Jaw scratching - YorkieTalk.com Forums

PrincessDiana · 12-27-2008, 08:50 AM

I've noticed lately that Franklin has been itchy. He scratches his ear and jaw, mainly. No bad smells or gunk coming from the ears. I've looked for fleas but I don't think it's fleas because Maggie isn't scratching and Franklin isn't really scratching his body. I thought at first it might be dry skin so we put a humidifier in the living room, but it's only been a day or two so I haven't seen any real results.

I'm starting to lean towards an allergy. I took him off chicken because I thought a food allergy was the issue. Now we're on fish and he's still scratching. He also has a lot of eye gunk. Maybe it's something environmental?

Any suggestion as to what to do?

ETA: I forgot to mention the foods we've been on. We started off on California Natural Puppy (Lamb and Rice). He started to get bored with the food so we switched to Solid Gold Hundchen Floceken (Lamb). Their poops were awful with that so we switched to Wellness CORE. First they were on the Original formula but I started to notice itching so I thought the chicken was bothering him. Now we're on Wellness CORE Ocean. I'm planning on switching to Nature's Variety Instinct (Turkey/Duck or Rabbit) after this bag is done.

KellyV · 12-27-2008, 11:15 AM

Does he always itch the same spot on his jaw?
Could be a bad tooth or something that is bothering him.

Patti · 12-27-2008, 11:25 AM

My Cali has bad allergies and she always scratched her face area and her neck, rarely anywhere else. I did all the allergy, food elimination diets and tried several meds and nothing helped. I now have her on a medicine called Atopica which has helped a lot. I alos have them on California Natural Lamb and Rice and their wellness bisquits. I hope you can figure out what is causing it. We never could.

PrincessDiana · 12-27-2008, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KellyV

Does he always itch the same spot on his jaw?
Could be a bad tooth or something that is bothering him.

Ya know, I haven't noticed. I will have to pay attention and see if it's the same spot.

Ellie May · 12-27-2008, 12:54 PM

That does sound a bit like an allergy.
It could be food or environmental but my first thought is food because of the itchy ears and jaws. The only way to figure it out is to do an elimination diet and wait at least 60 or possibly 90 days when switching ingredients because it takes that long for symptoms to go away in some dogs.

If the Cal. Nat. wasn't bothering him, you may want to do that for 60 days. If his symptoms stop, then add human foods in one by one and find the trigger....

Bella Mia · 12-27-2008, 06:17 PM

Bella started scratching her jaw like that about 5 months. We inspected her mouth and she had new canines, but hadn't lost the old yet. We contacted the vet and he agreed that was her problem and suggested that we move up her spay so her teeth would quit bothering her. So we scheduled and it was about a 2 week wait. Since then, (that was about 5 or 6 months ago) she gets into scratching moods and she'll go after her jaw and sometimes her ears. After talking to a few trainers, we finally decided it was a tick of sorts. She just got used to scratching there and periodically needs to scratch again (nervous action kind of stuff). She doesn't seem to have a problem for very long and she doesn't seem to be bothered very often.

12-27-2008, 08:50 AM	#1
PrincessDiana I ♥ Franklin & Maggie Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 2,068	Jaw scratching I've noticed lately that Franklin has been itchy. He scratches his ear and jaw, mainly. No bad smells or gunk coming from the ears. I've looked for fleas but I don't think it's fleas because Maggie isn't scratching and Franklin isn't really scratching his body. I thought at first it might be dry skin so we put a humidifier in the living room, but it's only been a day or two so I haven't seen any real results. I'm starting to lean towards an allergy. I took him off chicken because I thought a food allergy was the issue. Now we're on fish and he's still scratching. He also has a lot of eye gunk. Maybe it's something environmental? Any suggestion as to what to do? ETA: I forgot to mention the foods we've been on. We started off on California Natural Puppy (Lamb and Rice). He started to get bored with the food so we switched to Solid Gold Hundchen Floceken (Lamb). Their poops were awful with that so we switched to Wellness CORE. First they were on the Original formula but I started to notice itching so I thought the chicken was bothering him. Now we're on Wellness CORE Ocean. I'm planning on switching to Nature's Variety Instinct (Turkey/Duck or Rabbit) after this bag is done. __________________ Diana , Mommy to Franklin, Maggie, Oliver, and Millie - RIP Piper Last edited by PrincessDiana; 12-27-2008 at 08:54 AM.

12-27-2008, 11:25 AM	#3
Patti Donating YT 30K Club Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 35,509 Blog Entries: 6	My Cali has bad allergies and she always scratched her face area and her neck, rarely anywhere else. I did all the allergy, food elimination diets and tried several meds and nothing helped. I now have her on a medicine called Atopica which has helped a lot. I alos have them on California Natural Lamb and Rice and their wellness bisquits. I hope you can figure out what is causing it. We never could. __________________ Cali Pixie Roxie : RIP Nikki; RIP Maya;RIP my sweet Dixie girl 1/17/08 http://callipuppyscastle.bravehost.com/index.html

12-27-2008, 12:54 PM	#5
Ellie May And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI Posts: 17,928	That does sound a bit like an allergy. It could be food or environmental but my first thought is food because of the itchy ears and jaws. The only way to figure it out is to do an elimination diet and wait at least 60 or possibly 90 days when switching ingredients because it takes that long for symptoms to go away in some dogs. If the Cal. Nat. wasn't bothering him, you may want to do that for 60 days. If his symptoms stop, then add human foods in one by one and find the trigger.... __________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶

12-27-2008, 11:15 AM	#2
KellyV YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 776	Does he always itch the same spot on his jaw? Could be a bad tooth or something that is bothering him.

12-27-2008, 06:17 PM	#6
Bella Mia Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Denton, TX Posts: 21	Bella started scratching her jaw like that about 5 months. We inspected her mouth and she had new canines, but hadn't lost the old yet. We contacted the vet and he agreed that was her problem and suggested that we move up her spay so her teeth would quit bothering her. So we scheduled and it was about a 2 week wait. Since then, (that was about 5 or 6 months ago) she gets into scratching moods and she'll go after her jaw and sometimes her ears. After talking to a few trainers, we finally decided it was a tick of sorts. She just got used to scratching there and periodically needs to scratch again (nervous action kind of stuff). She doesn't seem to have a problem for very long and she doesn't seem to be bothered very often.