Pup itching like mad

My pup is 3 and a half months old. Recently he's been starting to scratch like mad. His neck was 'shredded' and VERY red and he'd chewed at his front legs enough to make them bleed in parts. We'd taken him to the vets and a deep skin scrape and hair sample was done. No mites were found (although not sure if the bath he'd had that morning could have stopped that) and the vet was unsure what caused it. At first I thought it was sunburn since his first walks had been in rather hot sunshine and I never knew dogs needed sun cream also. As it was, this didnt seem to be the issue. We also thought it could have been stinging nettles, but after not walking him around the bush areas, he's STILL itching badly.

Now his neck has stopped being an issue, but his ears are VERY itchy and patches under his arms and a patch on each side of his body. The tablets perscribed by the vet only seem to be helping a fraction, and we've taken to smearing sudocrem all over him (a messy task which ends with him spending time in his crate until its blended in enough to stop going all over the place). I'm at a loss at what else to do during the 'allergy testing' that we're conducting (changing his food, replacing the washing conditioner that had been used around the time the itching started etc). We're also trying bathing him with Wrights Traditional Soap with coal tar fragrance to see if the anibiotics in the soap could help.

Is there ANY other thing we could try? Some forum mentioned an oat bath but no details how to conduct this. If I take him back to the vets it will cost £300 for allergy testing, which several have said should be a last resort (hence my 'home checking')... PLEASE HELP!

Awww poor thing! .. i was told by an ex vet at college, with white dog's there is actually white dog's disease where a white dog can become so itchy that they make themselves bleed etc .. My old brindle staffy had white toes and he would lick and bite at them untill they bled.
A friend of mine had a white dog who also suffered and she bought an aloe vera type gel for dogs and it seemed to work for her, she buys it online at
http://www.aloecanine.com/

ive not used it personally

Aloe Vera can be very soothing for itchy skin & it's probably worth having a go.

What are you feeding her?

another great product is calamine lotion .. it is very soothing especially if you keep it in the fridge. just wipe all over Charlie where he is itchy with a cotton ball.

I noticed you posted a pic of Charlie at the beach.... did you hose the salt and sand off Charlie afterwards.. that can drive a dog bonkers..it can make a dog very itchy..

hope you get it sorted out.

Could be a food allergy and the breed is prone to skin problems.

My Roxy was VERY itchy as a younger pup.

I bath her with a product called MALASEB, which I bought from the vets, but is also sold in pet supply stores here in Aus. I know you can get it in UK, but not too sure where you would buy it.

I use it like a regular shampoo.......apart from the fact I leave it on for 10 minutes which is when the ingredients do there thing. Then I rinse it off well and give her a towel dry. It certainly has helped Roxy with her itchies.

Maybe you could "google" it and have a read about it.

GFood luck

vanessa wrote:

I noticed you posted a pic of Charlie at the beach.... did you hose the salt and sand off Charlie afterwards.. that can drive a dog bonkers..it can make a dog very itchy..

hope you get it sorted out.

Very good point!