UP TO SCRATCH!
Your Dog vet Vicky Payne has a lot of itchy dogs to check over at this time of year.
The ‘itchy dog’ season started early this year, and now it is in full swing! It seems every consulting session has more than its fair share of itchy dogs…
First up was a puppy second vaccination for Biscuit, the Golden Retriever. Her owner was worried as Biscuit seemed very itchy despite being up-to-date with flea medication. I took a comb and brushed through the coat; there was no flea dirt, but there was lots of puppy fluff and some dandruff. I checked under the microscope for cheyletiella, the walking dandruff mite, but the sample was clear. In this case it is likely that shedding her fluffy puppy coat was the cause of Biscuit’s scratching. I recommended daily brushing to remove the dead coat and checking that Biscuit was on a good quality diet.
Next was an older farm collie called Max who we hadn’t seen at the practice since March 2019. His owner explained that he was scratching all night and keeping her awake, and it couldn’t be fleas as she had been putting ‘stuff’ on every month, which came in the post. Max looked a bit of a state, with clumps of fur missing, raw skin in his groin, and scabs all along his back. After a general check over, I took out my comb again and found big, bouncy fleas. Max’s owner was upset, as she thought she had done the right thing buying a flea treatment that could be delivered to her home to avoid going out during the pandemic. I explained that there might be resistance to some over-the-counter treatments, and that with Max’s outdoor lifestyle he needed a prescription-strength product. His owner said she found applying the spot-on tricky with Max’s thick coat, which might also be a reason why the drops were not working well. I sent her home with flea and tick tablets to be given once every three months, and a short course of steroids to help soothe the itching.
A CHANGE OF DIET
After lunch I had a double appointment booked to discuss skin problems with the owner of a young French Bulldog. Candy was about two years old when she started to scratch and to smell yeasty. Candy’s owner consulted lots of Frenchie forums and had tried a new diet every few weeks, including raw meat. Two weeks earlier, during a busy evening surgery, I had put Candy onto a medication for atopic skin disease and now I would find out if that had helped, and discuss long-term treatment. Candy looked a lot better as she came into the room, but her owner still looked very worried. I examined Candy and explained
that her remarkable recovery on the medication probably meant she had atopic skin disease. This is an allergy to environmental allergens, including pollens, fungal spores, and mites. Some dogs also have an adverse skin reaction when they eat certain foods. Candy’s owner was keen to know if a different diet could help, so we talked about the options. I could refer her to a colleague who would make up a balanced, exclusion diet recipe for home cooking, or she could try a commercial, hydrolysed diet where the protein sources are treated so they are less likely to cause a reaction. Food trials require the dog to eat nothing else for up to 12 weeks to see if the skin reaction improves. However, Candy’s owner wanted an opinion on yet another Frenchie forum-recommended diet. This was a commercial vegetarian diet that has been designed for dogs with adverse skin reactions to meat proteins. It is balanced and has good levels of omega 3 to support healthy skin, so Candy will try this for the next few months, along with a probiotic supplement, as good gut health is intricately linked to good skin health. We also agreed that Candy should stay on the allergy medication, despite some initial concerns from her owner. She had read about some worrying side effects, but after reviewing the alternative medications she was reassured that the drug was safe for Candy, but that we would try to stop it after three months on the new diet.
DEMODECTIC MANGE
By 6.30pm I was flagging, so it was good to see some easier appointments! Bruiser the Bulldog was in for a final check after having demodectic mange. These mites live in the skin and can cause itching and hair loss around the feet and eyes; the disease is more common in bull breeds.
Treatment used to involve baths in a noxious chemical, but now a dose of one of our flea treatments does the trick.
Another easy patient was Shih Tzu Gizmo who used to suffer with atopic dermatitis and had tried every treatment we had to offer. He was one of the first dogs we tried with a monoclonal antibody injection and now he is itch-free!
Finally, it was repeat prescription time. Boris the Westie needed more prednisolone, antihistamine, and skin supplement, so I wasn’t quite done with the itchy dogs! The new treatments for atopic dermatitis have less long-term side effects than steroids, but for some owners steroids are the affordable option.
By using antihistamines and a supplement containing omega 3, EPA, and DHA fatty acids, biotin, and vitamin E, we can keep Boris’s steroid dose to a minimum and control his itch with less side effects than if we used steroids on their own.
“It seems every consulting session has more than its fair share of itchy dogs...”