# Help! My dog NEVER stops scratching!



## Freddy12 (Mar 5, 2017)

My golden is 2.5yrs and a "Field Retriever" (so I was told when I rescued her). 

After being groomed it only takes a week or so before her fur is oily again and she scratches like CRAZY. Her skin is usually dry (not oily) *They use non scented all natural products due to the scratching.

She is ALWAYS itchy and scratching herself. 

I have had her on SEVERAL different types and brands of food (no grain, no chicken, RAW), and she is still always scratching. And no she does not have fleas or any bacterial infections... (checked that too! lol)

My only guess now is that her allergies are environmental. I take her out everyday off leash, she rolls in the grass like crazy, runs through forests and bushes and comes into contact with about everything. 
OR.... Shes allergic to her fur-siblings who are Huskies! :grin2:

Just looking for some advice or things to try! . :smile2:

Thank you for reading!


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

See the vet for some allergy medication, Apoquel was a miracle drug for my dog. You probably should also have a skin scrape done to rule out mange.


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## 4goldengirls (Jun 10, 2014)

My two have been scratching non-stop since last June. My oldest girl it seems has it worse. I work at a vet and the vets have tried several meds for my dogs. Began bathing ith the appropriate shampoos, which works for a few hours. Nothing has stopped their scratching and chewing long enough for me to think "hey, it's working". We even changed foods to a different novel protein - from chicken to lamb. Even that didn't help.

We're assuming it's an environmental allergy at this point. I'm not too keen on using the Apoquel for an extended amount of time so have chose nnot to go that route. But I do know folks that use it and are pleased with the results.

I am now trying a supplement that my friend has been using on her Corgis the past few months. Her oldest Corgi has the same issue/symptoms/allergies as my oldest dog. I see her dog weekly and must say the supplement has helped her dog tremendously. His coat was a disaster and he was always itching/scratching. She swears by the supplement, so I'm holding out hope but won't see any great difference until she's been on the full dose for at least 3-4 weeks.

As far as your joking about her being allergic to her canine siblings, it wouldn't surprise me. Our practice has a client who's dog has suffered horrible allergies for quite some time despite medications, etc., The family did the allergy test and it came back that the dog has allergies due to human dander. That's a hard one since there are about 4 family members in that household.


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## Freddy12 (Mar 5, 2017)

Thank you for the response! What is the supplement your friend used for her dogs ?


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## Freddy12 (Mar 5, 2017)

Thanks! I'll look into ruling out mange!


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

When my golden was suffering from hot spots and was scratching herself raw and we were not able to determine the cause (after months of tests and diet changes) my vet suggested I try JP tea tree shampoo. I tried it and the itching stopped. Since then I have recommended it to friends whose dogs have had problems with itchy skin/allergies. It has worked well for quite a few of them. It may be worth a try. You can Google it by looking for JP tea tree shampoo or at TEA Tree Shampoo For Pets | John Paul Pet


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## rooroch (Nov 7, 2012)

Last summer I had huge problems with my Lab Glitter scratching all the time. No food change, the other dogs fine, goes in the river every day and has never been bathed with shampoo. They all had some cheese every day as a treat. I stopped the cheese, within 2 weeks the scratching had stopped and she has not been itchy since.


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## Otter (Feb 23, 2011)

Yeast is another thing to consider.

Several years ago we had a girl that we adopted from our friend/breeder. Her 'show' career was over. She had spent years with an 'itching' problem. Loooong story short. We took her to a vet who is also a dermatologist. With a simple test she determined our girl had a yeast infection on her skin. This was several years ago, but as I recall, we were given a cream for her feet and a shampoo. The problem went away and she was itch free and happy.

So you might try and find a vet that specializes in dermatology. I guess they aren't very common. There is only one in the Cleveland area I am aware of and takes forever (months) to get an appointment...

Good luck.


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## DGuerra (Oct 14, 2014)

Hi, how old and long has your pup been on Apoquel?


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## Ajepperson (Feb 19, 2017)

We're currently having a rough time with our 10 month old. He seems to have had issues since 4 months. We are currently seeing a dermatologist. He tried so many meds from our primary vet with no good results. Currently he is doing food trials (prescription food). The dog does love his rabbit. We also had to put him on prednisone because nothing was working. He is recovering from both a bacterial and yeast skin infections. He is bathed once a week with prescription shampoo as well as an additional day of washing just feet and nose. We will be looking into either the cytopoint shot or allergy skin testing within the next couple days. He has to have both environment and food allergies. If your baby is really struggling I'd suggest going that route.


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## Maisy Mae (Mar 6, 2017)

I have the same problem with my 1.5 yr old golden we tried apoquel and it worked for about 6 months. My vet is now alternating flea med's every two weeks because he believes she is allergic to fleas. Mine, like yours, loves roll around in the grass and the vet is thinking that may be the issue. Apparently flea allergies are very common in the breed. Good luck


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## WI12345 (Dec 31, 2016)

Zyrtec worked great for our last Golden. He had pretty bad allergies and frequent hot spots. He didn't scratch as much as he licked himself, especially his paws. One adult Zyrtec thrown in with his food twice a day did the trick. Our vet recommended this. He also told us that dogs metabolize the medicine differently than humans, so it was OK that he was taking twice the dose that I take.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I dealt with this for years with my dog, Luke, and went through all sorts of things -- foods, Benadryl, Medicated shampoos, allergy testing and shots from a dog dermatologist, and then finally Apoquel. Apoquel has helped him more than anything else.


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

Several things even using natural soaps they may contain something that is irritating the skin and if they do not get her completely rinsed it may be leaving a residue that will lead to itching. Also for some dogs the more you bath them the more they try and produce oil to sooth the skin especially if the shampoo being used strips all the oil off the coat leaving it and their skin dry. I know someone that battled that for a year and it turned out to be a combination of the soap used and frequency. 

You said you have tried several foods? how long did you leave them on the food? it takes 16 weeks of being on a single food before you can truly see the effects and as I learned the hard way with Sparkles many foods contain chicken in some form or another in them even though they say they are a certain food source. I had to go completely chicken free and low to no grain and it took almost the full 16 weeks before I saw the change. Also she became allergic to topical flea meds which complicated our food trial and later she had some seasonal spring allergies which we controlled with a bit of Benadryl. We made sure not to bath her too very often just lots of brushing. many people also add a healthy oil to their dogs diet.

Don't try and change to many things at once or you may miss what is the actual cause. The fastest way to find out allergies is testing but it can be expensive. You can do a food trial like we did for Sparkles it took six months to figure out it was Chicken and certain grains so that can be stressful. If you can the testing can really save you time and stress.


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