to her own saliva. When she would chew on her skin it started to cause hairloss, hot spots and extremely bad and dry skin. She was in A LOT of pain! That’s when we learned the benefits of premium dog food over table scraps.
I know that stuff cost so much more per bag right? Well something you may not know is that premium dog foods are mad with better quality ingredients and often require less per serving then non premium food, making the bag last longer. There are way more pros to Premium Dog food but let me just say, TRY IT if you think dry skin is your issue.
Also, bring your dog to me for a bath with some conditioning shampoos and remoisturizers to help replace essential oils in your dogs skin, sooth his/her current condition and help ease some of the discomfort he or she is currently going through.
Were going to go from Dry Skin right into:
Wrong Shampoo!
Do not use Human shampoo on your dog. Were as it may not make Fluffly keel over by morning, it may make her itch like mad! Dog shampoos are formulated for dogs. Your Fructis is formulated for your hair! Not all dogs are the same, your dog may do fine with your wife’s Herbal Essences BUT I’m telling you, there is a better alternative out there and MANY of them smell just as good as your wife’s shampoo!
Allergies
So you have Pumpkin on a strict regiment of healthy premium dog food, You take him in to be groomed every six weeks and his coat is as silky smooth as a baby’s bottom. You know there is no way in the world fleas are at play here! What is it?
Maybe your dog has allergies! Yes, just like humans dog can get them as well! If you suspect your dog has allergies I highly recommend discussing this possibility with your Vet.
Discuss all possible allergy relief possibilities. Is this something that can be solved with an over the counter solution? What about natural remedies for this? And last but not least does your dog need some type of prescription allergy medication?
Don’t be intimidated by the possibility of your dog having allergies. It may be something that is extremely easy to keep a handle on. But the most important thing of all is that you must be able to communicate with your Vet and find the right solution for your dog!
I tried not to do too many product endorsements here. I tried to offer assistance without offering “ADVICE”. Remember, I am NOT A VET I’m just a dog lover trying to help YOU (A fellow dog lover) find solutions to your dogs itchy skin!
Good luck! I hope you find something that works well for you! And if you do, please post here and let others know!
Helpful Link: Causes of Scratching & Licking
Making her début here on Pup Culture is my little monster Lucy!!!!! She looks sugar sweet doesn’t she? =) ahaha shes got you fooled! She’s full of energy and just an amazing little girl! She’s so dainty for a Golden but she hangs tuff with all the boy dogs!
it comes to putting bows in dogs hair, I made her bows and a co-worker of mine put them in for me. She’s sporting Green and White, my old high school colors (go Helix Highlanders!). She wanted to make sure you got a good look at them so here is a picture of her little bows too!
No Puppies 4me! *CRY*
