Hi,

I was hoping that someone may be able to offer me some advise, my dog, who is 11 has a skin condition. I have taken him to the vet previosly and he was given some tablets to take (easier said than done!!). They helped loads and it cleared up for several months. He has now started scratching again. He went to the vet again this week for his boosters so I asked the vet about anything we could do, he prescribed a food addative and some shampoo to use which may help which he is now taking.

He is groomed and bathed regularly and I also use frontline every couple of months, other than the skin condition he is in great health.

Does anyone have any similar problems and if so what do you find helps to reduce the scratching and discomfort??

My dog has a skin condition but it doesn't affect him at all, just makes him have dandruff and smell. I bath him every 2 weeks (try to do it every week) and then once every 6 weeks i bath him in very diluted dettol, works a treat and makes him smell all clean too lol!

Mike,

Where does it affect him (tummy, back, near his tail, under his legs)?
What food is he on? Do you know what the skin condition is? How it comes about? Does anything trigger it off?

Does he live indoors? What carpets do you have?

Dallies are prone to sensitive skin and as such Takara had rashed under her legs and on her tummy as a pup, and developped 'dally rash' (short hair folliculitis) when she got older and her hormones changed.

There are lots of things that can cause a skin irritation and Takara's puppy irritation was caused by wool carpet.
Her dally rash was caused by hormones but changing her food to a hypoallergenic food helped it.

If you can answer my above questions someone may be able to shed more light on it. Sometimes, you can find much cheaper alternatives to expensive vet visits and treatments!

What shampoo is it? We were prescribed a shampoo that did absolutely nothing and has been known to make it worse in some cases.

Just a note in response to tinkabel's reply.

mike, it may work for tinkabel but bathing a dog with a skin condition once a week isn't always recommended so don't do this without the say so of your vet (and maybe look it up too).

Also - one more question, does this skin irritation have a pattern to it? As in, is it season related?

The vet wasn't really sure, the first time we took him about it he seemed to think it was an allergic reaction to a cleaning product we may have used, we have not used it again and he has been fine. It is generally on his sides towards his back legs.

He eats various types of dry mix complete food and he now has a fatty acid supplement from the vet. He also enjoys fruit and veg and has all his life!

The vet has advised me to bathe him every fortnight with this epi-soothe shampoo. We are trying him with these for a few weeks to see if it calms down. It isn't sore at the moment but if he carries on like he is it probably will end up so again.

I'd recommend keeping his food the same rather than changing it anyway, but I'd give James Wellbeloved or one of the other hypo allergenic foods a try.

You could also have a look at CSJ which is what cleared up T's dally rash (better than the hypo allergenic JWB) but be careful which you get as it is a working dog food and can be high in protein.

Also, always check meat is the first in the list of ingredients and I now feed Burns and their coats and their skin is fantastic on it - in fact, they've scratched less whilst on Burns than on any other type of food.

Burns and JWB are expensive though but they're definitely worth it if it works, my dogs look the best they've looked since being on Burns Dog Food (produced by vet John Burns from his homemade recipe, apparently)

You haven't told us what breed he is ;)
Different breeds are prone to different skin conditions

We had a westie (these are prone to eczema) who had all kinds of gunk from the vets, and most of it smelled rank :gag:

None of it worked, and out of curiosity I tried diluted dettol/savlon liquid, once a week, and although he absorbed the colour from the liquid to start with in the affected areas (and went orange :rolleyes: ) he was right as rain afterwards

He's a cross doberman / colley. I will have a look for food the next time I am out and about.

Thanks for all the advise so far and the quick response, been good to get others opinions and not just what the vet tells me!

We used lanacane powder when our collie developed a reshon his back and stomach. Stopped the itching and reduced the irritation around the areas. It also comes in a cream. It's sold at chemists and doesn't smell bad at all. :thumbsup:

Lilly (Staffy X) had bad dandruff a bit ago - didn't seem to be itching her though. I started giving her evening primrose oil capsules as a few people on here recommended and it worked wonders, I don't know whether that would help?

actually, following on from gempud's post, I used to regularly feed mine oily fish and cod liver oil. They haven't had it for a while but you should think about it. It's good on the joints as well as the skin/coat.

I would also suggest trying a fish/omega oil suppliment and also a general vitamin/mineral pet suppliment. tuna or oily fish addee to the diet a couple of times a week can work wonders. also have a look what this company does for skin conditions and itching:
www.dorwestherbs.co.uk
Ive used their valarian stress remedy with good results

also have your vet do scrapes and blood tests if possible, which can identify all sorts from allergies and deficiencies to digestive or liver problems etc, as a lot of problems can cause skin problems. the collie element is pretty hardy, but believe dobes can be prone to some skin problems, so posibbly the dobe element in your dog.

One of ours has type 1 zinc responsive dermatosis and has oil and zinc suppliments. shes thankfully growing out of it now (its a juvenille form). this shows up as 'hot spots', thickened skin and scaly bald areas around her eyes and in her ears

Try a change of diet - it worked for our daft dobe
We feed her Burns Dog food
http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/?source=overture&OVRAW=burns%20pet%20nutrition&OVKEY=burns%20pet%20nutrition&OVMTC=standard

you can order it online from burns AND they do free delivery and are quick at delivering as well. Also available from some pet shops- as well as helping skin allergies it is great for her sensitive stomach (and she doesnt produce huge piles of poo now!). PLus- she actually eats it- she is a fussy eater but loves their lamb and their venison flavours.

Also, look at http://www.hyperdrug.com/products.asp?dept=16?utm_source=Overture

I can vouch for their speedy and reliable deliveries - their wormers and other products are often much cheaper than going to the vets and I know they do a range of skin shampoos and creams. A word of caution though- dont just order stuff if youre not entirely sure what your dog's skin problem is- if youre already in discusion with your vet s/he wil advise but you may find it cheaper to buy the products from hyperdrug if its going to be a long term thing...

I tried the Dorwest Herbs with Ailsa before we switched to Burns food but to be honest they didnt seem to havea lot of effect- mind you, I still use their skullcap and valerian nerve tablets if we have to travel long distances- the madam does not travel well...

You've been given some very good advice on here. I agree with it all.

My dog is a collie cross and first got a rash on her tummy and itchy paws when she was 1 and a half. It was around August time.

I took her to the vets, he prescribed antibiotics and a shampoo and a conditioner that i had to use 2-3 times a week.

Oh, and flea treatment (but I was told to do it once a month, not every few)

10 days later she was getting better, but was given another week of antibiotics.

Then she was fine for a week or so, then it started again.

We continued in this cycle for a good 6 months. At one point, I was spending nearly £200/month on vet bills, and all the time just treating symptoms, not the underlying cause.

By this time, i was getting fed up with my visits to the vet. She'd been given a steroid cream as well as the antibiotics, which did work well, i have to say, but I didn't want to be just treating symptoms.

The vets were starting to talk about allergy testing, but I was unsure about forking out £500 to be told she was allergic to greenery, and then pay for injections to de-sensitise her, which may not work.

I soon worked out that before every flare up we'd either been in Ecclesall Woods or she'd been off-lead on the playing fields near me. She was spayed in the middle of this and the month that we had to do on-lead walks, which were entirely on pavements, she cleared up.

I stopped going in the woods completely and very rarely took her on the fields. If we went anywhere grassy where i wanted to sit with her, I made sure she lay on a blanket, not the grass.

I even tried putting a t-shirt on her for the odd occasion i did risk going on the field to try and put a barrier between her and the grass!

I decided to try herbal remedies for 6 months and see where it got us.

Best thing i ever did :)

It's a slow process, but her allergies now (4 years on), instead of being year-round, are limited to just a few flare-ups a year. The past 2 years have been very good. We go in the woods every weekend (although i don't allow her in the streams). She goes off-lead on the playing fields, but if i go anwhere to sit, I always make her lie on a blanket.

I've eased up on all her supplements now and just use them if she starts to get a bit red, but at the beginning:

I changed her onto James Wellbeloved. Burns was my other choice. I've read on here that there are animal testing issues connected with JWB, so I intend to change her onto Burns or Autarky soon. i'd go with Burns if i were you. Autarky is very good value, but hard to get hold of and not quite of the high standard that Burns is.

I gave her a cube of frozen spinach with her breakfast (defrosted and warmed in the microwave).
Fresh tomatoes.
Cod liver oil capsules.
Denes Greenleaf tablets
Denes garlic tablets
Missing Link food supplement

And for treating the actual sypmtoms, I used:
Aloe vera gel
Dorwest comfrey and calendula balm (I can't get that now, but Denes do a good one, too. Something similar, can't remember what it's called).

They obviously try and lick this stuff off, so i put it on just before a walk, or in the evening when she's within reach of me and I can stop her ;)

Hope that's of some use to you. Diet is so important. Flea treatment is very important too as if they have a flea allergy, one bite will cause a reaction. Garlic is a natural flea deterrent, btw.

Just a thought but my collie who has bad skin (and has been kleft partly hairless due to previous mistreatment) sometimes reacts badly to frontline. :rolleyes:

We bath her occasionally with Quistel - think thats how you spell it - which is a natural organic shampoo... works wonders on her. She has even had a bit of hair regrow on her bald patches of the last year but still not the most attractive old collie!! We love her though :thumbsup:

I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone for the advise, I will keep you informed on how he gets on. Hopefully everything will get better!

Thanks

Mike

It's amazing how many dogs now have allergies. We have so many come into the store and I find it remarkable that for many that have been to the vets, the vet hasn't even suggested the dogs diet be looked at.

The vets don't all sell dog food ;)

You reckon? The ones I visit seem to have plenty of Hills prescription dog food at rather large amount of £££££s lol ;)

I did say 'don't all'
translation = 'some do, some don't' ;)