My Yorkie is scratching his behind as well as his body so much!
 

Hello Yorkie lovers, I desperately need your help. My yorkie has been itching for the past couple of years now but its getting worse with many cuts on his body. We have given him a food allergies test so I got him dry as well as canned food that he is not allergic to. The brand is Natural which gets great reviews and he is up to date with flea medications. I dont know if it is dry skin or what anymore. The Drs just seem to want to milk money out of us for everything and cannot get to a conclusion. Please help me out if anybody has had this problem and what I can do to help my best buddy from constant discomfort. Thank you.

I was going to suggest seasonal allergies, but since this has been ongoing for years that can't be it.

I had a very itchy baby, and I couldn't figure it out for years. Always had to keep t shirts on her bc she would scratch herself raw. Then we moved, and our new house has a soft water tank. She doesn't itch anymore. For her, the trigger was the hard water. Do you have hard or soft water at your house?

hmm im not sure to be honest. i have a water filter for his bowl and always keep it clean but i dont know how to check if my water is hard or soft :(

It's the water that you use for his bath, not just the water he drinks. It depends on your area. Here in NV our regular water is very mineral-y. If we didn't have a soft water tank our shower and all our dishes would have a lot of white spots on them. Does your shower leave white spots on your shower? If yes, you have hard water. The only way to get rid of that is with a whole house water softener. They aren't cheap though.

i dont see white spots in my shower :/ idk what else could be the problem its so stressful to see him like that because drs cant even come to a definite conclusion

There really isn't anything you can do if you've already done testing and meds and still nothing. Just keep shirts on him then to protect his skin a little more. That's what I did for years. Fortunately I found out the trigger.

Do you have any suggestion for what shirts? Because i have t shirts but they dont cover too far down and he also gets depressed when he wears them lol

I have a suggestion that may help given a little time. Try mixing 1 tsp of coconut oil into her food. My dogs have always liked the taste so they eat it right up. I also give them a tablespoon of plain or vanilla yogurt in the morning , on top of the dry food. They lick it right up, especially if its vanilla, plus thats excellent for their digestive tracts. I can only speak from personal experience. The dogs I have now don't suffer from this problem, but I had a Shih Tzu, Maggie who was tested for allergies, etc..all the same things you said. We live in NJ and the water is hard everywhere, most homes have water softeners, so that was also ruled out as the culprit. I think Maggie was just prone to dry skin. The coconut oil worked wonders. We use 100% organic. It lasts a long time, cause it doesn't take much. I'd say you will notice a difference in a few weeks, but the improvement will start faster then that. Worth a try:) Good luck.

MissSunni i am going to try exactly what you said. thank you, i hope it makes my baby better. i hate seeing him like that, i hope this helps him out. any brand of coconut oil you recommend?

Don't feed too much in the beginning. Only give about a teaspoon to start. Same with yogurt. Too much and it can give them soft poop or make them throw up. Toto got into my little 2 oz jar and ate all of it. He ended up throwing up and had soft poop for a few days.

Current Food
 

What are the ingredients of his current food? Nutro Natural, Natural Balance, Natural Organics, too many with Natural in the name. Corn, wheat, and soy are known allergen producers, but it can be the protein source like chicken and you have to switch to turkey or lamb.

Adding Salmon oil or another omega fatty acid supplement helps with skin issues.

I would also make sure he is worm free as that can cause skin problems.

You could also talk to your vet about giving him Benadryl to see if that helps. Here is a link discussing its use in dogs.

Dog Allergies Treatment with Benadryl

Capt_Noonie Do you mix the coconut oil with food? Or just place over it? And do you give the yogurt at same time with coconut oil?

Lacy's mom i an attaching the 2 foods I am giving him one dry and one canned. These are what dr suggested after food allergies test. I am trying to give him omega soft pills but he doesnt want to take them i dont know how to make him take it easier. I will look into the worm test ive never done it as well as the benadryl.

Here is the canned food i am giving him

What med's has he been on??? My Allie had itching for about a year and half. We tried Benedryl, Zyrtec and then on to low dose Temaril-P. I hated the Temaril=P as it is a Steroid, but it did help some. We did that while in process of waiting for the new drug Apoquel to get back in stock. I have to tell you for Allie this has been a miracle drug. Apoquel is just now starting to get re-stocked at Vet offices. When we first started her on it, it was given as 1/2 a pill 2 x day for two week's as the loading dose. She is now only taking a 1/2 a pill day and it has done wonders for her. No more itching and trying rip her hair out.

TxVicki hes not taking anything. The drs never suggested any meds. I have just changed his food numerous times and hes only used creams for his rashes where he scratched.

I would certainly ask your Vet about the Apoquel, it works wonders for the itching. I can't believe that a med has never been suggested.

Have you had a skin scrapping done? TempP is great stuff and will help with allergies because it is an antihistamine with a very low dose Prednisone. The vet suggested that I also use Malaseb Shampoo

Bathed every 3 days. You lather up and then let it sit on the skin for 5 minutes. I like to wrap her in a warm towel because they get cold from being wet and standing in the sink. We also use Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein food . None of the pet store brands worked for her.

Since that food has limited ingredients and an uncommon source of protein, probably not a food allergy. Also, you didn't mention ear infections or constant paw licking which seem to go hand and hand with food allergies. The food you are feeding is salmon based which is an excellent source of omega fatty acids. I have heard that coconut oil can help with various skin problems and even flea allergies. This article states 1/4 tsp. per 10 pounds of body weight twice daily. I think I would try the other posters recommendation of coconut oil since he is already on a fish based diet. Hopefully, the coconut oil will work long term and you can just try the Benadryl for a short time until the benefits of the coconut oil kick in.

The Health Benefits Of Coconut Oil For Dogs

We tried every store food on the market with LI and none worked for Pebbles. The hydrolyzed protein breaks down the food in such a way that the allergens are not recognized. I need to disagree that Coconut oil is doing to do anything more than possibly offer a more shiny coat. Holistic medicine is not based on science and articles like the one you linked from Dog Naturally need to be read with that in mind.

As I said previously, if the itching has continued to increase a skin scrapping needs to be done to see if the source of the scratching might be from either bacterial or fungal infection. :)

I am definetely going to ask about the Apoquel. He hasnt had any paw licking but he most scratches his behind. Thats where he always attacks. What is a skin scrapping by the way?

The vet scraps the skin with a microscope slide and/or 10 blade to look at under the microscope to see if there are mites, fungus or bacteria. That's how they decide how to treat the skin. Pebbles recently had this done because she began to scratch more and more over time. I thought it might be her food was no longer working on her allergies so I talked to my vet who wanted to see her. After looking at the slide she said that there was a very small amount of fungal infection. Since it wasn't bad she RXed Temaril-P and bathes. She is much better and is not scratching at all any longer. Some people have an aversion to steroids but they are very helpful for immediate relief. I would think that any good vet would do a scrapping first before jumping to Apoquel or other drugs to figure out the root of the issue. :)

Hmmm i have never heard that. No dr has told me about that. That seems like a great idea. About how much is that to get done?

You need to figure out if this is allergies, which can be year round. Read more about allergies here, http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/die...tart-here.html.

Also, the vet needs to do a simple skin scraping of the area where he is breaking skin via itching...it's quick and cheap and will show any bacteria or fungus present.

It's maybe $50 if that? When I took Pebbles my total bill for the visit, scrapping, TemP, 3 month HW and a large RX bag of food was just over $200. She had a full body inspection looking at her skin everywhere.

Ok thats not bad. Does anybody have a coconut oil product to recommend? I would like to get it ASAP.

You can also use the coconut oil topically on the raw parts or his hotspots. Just look for any organic virgin oil. Most major supermarkets carry them now. Even Tj maxx and Homegoods.

Sorry to hear about your itchy sweetie:(
My Bailey went through an itchy period and it was not fun... for him or for us seeing him scratch and bite so much. He bit most of the furr in his hind area. He looked like he was wearing mukluk boots. Funny aside, when I did take him to the vet, they gave him an anti-histamine shot and meds. to take home. In a short while he was not itching and, to date, it has not returned. It has been over a year! Fingers crossed that you find a cure for yours.

Pretty much any basic grocery store now carries a few diff options of coconut oil, so I'd either just try one of those and/or go to Whole Foods or Traders or something. Many people prefer virgin organic cold-pressed etc...

I get organic Coconut Oil, is pretty easy to find now, and organic yogurt. My pets have dry food out all day, in the morning I mix about 1/2 tsp with the yogurt…its clumpy..and put it on the dry food. Both of my dogs gobble it up with no bad side effects. Usually around 3 - 4 I give Sunni 3/4 of a small can of Royal Canin and add in another 1/2 tsp of coconut oil. I take it myself and it is palatable:) its just greasy if its not mixed with something else. Some people are adding coconut oil to their coffee now a days, lol. Truthfully, I had many more problems with Sunni's digestive system until I started regularly adding yogurt. Its not a lot by any means and it does get her to eat first thing in the morning. It works for us, I give the same to my human son, lol. Its great for skin, hair and nails. You can do the same externally, but I think it would be very hard to rinse out the coconut oil..but if you didn't mind a greasy dog, maybe try rubbing a little into her skin on her butt or a place thats not so aggravated..wait a day or so, and if it seems to help, maybe try that.
You would know if you have a water softener because you have to add salt on a regular basis. I know when mines running low, because my own skin starts to get dry.