[RockyDad]

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.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

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