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08-16-2016, 12:18 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Michigan
Posts: 38
| Help with Itching. Hi everyone, I apologize in advance if this topic has been discussed before. I haven't had a chance to do a proper forum search yet, but I will. I have a 7.5month old Yorkie named Rocky, who has been itching here and there ever since we got him. His scratching never really bothered us before but a few days ago we noticed that his scratching caused his muzzle area to loose some hair and he developed a scrape there. So we took him to the vet, he prescribed an antibiotic Amoxicillin, because the night before he was scratching that area and it looked swollen and maybe had a yellow puss like discharge around one of his whiskers. He’s been scratching that area before for a few months and usually cries every time he scratches there but it never had a scrape before. We always thought it was his baby canine teeth that are still there, along with his adult canine teeth that are causing his gums to itch and causing him to scratch, since we plan on removing those teeth with his neutering at the end of the month we didn’t think anything of it. Anyway, the Vet thought to treat foliculitis with amoxicillin which is fine, he also recommended we try children’s Benadryl. The dose for Rocky was 3ml of it twice a day. I am not a huge fan of giving him Benadryl in the first place because of the side effects, mainly being drowsy and feeling drunk. But Rocky refuses to drink this stuff and forcing such a large volume down his throat makes him gag and I feel like I am water boarding my dog. So I refuse to do it. We are now trying natural things. We saw on Dr. Karen Becker’s facebook page about apple cider vinegar mixture with green tea spray to reduce itching. And we’re trying that right now, along with omega3 fatty acids, but still Rocky runs away from me every time I get the spray bottle and I feel like I am torturing him doing this 4 times a day. Personally, I don’t think his itching is that bad. He itches maybe once an hour or two. Mostly behind his ears, sometimes he bites his front paws, sometimes he bites his back legs. This winter we were concerned with his itching and our groomer and the vet said Rocky had dry skin, even though he never had dandruff/flakes so we were doing omega3 supplements on top of his regular food Orijen Puppy which is high in Omega3’s already. I don’t think that really helped and he didn’t really want to eat it so we kind of stopped doing it and ignored his itching. Now he continues to itch, the groomer and vet aren’t saying that he has dry skin anymore. A month ago Rocky had dirty ears and was scratching his ears so the vet did an ear swab and saw yeast so she prescribed antibiotic ear drops which we did. This was probably the wrong treatment for yeast infection but I wasn’t going to argue with the Vet about that. He’s been checked for fleas, and ear mites and both are negative. We use Revolution Flea Medicine. I guess I need to be cleaning his ears more but they don’t seem super dirty to me. Anyway, my questions are 1) is scratching once an hour or two, too much scratching? His skin is not red, irritated, he doesn’t have patches of hair missing. 2) Has anyone tried these holistic methods and have they worked? Anything else I can try? 3) Should I be force feeding my dog Benadryl because in the long run it can make him feel better? If so, any tips or tricks about giving it to him? It’s cherry flavored. I personally wouldn’t think anything of his itching if it wasn’t for that scrape on his face. I know allergies are big thing but, he’s not constantly itching like I think some dogs do with allergies. Thank you in advance for your help. Rocky’s Dad. |
Welcome Guest! | |
08-17-2016, 06:45 AM | #2 |
Furbutts = LOVE Donating Member Moderator | Hi and welcome to YT . I have a lot of experience w/ itching dogs and allergy dogs, so I understand the frustration. Yup, your vet should never, ever have given an antibiotic to treat yeast - good lordie! That just causes more yeast overgrowth in the small intestine, for petes sake! How incredibly odd. I guess my first advice would be to find another vet asap, one who understands allergies and what antibiotics are for (um, bacteria). To answer your specific questions: 1) Yes, he is itching too much...esp when he chews/licks his paws and he has broken skin at the muzzle before; this affects his quality of life so I wouldn't leave it be, not at all. 2) I have pretty much tried everything and nope, nothing holistic worked at all. 3) Benadryl rarely (almost never) helps allergy dogs but if yours is one who it does help, then yes, give it. I'd give him the pill form w/ some peanut butter or cheese. The issue w/ Benadryl is that you must give it every 4-6 hours bc it has such a short half-life. 24-hr allergy meds for dogs include Zyrtec or Claritin...those too very rarely work. If this is systemic yeast, then you treat w/ Diflucan, Nystatin, or similar x at least 2-6 weeks. If this is allergies, then you have to figure out if it's year round or seasonal. If year round, then Atopica or Apoquel are just excellent (miracles for most allergy dogs!). If seasonal, you may be able to treat w/ Temaril-P, steroid, etc. My very best advice for what I think is a case involving multiple things going on here, possibly w/ both yeast and allergies...? Forget going to your generalist vet over and over and over, spending all that money -- and instead see a Vet Derm and get squared away immediately by a skilled, specialized clinician. Sure WISH I would've done that from the get go! More about allergies here (and see Vet Derm locator at bottom): http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...tart-here.html
__________________ ~ A friend told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn. ~ °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨° Ann | Pfeiffer | Marcel Verdel Purcell | Wylie | Artie °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨° |
08-17-2016, 09:04 AM | #3 | |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Michigan
Posts: 38
| Thank you for your reply and suggestions. As for the itching, he doesn't itch the same spot too often. He only had the broken skin on his muzzle once and since that time he's not itching that area and it's healing nicely. He doesn't constantly lick or bit his paws and its not the bottoms of his paws, but more of the ankles or even higher up. He might do the paw licking once every other day or not even once everyother day. I've been home on vacation with him for the last week and observed him very closesly and even taken notes as to what part of the body he scratches and how frequently. He will easily go for 5 or 6 hours with out scratching, and when he does its a quick few second scratch and then back to what he was doing. Heck even I scratch my back, arms, head, and legs a few times during the day and I don't run to a dermetaologist or am worried about yeast over growth or allergies, in fact I probably scratch just as much as he does. He has a beautful shiny coat. Does that still sound like too much? If anything he might need more grooming. He hates baths and so we bathe him only when needed i.e. if he rolles around some dead bird or poop. He hates to be brushed so we don't brush him and we don't clean his ears either which could be part of his problem. I feel like if we brushed him daily or at least a few times a week and cleaned his ears, we would get a bunch of that dead skin and hair off him and that would cause him to scratch less. Fleas are not an issue since he doesn't interact with other dogs and we only go out once or twice a day and we use flea medicine regularly. He doesn't seem bothered by his itching and is over all a happy healthy dog. Quote:
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