# Dog won't stop Scratching After being Neutered



## GR_Princess (May 12, 2009)

I met a guy today, who has a dog, who's been in a cone and clothing for over 2 years. He told me his dog won't stop scratching and if he removed the cone or clothing the dog will scratch himself endlessly, making himself bleed all over.

He said ever since he took his 3 year old dog to get neutered, the vet put the cone on and it never came off. 

The dog was completely fine before getting neutered. 

I never heard of anything like this before, I'm wondering if it has something to do with testosterone production or the anaesthesia that was used. 

The vet says, she has no clue, she never heard of anything like that before.

I'm was hoping someone might have a suggestion on what causes this and how to correct it.


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## ReleaseTheHounds (Feb 12, 2009)

Has he tried saying "no!" and wagging his finger while prusing his lips? Worked for me!


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

It's not uncommon to be itchy after surgery, between the incision itself and the anesthesia used (as well as certain pain medications). I haven't heard of it ever lasting that long though. I have to assume the dog's been thoroughly checked out in the last 2 years, right? Maybe a second opinion is in order? Do they have doggy dermatologists?

Julie and Jersey


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

There is no doubt in my mind the guy needs to find a new vet and a personal trainer to undo the damage of having a dog in an ecollar for 2 years. Poor pup. Could be anything from allergies to anxiety.


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## kjarv24 (Nov 7, 2008)

Wow I agree with Oakly's dad...2yrs in an e-collar!! 
I think a 2nd opinion is in order here!!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I can't imagine what it would have to do with the neutering, unless the hormone changes threw the thyroid off. That would be fairly straightforward to figure out, though. Not knowing if the owners are responsible or not, I could also guess that the dog caught something while at the vet's and it's never been diagnosed properly.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

That is the strangest thing I've ever heard... this guy definitely needs to get his dog to a different vet to get a 2nd opinion.. possibly get a referral to a specialist dealing with canine skin issues, or as was suggested earlier get his thyroid checked out. There has to be some explanation for this.

Honestly, if I had a dog who had to wear an e-collar and clothing for the rest of his life or he'd scratch himself to death to the point of bleeding.. I would actually put the dog to sleep. That is no quality of life. 

Of course I am not saying this person should do so... I am sure there must be some explanation that the current vet just has not found or not looked into thoroughly. I just meant after all other options have been exhausted and if there are still no answers... that poor dog.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

Heck, Honey will have been in her cone 3 weeks tomorrow and I can hardly wait for her to get out of it. Her leg is healing very well and probably another week or less. But I can't imagine YEARS in a cone, plus clothing. hat beat anything I ever heard of.


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

The suggestion of a thyroid issue really got me thinking. What if they just ran the quick test in the office and think they've ruled it out? Tell this man that if he has not done so yet he needs to have the vet (preferably a new one) run a FULL thyroid panel and have it sent out to Dr. Jean Dodds (her information is all over this forum, just do a quick search or google her). The low side of normal is low for a golden, too many vets don't know that.

Julie and Jersey


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

Poor thing...that is a horrible life. I hope they've at least given him benadryl for the itching, since they've done nothing else. I hope they do find a new Vet and some answers.


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## GR_Princess (May 12, 2009)

Update..

The guy had an Holistic Vet come over, he also invited me to sit down with them. When the vet got there, he wanted to know everything about the dog since day one. He journalled all the events in the dogs life and every major change that took place. (Change of homes, doing home constructions, vaccinations, Introduction to the second dog they got, etc) 

The vet was more concerned with what changed in the dog's life and tried to draw a correlation between what changed and when things started to go wrong. 

For Example, when the dog developed Calcium Oxalate crystals, just after they got the new dog. He attributed the development of the crystals to the introduction of the new dog, saying that at that time the urine changed because he had mark his terrority, since he had another dog to compete with. 

I wasn't sure what to think, the he proceeds to say, the Event (Change) is the match (Trigger). If there is fuel lying around the Match (trigger) it causes an explosion, when there is no fuel the match just dies out. 

He referred to the fuel as the "Bad Nutrition". If the dog was on proper nutrition, the change in the dog urine at that point in time wouldn't of caused the crystals from forming, since there was no (fuel) "Bad Nutrition".

So 2 hours later, the vet also pointed out a few out physical issues with the other dog. That you can plainly see he was absolutely correct on, that they weren't aware of, which was causing the earwax buildup. 

So in the end, he had them put the dog on collostrum, digestive enzymes and start feeding a raw diet and took the dog off the Purina NF. He wanted them get rid of the fuel (bad nutrition) first, so when the match goes off, it quickly dies out. 

It's been about two weeks and he says, He can take the cone off for a little while, but eventually, the dog will start scratching 30 mins later. He said which is much better then instantly. 

We'll see what happens, hopefully,after a few more weeks the dogs cone can stay off.

It was a different experience, the vet was convincing in his arguments, I'm glad I was able to attend.


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## GR_Princess (May 12, 2009)

The cone has now been off the dog permanently for 10 days, just minor scratching from time to time. 

They had to go against the Direct Recommendation of there original vet (Keeping the dog on Purina NF) and followed the new vets advice, strictly Raw Food and freezed dried raw treats.

They say the dog is so much happier now and is full of Zest.


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## GRZ (Dec 4, 2008)

You mean that first vet didn't even try to rule out allergies!?!

Dogs can develop allergies to their food at _any_ time, even if they've been on the food forever.

Glad the dog is happier. What a horrible life it's had over the past two years! I would NEVER go back to that original vet. Ever.


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