Itchy & Scratchy

[ChocosMum]

My 3.5 month lab is scratching on his tummy and front legs.No rash or redness visiable..Have used flea/mites monthly treatment ,doing an elimanation diet,fish oil in meals ..feeding Royal Canin for labs (junior) SO my question is what can i use to put on his itchy spots to relieve the itch............Thanks (sorry if repeating a forum topic also in general topics)

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

What has your vet recommended?

[puggy_puggy]

I wouldn't see feeding Royal Canine as an elimination diet. It could be what is in the Royal Canine that is causing the problem (isn't it full of grains?) and you have to find a food/s that your dog has not had. Some suggestions could be kangaroo, horse, camel etc.

What do you bath him with? What do you wash his bedding with? What do you wash the floor with? Have you checked your yard for plants that may be causing him to itch? Does he itch at a certain time or after being somewhere?

Have you tried antihistamines? You can use human ones. Claratyne etc.

[sas]

Contact your breeder.

[ChocosMum]

hi all, he has been to the vets and she is a little worried cause of his age....We have him on anti-histamines,a special steroid spray that wont affect him growing, im weed removing today,i did change my clothes and floor cleaner so back to the old stuff.We aint gonna mess with his diet as yet cause of his age..The vets wants to take small steps...we bath him with Aloveen shamp/cond,washed his stuff with our clothes wash but since have hot washed it only.....

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

If something in the diet is causing the problem, why wouldn't you take steps to find out what it is? His age has nothing to do with reacting to certain foods.

IMO feeding anything processed is likely to be at least one of the culprits. Why don't you try a properly supervised elimination diet, such as what I'm doing for my allergy dog. While I agree that pups need to eat from a wide variety of foods (preferably raw and whole), in your pup's case you have to look at all possible causes. Food allergies are all too common so removing processed foods would be a good place to start.

Try going back to the source (raw) and simple (meaty bones, offal, one kind of vegetable or fruit per week) so that he's getting variety without the fillers, colours and preservatives found in processed foods.

[stormie]

Choco's Mum - I'd follow your vets advice. Orbit developed allergy symptoms very young - 10wks - and being a growing giant, messing with the diet isn't something you want to do. Have a look at Eukanuba's FP Response - it's fish and potato and is what our dermatologist recommends, and from memory, the protein, fat and calcium/phosph levels aren't that different from their Large Puppy, so this might be something you could use for an elimination diet if he hasn't already had fish. I waited until he was about 10months old before we started our elimination diet.

Also, don't go changing foods and feeding lots of different things just yet, because it's possible that if he's an allergic dog, he's only going to develop allergies to the new things you feed him. The simpler you keep his diet now, the easier it will be to do the elimination diet as you'll have more options. I started Orbit on Eagle Pack as a pup, which is a great food, but has quite a few different ingredients in there, so it made it that bit harder to find meat options to use. We ended up using horse in the end.

Watch what additives you use in your foods because it's possible that what you're adding might be a problem. I wouldn't be switching to raw straight away either - not until you've done an elimination diet, because for all you know, the meat you end up feeding might be the culprit.

I'd recommend seeking a referral to a dermatologist. It's not cheap, in fact, dealing with atopy can be quite extensive and expensive, but I recommend getting started on a proper treatment plan asap. Dermatologists have a lot more knowledge of skin than your general vet and will help you get on top of things sooner rather than later.