19 week old blue boy can't stop scratching

Hi guys

New member here with a bit of an itchy issue at home.

Our first ever staff, Doug, is suffering from a terrible itchiness! He's the absolute light of our lives but we are at our wits end.
His belly, backs of his legs and armpits are constantly red and aggravated due to his incessant scratching.

We've been to the vet twice, the first appointment he received a shot of antibiotics and a cortisone injection which did stop it, but temporarily. The second time our vet did a skin scrape to test for mites - all clear. Then suggested using a medicated shampoo and an over the counter allergy tablet.

Nothing has worked to date and it seems to be getting worse. I am beside myself thinking he has to deal with this maddening itch and also because he doesn't sleep at all during the night and keeps his mummy and daddy awake at all hours with the thump of his little legs trying to reach the next spot to bother him.

I've stopped with the beef mince, use resi-soothe oatmeal cream and calamine lotion to soothe him but this seems to have no effect anymore.

We have grass out the back, but I can hardly keep him inside an entire week to see if we have to rip up all the backyard if it was the reason...

Please anybody, if you have any tips for me, I would love to find out what else we can do.

Lucy

Sorry to hear about your boys skin issues. Is he eating chicken? A lot of dogs have an allergy to that.

We've been going through the same thing with our boy. An antihistamine when the itches are really bad helps as he then sleeps and doesn't scratch. We also rub him down with a cloth every time he comes in from the garden. My dogs were fed a raw diet but too much chicken was adding to the itches and since I'm struggling to find variety where we are I've had to changed them over to a fish-based kibble. In just a week the itches, spots and redness are 90% gone.

What are you feeding your staff?

Great advice given so far, have you vets not done a full test for allergies? A friend of mine went through a homeopathy vet and came back with a whole load of allergies. May be useful to whittle down exactly what's irritating him. Must be awful for him being so itchy.

was both of his parents blue?

Thanks for your feedback everyone.
The vet did do a skin scrape but I've heard an allergy test could be a few thousand dollars.

I'm thinking I might reduce the protein in his diet and go with some tuna or sardines instead. At the moment he has some boiled chicken mince (macro) with Blackhawk dry food. I sometimes give him some hard boiled eggs and carrots too.

His Dad was blue and his mum was brindle. I've spoken to the owners of his brother and other than some redness around the mouth, doesn't suffer the same itchy skin as ours.

I will give it another night or two then take him back. He must be going mad!!

The food seems to have a lot of random ingredients and any one of them could be messing with his skin. There are dogs on here that are allergic to all sorts; potatoes, chicken, lamb, rice and have severe reactions. I'd try and get him on a really basic food if possible. My friends allergy test cost £60, there was another member who had her dog tested yesterday so hopefully she will come along and shed some light on pricing too!

Rachel33 wrote:The food seems to have a lot of random ingredients and any one of them could be messing with his skin. There are dogs on here that are allergic to all sorts; potatoes, chicken, lamb, rice and have severe reactions. I'd try and get him on a really basic food if possible. My friends allergy test cost £60, there was another member who had her dog tested yesterday so hopefully she will come along and shed some light on pricing too!

I'd recommend the test as well and that price sounds about right

you always want to be careful using products with oatmeal in because this can add to the itching not help it, best thing to use is menuca honey for itching and a shampoo called episoothe

Agree with above, for the time being though try rubbing some coconut oil or Aloe Vera gel on the itching t may help soothe it   

Lucy&Doug wrote:Thanks for your feedback everyone.
The vet did do a skin scrape but I've heard an allergy test could be a few thousand dollars.

I'm thinking I might reduce the protein in his diet and go with some tuna or sardines instead. At the moment he has some boiled chicken mince (macro) with Blackhawk dry food. I sometimes give him some hard boiled eggs and carrots too.

His Dad was blue and his mum was brindle. I've spoken to the owners of his brother and other than some redness around the mouth, doesn't suffer the same itchy skin as ours.

I will give it another night or two then take him back. He must be going mad!!

Where abouts in Aus are you? That sounds really expensive for an allergy test even for Australia. I can check with a friend from Perth what you should be paying if you like.

I personally would try a grain free more natural dry food if you don't want to try raw. When my dogs had skin problems, the grain free made all the difference as well as eliminating the chicken and egg to see if that makes any difference.

Inez Maria wrote:Agree with above, for the time being though try rubbing some coconut oil or Aloe Vera gel on the itching t may help soothe it   

Good advice here, may be worth a try

I agree coconut oil is amazing!!! Give it a go

Bane's just been diagnosed with a dust mite allergy. Rach £60!? :O It cost us £118 for initial blood test to confirm he had an environmental allergy and vet consultation and then a further £82? for a detailed look to show exactly what it was. Thank goodness for insurance but can't help feel that our vets rip us off quite a bit!!

Before we went down the route of testing though, we changed to raw food and stopped all bought treats to eliminate food. We found that coconut oil helped soothe his skin and wiping down the itchy areas each day helped a little too! Poor lil guy it's horrible to see them itching so badly I hope you find out what it is soon!

Wow, that's pretty bullsh*t! Again, that was through a homeopathy vet though.. That's a crazy amount of money!!

hello fellow aussie !
my staffie is too itching !

we went to the vet a few weeks ago ,
we are doing the whole trial and error/ elimination process ...
apparently there is a massive mites problem atm ,
most people I work with have had their dogs at the vets the last 3 months or so for itching ...

vet told us to get zyrtec from woollies or chemist ,
10mg 2 times a day for ryder who is 7kg atm and to wash him with aloveen and the leave in conditioner it has done wonders so far , but now he is chewing at his back feet more he is just eating dry grain free sensitive food and a few chicken wing tips every now and then

I wasn't sure if his itch may be partly psychological at times because of the way he was when we picked him up he chases his tail too it was crazy when we first got him but its slowing down with discouragement

let me know how everything goes!! it will be interesting

Hi all,

an update for you.

Doug has been to see the vets again as he developed some little itchy lumps on his back legs. He's on an antibiotic tablet to treat it.

We are now on a grain free diet and wash with Sebazole. We tried the chemist allergy tablet and didn't notice any difference. We've had some warm weather in South Australia recently so Doug has been down the beach most nights, the salt water actually is helping.

We've been referred to a doggy dermatologist so just have to get our insurance paperwork filled out so we can start claiming all these expensive visits.

All in all, he's still a happy pup. Full of beans and a devilish penchant for his mothers shoes and stray socks...

Thanks for the update I hope it works and he continues to improve. Funny you say about the beach and salt water when we take Vin away his skin and fur are perfect and so much better   

Glad to hear he is getting better I can imagine the salt water would be great for their skin especially if they have any little cuts, or grazes!