scratching constantly

[msteelsmom]

Please Help!! My poor yorkie (max) is constantly scratching. I noticed yesterday that he looks like he has dandruff. I use a oatmeal shampoo for dogs and a shampoo called hydrosurge recommended by my groomer. We took him to the doctor about 3weeks ago and he got a shot which stopped the itch but now its back. We got a quick fix. His food is beneful. But he eats scrambled eggs every morning. I use olive oil to cook them. He prefers to eat human food but we try to make sure its not seasoned. I need suggestions. i would like to try to make his food but I dont know protein/fat proportions or if that even matters. What about vitimin E oil? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks Lisa
Maximus Steeles mom

I also posted this somewhere else on this site. Im still new at this.Sorry.

[BonBon]

First, welcome to YT!

Second, Beneful is one the absolute WORST foods out there, next to Ol'Roy. Pleae look at some of the threads in the health and diet section and read up about good foods and nutrition. Putting him on a good food will do a lot to keep your baby healthy and may even help his itching.

Third, dogs can develop an allergy to all grains including oatmeal. I know this is supposed to be a skin soothing remedy, but you might stop using this shampoo for a while & see if Max improves.

Finally, has your vet done any allergy testing?

[msteelsmom]

We havent started testing yet. I was hoping I could try changing his food and shampoo first to see if that was the problem. Do you have a suggestion for food. Do you know what I could use to make his dog food?
I washed him last night with Dr. Bronners castel soap and he hasn't scratched as much today.

Thank You for your response.
Lisa

[ArmaniMan]

I would try something that is known to be good for allergies... try something with a single protein source like lamb or duck... they are good for dogs with allergies... although obviously a dog can be allergic to these ingredients as well, but this is where I would start.

I dont know who makes a lamb based food but I know Wellness, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, and FROMM all make a duck and sweet potato food.... I use the FROMM and my kids love it but I have heard good things about the other brands as well.

As far as shampoo I love the shampoo that Kiehls makes for dogs, they also have a conditioner... they are very gentle and smell amazing!

Good Luck with the allergies!

[msteelsmom]

Thank You so much. This can be so confusing and fustrating. I will look for these brands. I heard buffalo is good too. What about deer? Just asking. We eat alot of deer meat and I was wondering if I could cook some without seasonings for Max. He loves to eat eggs. I scramble them in olive oil. But hes been eating eggs since he was a baby so i dont see it being the eggs. Can yorkies eat veges? and fruit?

Lisa

[Adi-and-Missy]

Could it be ringworm? I know that make the little guys itch like crazy.

[Shorkielover]

I recently experienced these symptoms, itching/scratching and what appeared to be dandruff on my furbaby. The food I was giving him was rated at a 4 according to the dogfoodanalysis.com website, which 4 out of 6 isn't that bad, but we still had the problem with itching, so I begin to research allergies and the ones common to dogs. I learned that corn, wheat, soy, red dye40, and sometimes beef can be a big allergy to dogs. The first I thing I did was eliminate corn, wheat, and products that had red dye 40. Still with itching . . . two weeks ago I made the decision to switch foods to see if there were any benefits in doing this. I switched from Nature's Recipe to Nature's Variety, which is rated at a 5 or 6 and it seems like immediately there was a change. The dandruff has disappeared and the itching is very minimal. He does still itch a little, but we live in an area that is cold and dry and according to the vet the winter season brings on dry itchy skin. Nature's Variety has several different kibble choices (grain or grain free), raw, and canned. There are at least 5 flavors one being lamb which is good for dogs with sensitive tummies and/or allergies. Switching to Nature's Variety was the best decision for us, less waste to pick, shiny coat, more energy, "tear stains" are less, the list can goes on and on. He's like a different puppy! Hope this helps. Happy Holidays!

[Mom to Hot Rod]

While it is tempting to try differnt shampoos and foods, I would take it one step at a time and eliminate one thing at a time. This way you can see what might be the trigger for his itching. Switching foods may not show results right away so don't give up on it.

Hot Rod loves chicken and we never thought anything about it, until recently when he hadn't had any for some time and then we started to notice him licking and chewing his paws a bit more after we gave him chicken (we were eating it more and they each get a small niblet from us after dinner). We stopped giving it to him and then gave him some again and the chewing started. When Hot Rod first came home, he had such flaky dry skin and his ears were terrible-big flakes of skin would come off!

Thinking back...most puppy food has chicken. We tried different shampoos and salmon oil, etc. We even have medicated shampoo and medicated conditioner from the vet (which did and does help-I didn't use it for a month -2 bathings worth and noticed some flakes). We are slowly reintroducing poultry - right now he's been eating turkey and has not had a problem. I want to try chicken again just to make sure but waiting for a little bit yet.

I know how tempting it is to switch products but patience will definitely pay off. Trying a different shampoo can be a quick fix for the initial. How often are you bathing? Could the air in your home be drying? Do you have a humidifier? This could be another factor. Good luck.

[chestermama]

salmon oil is great for allergies and for skin and coat and try some better food if you can corn, wheat and soy the biggest allergens for dogs. Some good foods are merrick, natural balance, solid gold, innova depending on what stores are avaliable to you, blue buffalo is pretty decent food and it sells at petsmart, petco carries the natural balance and solid gold, good luck, chester has horrible sensitive skin and I use the bio groom fluffy puppy hypoallergenic shampoo on him, I actually take it with me to petsmart he had a reaction to their hypoallergenic shampoo.

[chestermama]

I was also going to add that apple cider vinegar mixed with water is good for the itches as well, I even use perfume and dye free soap and dryer sheets because of chesters itches

[WV~Yorkies]

I have a Shih tzu that scratches horrible. He would become a running sore. Since I changed him to Taste of the Wild food he is doing great and no more scratching.

[lukes]

If you decide to do home cooking, get a dog food supplement that contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals. There's lots of them.

Some people prepare raw diets, that fresh venison meat, is great, I would feed it raw un-cooked (if your dog accepts it) and supplement it. There's a lot of charts out there about preparing balanced raw diets.

For kibble, get rid of the beneful, here's a good chart explaining why beneful isn't the best choice.

Beneful Chart

If you want to try a sample pack of all different Kibble, where you get somewhere over 20 different samples of good quality kibble from various manufacturers and a few extra things. It's a nice package.

Luke's All Natural Pet food Sample Pack