My Cocker Spaniel baby has been struggling with allergies and itchy skin for several years and it has been an uphill battle. We started with using a doggie antihistamine with a small amount of steroid called Temeril P that you get from the vet. It helped some but wasn't super successful and I don't like giving her a steroid. She gets staph infections from all the scratching so we have been periodically putting on antibiotics to get her skin healed up.
Here are some of the things that have been helpful to her:
I've recently discovered that a rinse in chamomile tea helps a lot to calm her skin and stop the itching for a while. Make two cups of chamomile tea, using about 6 tea bags to make it strong. Let it cool and pour it into a spray bottle, then add warm (not hot) water and spray your dog's skin all over to relieve the itch. I've also rinsed my girl with witch hazel which offers some relief as well, but the chamomile tea has been the best so far.
Another rinse that has helped is 1/2 cup green tea mixed with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 cup purified water (You can boil for 20 minutes to purify). I double or triple the recipe to fill my spray bottle and spray my baby girl all over for some relief to her inflamed skin.
Apple cider vinegar solution (50% apple cider vinegar/50% water) to rinse or wash your dog in can restore the skin's acidity, kill off pathogens, and soothe the itch. You can also add a bit of apple cider vinegar to your dog's water to help from the inside as well.
I have a labordoole who was miserable. Found on Pinterest to put olive oil on his food. He weighs 85 pounds I put one tablespoon on his dry food, in one week he has almost completely quit scratching.
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My Maltese, Molly, had awfully itchy skin, so after spending hundreds of dollars on treatment I tried Epsom salts in her bath water, and it did the trick. She also had a badly infected eye from rubbing her face on the ground to ease the itching.
Does your dog itch and make their skin so raw? Well, our little Stubby was and it was just horrible until we mixed the following. Put this into a spray bottle and spray. In a couple of days, you should see a lot of difference.
For dry, itchy skin and shedding, give your dog an oatmeal bath.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I am hoping to find a home remedy for my dog's itching. My dog is scratching herself raw and I'm unable to take her to the vet at this time. I was hoping for a home remedy that would help. Thank you.
By Dru from Newburgh, IN
I have a brussels griffon and she has had the same problem. Here are few things that have helped. BTW - we found out that she was allergic to potatoes as well.
You can call the vet and get a pill for the itching, it is caused by allergy to flea bites, the pill cost around 15.00, I think and it lasts for a whole month, don't get the expensive pills and liquids that cost over 30.00. The vet has the other "pill" but it is not as expensive and I figure that is why they don't tell a lot of people about it, cause they want to sell the more expensive product.
I recently read that 1/3c baby oil, 1/3c Listerine and 1/3c warm water is an amazing treatment, but what exactly does the Listerine do?
By Sara
I read about the Listerine/Baby Oil/Water solution more than a year ago for the treatment of mites and itchy skin and it worked like a charm on both of my pups, especially the one who always seemed to be scratching constantly. They actually like it because it's gentle and soothing.
The Listerine has natural oils - Eucalyptol, Menthol, Thymol and Methyl Salicylate. This is why it is used to sooth irritated gums. It really does relieve the itching in a yeasty dog. Our Basset is having a really bad outbreak right now and she is soundly sleeping at the moment since applying the Listerine mixture on her a couple of hours ago.
When you mix it with the baby oil and the water (which dilutes the alcohol in the Listerine) there is plenty of oil in the solution. No need to add oil to the diet. I just give my Basset unrefined coconut oil as a supplement for her yeast issues.
I have an almost 2 year old Neo Mastiff. Lately he has been scratching and nibbling at his skin around his butt, his back legs, and hips. He has scratched so much in one spot it is raw and red and the fur is very thin.
I have been giving him, antihistamines as I had thought it may be caused by the pollen in the air, but have had no luck helping him. I live on a dairy farm and have been giving him milk which he absolutely loves, but am thinking he may be allergic to this as I know other dogs are. Could someone please suggest a home remedy as I am unable to take my poor boy to the vet at the moment.
By T J
It sounds as if it might be a yeast infection of the skin or a food allergy. Change the dog food to a brand with no wheat and no by products, and don't give him those awful store treats that come in a bag, but give him lots of chicken for treats...bless his heart..here is some info on yeast infections in dogs:
www.greatdanelady.com/
My baby girl is my 11 year old Toy Poodle. I have had her since birth. Approximately 5-6 years ago, she began suffering from severe itching and an awful odor that followed her scratching herself. No vet can give me a diagnosis or a lasting remedy. Medications are very temporary. I cannot watch her suffer any longer. Please help my baby girl. Our sincere thanks.
By michele c & baby girl from Yulee, FL
Call Nzymes 877 876 6500. No, I don't sell it. I get dogs in as foster, as helper (not hoarder) as volunteer for those that would not have a chance otherwise. Nzymes are a favorite of mine. My house will never be without Nzymes. Most of all for your same problem. Unbelievable cures that you will pass on. Claims are true once you read their site. A must. Other help. Change diet. No corn, wheat or soy. Not in biscuits even. Include raw in diet like raw peas, green beans and even a few fruits. Cook a pot of sweet potatoes and ground turkey or organic short grain brown rice, organic lentils, ground turkey. coconut oil, fresh good fish oil, raw flax seed oil is a good addition. Fresh farm eggs once in a while also good.
Get away from the poison additives in commercial foods. Never buy from grocery aisle pet food. If you need a little kibble, EVO, California naturals or a specialty from groom shop, small pet store. NO vaccines. Bet your babies skin problems showed up right after vaccine. Poison mercury, formaldehyde, rotting monkey parts, anti freeze, yeast pumped into a little body causes harm. Read documented ingredients on any anti vaccine site. vaclib.org is a good one. A homeopathic thuja will help with some of the vaccine poisoning. No steroids. Problem comes back worse after immune system is destroyed by steroids. Contact me if you need. I would love to hear that things are going well.
In August, my dog started itching like crazy. Her sister was itching, too, but not as badly. She scratched a bald spot on herself. I bathed both of them, could not find any fleas, and then the itching subsided somewhat.
I took her and her sister to the vet. Several tests were run, they all came out negative, no mites, no fleas, no indication that her intestines had the wrong bacterial flora, and no pancreatitis.
Has anyone had this happen? The vet put her on a steroid and fish oil. I'm confused by this, I just don't get it.
By Carol Rodriguez from SouthBend, IN
Hi! The fish oil is great for their coats. My poor doberman, Sauer was born with red mange. He lost a ton of hair and itched constantly! During his mange treatments we began supplementing him with children's vitamins and fish oil. His coat started looking better immediately.
The reason we used children's daily vitamins is because he was only 10 weeks old, and at that time weighed about 20 lbs. The children's vitamins contain vitamin e which is also great for their skin. I didn't want to give him to much vitamin e which is why we didn't use the regular capsules and went with a children's vitamin. As well as using the omega fish oil capsules.
Other things you could try would be oatmeal baths and maybe even using baking soda in the bath. Dogs are a lot like us, the things we use to treat our ailments are often used to treat them too. Just think, what would you do for for your dry itchy skin? It may help them too. Good Luck!
My mother in law gave us this information, she raised 3 dachshunds that had skin problems.
My little poodle started limping so I took her to the vet on Aug 22, 2011. They took x-rays and no arthritis, no tumors or anything showed up.
The vet said it was probably allergies cause she was chewing on her foot and it became red and inflamed. He gave me some fish oil. Do not give people fish oil to your pets.
She has been on the fish oil now faithfully every day and to help her sleep at night I gave her people Benadryl Allergy 25mg Ultratab until she stopped chewing her foot. She is only 18 pounds so I cut the Benadryl in eight pieces. So that means she was getting about 3 mg at night. She slept soundly and woke up refreshed. I only gave her Benadryl for about five nights.
To help her during the day when I saw her chewing or licking her foot, I got a cup, put some warm water and pour some people Epsom Salt. No special amount. I tried to soak her foot for as long as she would let me. Five minutes is usually the most. Keep the foot totally submerged. Don't rinse the foot. I just pat the excess water off her foot and let the foot air dry.
Do not let your pet drink any of the Epsom Salt. Epsom Salt draws toxins out of the body. Do a search on the "Benefits of Epsom Salt". This product is so good, you can buy it everywhere, not expensive and it works fast. I started seeing good results before the week was over.
We are going on a month now since she saw the vet and she rarely licks her foot, she is jumping everywhere and no more limping. Hurray! Her paws are a healthy pink not red and inflamed like they use to be.
I do suggest you give your baby good quality food with no byproducts, hormones, antibiotics, added salt, BHA/BHT, artificial flavors, fillers, wheat, corn, flour, soy or sugar.
I know this is a lot to avoid but the less of these ingredients in your pet's food will make your baby healthy and happy and less visits to the vet.
Allergies can come from anywhere the food, grass, stuff on the sidewalks, oils on the streets, airborne, pollen, cleaners we use around the home just to name a few. l
I hope this helps cause it it sad to see our pets miserable.
I did have the same thing happen with my Sheppard/Lab it was recommend that I put her on a good quality dog food we tried Lamb meat base then was told that Lamb was meant for high energy dogs/larger, so we switched to a less fatty content.
Either way better food was then answer talk to a pet store they will recommend something better. Try a small bag first to see if your dog likes it. Most pet stores will back up the product if your dog don"t like it. Better quality food means your dog will be fuller longer but always read the bag only give the recommended for the weight of your dog.
Look at the ingredients of the dog food. First word is the most content last word is the least content make sure your dogs not getting the unhealthy stuff like fillers.
My dog Chelsea is 9 months old. She is a chocolate Lab. She started itching about a month ago and I really wish I knew why. She bites her stomach around her belly button and now it's all pink and broken open and nasty looking. She also bites around her privates and it looks gross there too. I don't feed her anything unusual so I don't think it's that.
I found one flea on her, but I'm pretty sure she is not infested. I bathe her with oatmeal flea shampoo and use the stuff you put on their neck. And if it was fleas, she would have been itching earlier. This started like a month ago. I'm just confused. I guess another vet visit is coming! Someone help haha.By Savannah
When you see one flea it means there are many more that you don't see, but rest assured, they are there. If a dog has a flea allergy, it doesn't take many to drive them crazy with itching. Think of just one mosquito bite on you! We have used Frontline spot on flea treatment monthly with great results.
I can almost bet that it is fleas with a lab. They don't have allergies as bad as other breeds. Fleas will target privates and stomach first. I recommend getting advantage or some topical flea medicine from a vet instead of a store. It usually helps fleas, ticks, mites and worms with one monthly application.
My friend recently got her first dog, Suzy, a rescue dog. Suzy has had to wear a cone most of the time that my friend has had her because she will bite and lick herself raw if she doesn't have the cone on.
She is on two types of flea medication, uses hypo-allergenic shampoo and is on a restricted diet. She has also been taken into the vet, where they gave her a cortisone shot.
Anybody have any ideas of what is causes her to do this? My friend is at her wits end and doesn't know what else to do.
By Stella from Manchester, WA
I've had a similar situation with our Rosie and discovered she was actually allergic to the corn and some of the grains in her dogfood.
She's now on Lamb and Rice for $49.99 a bag for 35 pounds compared to feeding her Pedigree $22.00 for 40 pounds. We have 3 dogs and we had to start feeding it to all of them because the other two thought Rosie was getting something so much better.
For our budget that is very expensive but on the other hand we're not taking her to the Vet and her skin is better. I then noticed every time she came back inside from being out in the yard she was still chewing on herself and started to pay close attention to her every move and actually figured it out.
Rosie has a reaction to Pine Needles and only during the warmer months. During the winter when everything is basically dead in the backyard she's fine.
Per our Vet, she gets 2 Benadryl in the morning and 2 at night. Also when she comes back inside I can actually see hugh red blotches and tiny bite marks and sprinkle Gold Bond Extra Strength Medicated Body Powder".
It's Triple Action Relief, * cooling, * absorbing and * itch relieving.
It greatly helps and soothes all the redness,
I spray our yard but even so as long as we have Pine Needles it's a problem we will always deal with. The border of our entire backyard is nothing but Pine Needles. I rake them up twice a year and my two other dogs have no issues with it.
How do I help my Chihuahua to stop itching?
By Carolyn Thames from Spokane, WA
The best thing to do is get pills (which are chewable and yummy to dogs) that have omega 3 oils and brewers yeast. Our dog had itchy problems constantly til we got these. Also, there are a lot of treats out there that have those ingredients as well. You can get the pills at Walmart for less than $5 for like 100 of them. You can even find the treats at the dollar store.
I've had a similar situation with our Rosie and discovered she was actually allergic to the corn and some of the grains in her dogfood.
She's now on Lamb and Rice for $49.99 a bag for 35 pounds compared to feeding her Pedigree $22.00 for 40 pounds. We have 3 dogs and we had to start feeding it to all of them because the other two thought Rosie was getting something so much better.
For our budget that is very expensive but on the other hand we're not taking her to the Vet and her skin is better. I then noticed every time she came back inside from being out in the yard she was still chewing on herself and started to pay close attention to her every move and actually figured it out.
Rosie has a reaction to Pine Needles and only during the warmer months. During the winter when everything is basically dead in the backyard she's fine.
Per our Vet, she gets 2 Benadryl in the morning and 2 at night. Also when she comes back inside I can actually see hugh red blotches and tiny bite marks and sprinkle Gold Bond Extra Strength Medicated Body Powder".
It's Triple Action Relief, * cooling, * absorbing and * itch relieving.
It greatly soothes all the redness.
I spray our yard but even so as long as we have Pine Needles it's a problem we will always deal with. The border of our entire backyard is nothing but Pine Needles. I rake them up twice a year and my two other dogs have no issues with it.
I want to mix baking soda with water to spray on my dogs paws. I have read that this will help to relieve itch. How much water and how much baking soda do I use?
I am afraid I don't know the answer to your question, but just wanted to tell you that there are many reasons for itchy paws. Some will not be affected by baking soda and water. You will probably need your Vet to determine the cause to be sure you have the right treatment.
