Super itchy and biting paws... What could it be?

[Nikitta34]

Hi Everyone,
I already have an appointment for Meg to see the vet on Friday, but I am hoping to gain some knowledge in the meantime so I can be an informed Mommy on Friday.

Meg has really, really itchy skin. She itches herself all the time, and she bites her paws and legs a lot, too. She hasn't cut or hurt herself with the scratching, but I know she must be very uncomfortable. Her skin (under all that hair) is dry and white-flaky looking. It looks most flaky right after a bath (she gets dried completely) or right after I brush her.

My groomer told me in very broken English (I live in Korea) that I keep her skin too wet and that she will develop a fungus if I keep it up, but she gets a bath every 1.5 weeks and is dried completely, and she doesn't get wet aside from that (except for her chin which always gets wet in her water bowl).

Any ideas what it could be? I have a feeling she has an allergy to something. I don't think it's fungal because there is no hair loss, no sores, and no specifically itchy area. If it is an allergy, how would the vet go about diagnosing it? And what other options are there besides a steroid injection or cortisone injection? I would like to deal with an allergy in a homeopathic way.

If it is fungal, should I have the vet do something besides a skin scraping to diagnose?

BTW, Meg is almost 6 mo old and ~2.5 lbs. She eats a combo of Newman's Own Canned (Chicken and Turkey formula) and Honest Kitchen "Embark" and gets occasional pieces of cooked chicken/beef, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.

[Mardelin]

Originally Posted by Nikitta34

Hi Everyone,
I already have an appointment for Meg to see the vet on Friday, but I am hoping to gain some knowledge in the meantime so I can be an informed Mommy on Friday.

Meg has really, really itchy skin. She itches herself all the time, and she bites her paws and legs a lot, too. She hasn't cut or hurt herself with the scratching, but I know she must be very uncomfortable. Her skin (under all that hair) is dry and white-flaky looking. It looks most flaky right after a bath (she gets dried completely) or right after I brush her.

My groomer told me in very broken English (I live in Korea) that I keep her skin too wet and that she will develop a fungus if I keep it up, but she gets a bath every 1.5 weeks and is dried completely, and she doesn't get wet aside from that (except for her chin which always gets wet in her water bowl).

Any ideas what it could be? I have a feeling she has an allergy to something. I don't think it's fungal because there is no hair loss, no sores, and no specifically itchy area. If it is an allergy, how would the vet go about diagnosing it? And what other options are there besides a steroid injection or cortisone injection? I would like to deal with an allergy in a homeopathic way.

If it is fungal, should I have the vet do something besides a skin scraping to diagnose?

BTW, Meg is almost 6 mo old and ~2.5 lbs. She eats a combo of Newman's Own Canned (Chicken and Turkey formula) and Honest Kitchen "Embark" and gets occasional pieces of cooked chicken/beef, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.

She may have an allergy to her food. Change her food, that may work. I know one of my girls was continually scratching...changed her food and it did the trick. Some yorkies are allergic to Chicken. If changing the food doesn't work. Could also be the shampoo you're using. But, if none of those things work, I'd definately have the vet look at her...test for allergy, find out what it is.

[Mom to Hot Rod]

Hot Rod started licking his paws when I tried Merrick dry foods. Once is stopped so did he.

[emilyann]

You could try all of the above and they may work for you. However, you may just be like me and a handful of others and simply be... SOL. Allergies are a pain, Lilly deals with them everyday. It's rather disturbing, annoying and downright sad.

[Nikitta34]

Originally Posted by emilyann

You could try all of the above and they may work for you. However, you may just be like me and a handful of others and simply be... SOL. Allergies are a pain, Lilly deals with them everyday. It's rather disturbing, annoying and downright sad.

Oh, I sure hope not. Meg is a playful, fun-loving little thing, and I don't know how much the itching really bothers her. I can't imagine it feels good though!!!!! Hopefully the vet will have some good ideas and not just want to drug her up.

[Wylie's Mom]

Does it come and go - is there any pattern? What it the pollen in your area at present? How long has it been going on? Does she have an odor at all or discharge from ears/eyes?

It could food, yeast, environment, seasonal, fleas, mites (though doubt it if she is itching all over). If it is simply atopy, then you may want to supp. w/ fatty acids. Allergies can be very frustrating. I'm also going to try Moducare w/ Marcel as soon as it arrives - this is supposed to stop the histamine release from occuring (his allergy is pollen).

[Nikitta34]

Wylie's Mom,
There doesn't appear to be a pattern, except that her skin looks worst right after she gets back from the groomer, and she flakes when I brush her in the days following the groomer visit. Then her skin starts to look more normal, then I'll brush her and she's a little flaky again. The groomer uses a perfumed shampoo which I have asked them not to use. She didn't smell as bad this time, but I think next time I might bring my own shampoo for her to use. I could also bathe her here, but I can't clip her nails.

Meg is inside for most of the day, but we do go on at least one walk each day. Yellow Dust (pollution that comes in on the winds from China) is definitely a concern, and when it's bad, I don't take her out. I took her out one day, not knowing how bad the Yellow Dust was, and she threw up that night. The same thing happened to my friend's small dog.

As for pollen, I can't find a pollen count anywhere, but it is cherry blossom season, so things are growing and pollen must be floating around in the air.

She does have runny eyes lately (the past 2-3 weeks, since traveling back to the US). There is no odor or discharge from her ears, but she does get her ears cleaned regularly (1/week) and I usually get some yellow gunk out.

I did start giving Meg some Nordic Natural fish oil. I just started a couple days ago, so I'm not sure if it's making a difference yet. Is that enough fatty acid? Or should I supplement with something else?

She is already on a mostly grain free diet. The only grain she gets is some organic brown rice (in the Newman's Own). The Honest Kitchen "Embark" is grain and gluten-free. I do sometimes give her table scraps with gluten/grain though.

I am *REALLY* hoping that she is not allergic to chicken. She is crazy about chicken. I'd like to eventually start home-cooking for her, and I don't know how I will do that without chicken.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

[Nikitta34]

Wylie's Mom,
I love your blog! Those muffins look so delicious. I have been uninspired about blogging lately, too... I need to get back in the game!

[emilyann]

Originally Posted by Nikitta34

Wylie's Mom,
There doesn't appear to be a pattern, except that her skin looks worst right after she gets back from the groomer, and she flakes when I brush her in the days following the groomer visit. Then her skin starts to look more normal, then I'll brush her and she's a little flaky again. The groomer uses a perfumed shampoo which I have asked them not to use. She didn't smell as bad this time, but I think next time I might bring my own shampoo for her to use. I could also bathe her here, but I can't clip her nails.

Meg is inside for most of the day, but we do go on at least one walk each day. Yellow Dust (pollution that comes in on the winds from China) is definitely a concern, and when it's bad, I don't take her out. I took her out one day, not knowing how bad the Yellow Dust was, and she threw up that night. The same thing happened to my friend's small dog.

As for pollen, I can't find a pollen count anywhere, but it is cherry blossom season, so things are growing and pollen must be floating around in the air.

She does have runny eyes lately (the past 2-3 weeks, since traveling back to the US). There is no odor or discharge from her ears, but she does get her ears cleaned regularly (1/week) and I usually get some yellow gunk out.

I did start giving Meg some Nordic Natural fish oil. I just started a couple days ago, so I'm not sure if it's making a difference yet. Is that enough fatty acid? Or should I supplement with something else?

She is already on a mostly grain free diet. The only grain she gets is some organic brown rice (in the Newman's Own). The Honest Kitchen "Embark" is grain and gluten-free. I do sometimes give her table scraps with gluten/grain though.

I am *REALLY* hoping that she is not allergic to chicken. She is crazy about chicken. I'd like to eventually start home-cooking for her, and I don't know how I will do that without chicken.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

Lilly's the same way about the groomer. She gets soo dry when I take her. I've even taken my shampoo & rinse before and she was still dry and strong smelling. I don't know if they blow dry her too long or what. Sometimes, I just stick her in the tub, wet her and just put her conditioner rinse on then rinse it and blow dry her. It usually helps somewhat.

Also, clipping their nails really isn't that hard. I used to be soo scared but I finally just sat on the kitchen floor one day and clipped them. I also used treats and treats make things 10x easier around here.

[GoodLifeLilly]

I went through this very same thing with two Yorkies, one 7 months at the time and the other 4-years-old. The likelihood of allergies developing in two dogs with two different diets was not probable, but I took the pup to the vet and had him checked for mange. His test was negative. The biting was isolated to the mornings when the grass was wet. The vet determined it was something in the grass, i.e. no-see-ums, mites, etc. They still do it very infrequently, but again only when the grass is wet. I would have the skin scraping done anyway.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Nikitta34

Wylie's Mom,
I love your blog! Those muffins look so delicious. I have been uninspired about blogging lately, too... I need to get back in the game!

Lol, thanks so much - those muffins rock, I tell ya! And they're addicting.

Gosh, it sounds like a nice diet she's on, good food. With cherry blossom season, that could be irritating her for sure. If it's just some general atopy, that can be frustrating. Fish oil is great, but w/ atopy it's also good to give the fatty acids LA and GLA -- this is why I like Ark Naturals Royal Coat - is has all of that + vit a/d/e; you have to give vit E when giving fish oils.

Children's benadryl works for some, but doesn't really touch Marcel. I am starting him on Moducare tonight - so I'll keep the forum posted on how that works.

You could try a novel protein like duck, just to rule out whether it's chicken - it can take a good 6-8 weeks for symptoms to dissipate if it is indeed the chicken. Fish oil takes a while to work as well.

Argh, I know how frustrating this is for you. I will say the Ark Oil elminated ALL the dryness/flakiness on both my boys - now I just still have Marcel's paw biting when the pollen is high - and that's where I'm hopeful about the Moducare. We'll see!

[Nikitta34]

Originally Posted by emilyann

Also, clipping their nails really isn't that hard. I used to be soo scared but I finally just sat on the kitchen floor one day and clipped them. I also used treats and treats make things 10x easier around here.

Both my husband and I have tried to clip Meg's nails, and we are just too scared that we will hurt her. She always yelps when we do it, and I'm sure she is feeding off of our nerves. It's so cheap to get it done her in Korea (about $7 for a full bath, trimming, nail clipping, ear cleaning, etc) that I'd rather not bother with it. But it might be a different story when we are back in the US.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Gosh, it sounds like a nice diet she's on, good food. With cherry blossom season, that could be irritating her for sure. If it's just some general atopy, that can be frustrating. Fish oil is great, but w/ atopy it's also good to give the fatty acids LA and GLA -- this is why I like Ark Naturals Royal Coat - is has all of that + vit a/d/e; you have to give vit E when giving fish oils.

I will try the fatty acids then. Meg doesn't eat a whole lot since she is so small, so I want everything that gets in her tummy to be REAL food, not just a bunch of filler, carbs, and chemicals.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

You could try a novel protein like duck, just to rule out whether it's chicken - it can take a good 6-8 weeks for symptoms to dissipate if it is indeed the chicken. Fish oil takes a while to work as well.

I don't know that I can find duck in Korea. I try to only buy meats from the on-base grocery simply because I have seen some of very, very unsanitary practices involving meat at the local shops and markets. Of course, I can't even buy organic, free-range meat (except bison) at the on-base grocery store, so Meg has to eat regular chicken. (I wonder if she would still have problems if she could eat a higher quality chicken?)

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Argh, I know how frustrating this is for you. I will say the Ark Oil elminated ALL the dryness/flakiness on both my boys - now I just still have Marcel's paw biting when the pollen is high - and that's where I'm hopeful about the Moducare. We'll see!

I will definitely try to Ark Oil/fatty acids. So.... Moducare. I just googled it since I have never heard of it. Is there a pet version or do you give your dogs the people version? How much do you give? How often? And how did you hear about Moducare?

[Nikitta34]

Again on the fish oil/fatty acid, what is teh big difference between fish body oil and cod liver oil? Are both safe to give Meg? And Wylie's Mom, when you mentioned adding vitamin E oil, how much is too much? And can I give Meg an immune booster capsule (powder inside) that I already have (meant for humans)? And I heard that I should never give Meg vitamin C. Anyone know anything more about this? I really want to get Meg's immune system to be as strong as possible so she can fight off the allergies (if she has them and I am unable to eliminate them completely).

[Nikitta34]

Well, the vet says it's just dry skin and that I should give Meg some fish oil! Phew! HOpefully that will make a difference.

[Wylie's Mom]

Argh....Nicole this is SO weird - yesterday, I typed out a loooong response to you and I don't see it here!!?? I wonder if I never hit submit. Darn it.

Well, I don't quite have the time today -- but wanted to say:

*cod oil can be harder on dogs, and you must be much more careful on dosage
*give 10 IU of vit E (Ark Naturals already has vit E, btw)
*not sure about the "immune booster", what is that?
*here is the thread I started about Moducare: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...gies-more.html

Sorry I can't write more today, but that kinda covers it ! Good news w/ the vet!