Boxer wont stop scratching

[Bronx xx]

I feel hopeless my boy is constantly scratching I have tried so many kinds of washes, the vet prescribed me tablets but they didn't agree with him. I have him on Claratyne to try and ease the itch but it doesn't seem to be working.
I've tried grain free food, I thought it might be cigarette smoke but I've recently quit, I've even tried not washing him for a month.
Hes so uncomfortable please help!!

 

[Mad Murphy]

Go back to your vet..
See if they can do skin tests or elimination tests.

 

[Bronx xx]

Go back to your vet..
See if they can do skin tests or elimination tests.

I'm in the process of finding a good vet the one I have been going to seemed to only want to trail different tablets.

 

[JoanneF]

Nothing that you have described in your dog's scratching points to

cutaneous asthenia

and while

hypothyroidism

can cause poor skin, itching isn't an associated symptom.

Guessing at possible causes is fraught with problems but pointing to conditions that don't match the symptoms is misleading.

To solve the problem, you really need to try and find the cause. Skin scrapes will help identify his load of demodex mites (all dogs have these, some suffer itching more than others as a result). Or it may be a food allergy - if you can, try to find a food with a protein he hasn't had before, like kangaroo, and feed only that food for 6 weeks. Then gradually add back other things. A surprising number of dogs are allergic to chicken. Or it may be that he is allergic to something environmental like dust mites. If that is the case, hard flooring and leather furniture might help. But of course it isn't always practical to redecorate for the dog!

 

[excuseme]

Just out of interest , have you thought of trying a raw diet?
It is reported to have helped a lot of itchy dogs.

 

[leashedForLife]

.

I'd get a referral to a k9 dermatologist.
Dogs have 90%-plus of their MAST cells in the skin - mast cells manufacture histamine, the body's reactive chemical to environmental insults of all kinds. // Humans have mast cells all over & interior, too - stuff we eat that doesn't agree, causes digestive issues; stuff we inhale, causes nose, eye, & throat or lung symptoms.
With dogs, EVERYthing manifests as "skin problems".

Dermos are not cheap, but getting accurate Dx is everything - his comfort & even his life can be at stake, as broken skin is an expressway for infection, & skin health affects the entire body, almost as much as gut health [75% of our immune systems are actually in our intestines].

An elimination diet might be one way to go, but blood tests & / or skin prick tests to narrow down the list of possible culprits can help enormously.
Washing laundry with only "free & clear" liquid soaps, getting rid of plug-in fragrances, using environmentally-friendly CLEANERS [bathroom, kitchen, floors, dishwasher...], & avoiding synthetic fragrances of all sorts can all help, even if none of them is specific to his reaction.

Fragrances are notorious for touching off allergies - & we have fake perfumes in every soap, "air freshener", counter-spray, window-cleaner, toilet-bowl freshener, LAUNDRY RINSE, dryer sheets, all sorts of stinky cr*p.
I'd try to eliminate as many as possible.

Let us know what the dermatologist says, please?
ALSO - U may want to get vet-insurance coverage *** before *** U get a proper diagnosis, or it will be a pre-existing condition with zero coverage.

Paws crossed,
- terry

.

 

[Bronx xx]

Thanks for the help everyone. Im mainly loplomg for something to ease it while in the process of finding a vet I feel I can trust, it's a little hard when there is none in my town and have to travel 1hr each directiion. Sorry I haven't given much information to help source the problem because I have no idea, next week he could be fine. I bathed him in QV bath oil as the vet directed but no help the the grain free food I had him on was optimum share the freedom.

 

[Mad Murphy]

We had terrible problems with Murphy last year, the vet gave us a hypoallergenic food which he refused to eat.. 3 days and not a gram of food he started to really loose weight so we gave up.

Then the vet gave us apoquel which gave us and him relief. We have been trying an elimination diet and a diary of food and walks and eventually found main triggers to be beef and potato in food . Also freshly cut grass. Long grass is fine but once the council mow he will itch so we avoid fresh mown parks and stick to councty walks with unkempt hedgerows!

Its taken nearly a year to get this far but we finally have a situation where he is not always rubbing his chin and we are not constantly guarding against him rubbing.. Dont give up and remember there could be more than just one trigger for the itching.

 

[merlina]

Hmm...I've got an itchy boy who arrived as a youngster with mites. Even though treated it has left him very sensitive. I'd certainly get vet to skin scrape (I've been told a dog may never be 100% free of mites even when treated). We use neem oil added to a mild shampoo to bathe him and rub some onto his brush to groom him now and then. Also a raw diet. As Mad Murphy says you just need to keep working the problem till you get an improvement.

 

[leashedForLife]

... (I've been told a dog may never be 100% free of mites even when treated).
...

.

was he treated for Demodex or Sarcoptes mites?

Demodex are commensal - that is, they're native to dogs' skins & normal, just like the mites on human skins that inhabit our eyebrow follicles, which we acquire from contact with our mothers within 24-hrs of birth.

Sarcoptes are mange-mites, not normal to dogs, & contagious.

An outbreak of Demodex in a pup indicates immune-problems; it's caused by a massive overpopn of the commensal mite-species, in which they don't do their clean-up job, they cause skin damage, & even after the pups recover, such dogs shouldn't be bred.

- terry

.

 

[merlina]

Of course Demodex- but he was in poor general condition when we got him; bred as a working dog I guess but much too nervous of his own shadow, as well as noises. He's probably always going to have immune problems and is much too crazy in general ever to think of breeding from him- which I'd never do anyway. Too many dogs in the world, not enough good homes.

 

[leashedForLife]

QUOTE, merlina:

...Demodex - but he was in poor general condition when we got him; bred as a working dog, I guess, but much too nervous of his own shadow, as well as noises. He'll probably always... have immune problems, and is much too crazy in general ever to think of breeding from him...

I'd never [breed a litter], anyway. Too many dogs in the world, not enough good homes.
__________________________________
.

Aw, poor boy. Glad U found him fairly young.

Yes, demodicosis [a Demo outbreak in puphood] is sadly an indicator of a poorly-functioning & / or hyperreactive immune response - if the Demo-outbrak is primarily due to malnutrition, the pup may become a normally-healthy adult with a healthy immune system, but that's an exception.

As a general rule, dogs who had Demo as pups are more-susceptible to contagions lifelong, plus they're prone to inflammatory disease of all kinds [atopy, cardiac issues as seniors, lupus, arthritis, autoimmune destruction of their own thyroid hormone, etc].
================================

Is he past 5-YO, @merlina ? -
if so, U might want to do a full thyroid-panel [5 or possibly 6 separate tests, both free & bound forms of T3 & T4 plus TSH, & maybe ANA as well - anti-nuclear antibody]. Send it off to either Michigan State Univ vet labs, or HemoPet, for analysis - my bias is toward MSU, as they have the world's largest breed-specific database of thyroid values, but HemoPet also enjoys a worldwide reputation for excellence, & gets specimens from around the globe.

Don't let yer vet talk U into "saving $$" by skipping one or more tests - free vs bound is like floor & ceiling, the measurement U need is the one between them, & ANA will reveal if the dog is destroying their own tissue.
Also, it's not a savings to have the hospital down the street, or the vet themselves, run the analysis - it's not the numbers, but the assessment of what that means to Ur particular dog that's key, & a GP vet cannot know the ins & outs of thyroid function, particularly re breed, age, etc, the way an endocrinologist will.
In the USA, a 5 or 6-way thyroid panel runs about $75, & U want to wring every drop of information out of that specimen that U possibly can - it's a normative value for the dog's medical files, so hold onto that analysis.

- terry

.

 

[merlina]

No he's only just coming up to 2 years now- and is in good health now we've found the right diet for him. It's only this last few months though he seems to have 'caught up' developmentally. House training took nine months...it took over a year for him to 'lift a leg' instead of dipping! Hence 'oh she's lovely' from people we met. I do have a very good friend who's a vet and he sent him/us to our wonderful (and local) University Vet School's hospital for a couple of little things and then a general 'work-up'- but their opinion is he has a good chance of a normal life. But you're right I do think he had very poor nutrition at first- and once his breeder decided he was surplus to requirements not much TLC. I'm glad he found us too because I don't think he was cut out to work for his living!