Please read all of this blog post. I know it’s long (I’ve even divided it up into two!) but the story Karen tells is one which I know will be familiar to many of you. She has a lot of great tips plus the answers she’s discovered along the way, which will help many of you. Mostly common sense, really useful and free.
Karen and Pebble
I’m not sure if my own experiences with my 2 itchy dogs will be of any use to anyone but I’m more than happy to share just in case it is… even if just to give someone the encouragement to keep going with their dog. I know what it’s like when you think you’ll never get to a point where your poor dog will be free of constantly painful, irritated, itchy skin.
I have 2 dalmatians… both have suffered from skin complaints!
My older dog, Pebble, has had the worse skin issues of the 2 – she’s now 10 & her skin condition is completely under control – I can’t remember the last time she had any itchiness. When she was 2 she was very ill, with chronic gastric ulcers & ulcerative colitis due to food allergies (allergy diagnosed from gut biopsies). Despite trying exclusion diets & a variety of natural remedies, her symptoms were unmanageable unless she was on constant steroids.
She saw a specialist, got an accurate diagnosis, was given a long course of medication & changed on to a diet of Hills z/d. When she came off the steroids for her colitis/gastritis, we realised that she also had allergies that affected her skin – skin symptoms must have been kept under control by the steroids. Her feet became red, inflamed, sticky, itchy with deep pus filled lesions & the skin over her lower back was hot & inflamed. These areas were also smelly as she developed bacterial/fungal infections.
Initially she was given steroids, anti-biotics & medicated shampoo to get the conditions under control but symptoms recurred when medications were withdrawn – she was then seen by a skin specialist. Allergy testing of her skin showed that of the allergens tested, she was allergic to meadow grass, house dust mites, purple clover & feathers(!) – Evening Primrose Oil helped her slightly as did Phytopica but the biggest improvement came after beginning immunotherapy which she’s been receiving for about 7 years. We had to play about with her dose slightly as the usual 1ml injection every 4 weeks was too much & she would be itching for 2 days after injections – she gets a 0.75 ml dose.
Pebble is on the left
Karens’ Top Tips:
As well as keeping up with her immunotherapy injections, we regularly hoover any carpeted areas & soft furnishings in our house & our dogs’ bedding is washed once a week at 60°C to keep house dust mites to a minimum – because they are both such sensitive creatures(!), I make sure that bedding is washed in a non-biological liquid.
I’m very aware of the rubbish that’s in a lot of the current best-selling commercial diets & I’d love to give Pebble a diet which has an ingredients list that makes for better reading than her current diet & is richer in omega oils – with her food allergies this isn’t possible (attempts to change her diet have caused recurrence of her colitis symptoms).
My Itchy Dog's Blog 