Rocky is itchy!! *Update on post #28!*

Rocky has begun to itch his back legs, and around his genital area. He is matting his hair, and removing some. I dont understand what happened??? He was fine, then all of a sudden bam!! I cant get him to the vets till monday, so what can i do to help him now??? He seems to have on the hairless areas, around his genital and lower stomache, little red spots?? Like a rash or something??? anyways, the problem is, rocky will not let me touch him, I cant even lift his leg to look closely!! everytime i go near the area, he acts like he is gonna snap! He has been this way since day one! I believe it is because of the arthritis in his legs. So how can I help him, if he wont let me look???

What can i do ???? Please help!:confused:

If he is itchy, Benadryl might help. I wouldn't know how much to give such a big dog. Did he get into something? Maybe like poison ivy?

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Originally Posted by chocolatepuppy

If he is itchy, Benadryl might help. I wouldn't know how much to give such a big dog. Did he get into something? Maybe like poison ivy?

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I have heard of benadryl as well, but was unsure about it. Poison Ivy? i doubt it, it i very cold here, was a high of 10 today!

I thought you could still get it in the winter. Not sure. Regardless, Benadryl might help the itch. My Lacey has taken it as well as my RB Mandy. They took 3 pills throughout the day and weighed 70 and 90 lbs. I hate to tell you to give him something but if he's miserable itchy,maybe it would help. Maybe someone else will come on and offer some advice.

benedryl is the best thing until you can get him to the vet, that is what i had to give my cockers when they would get stuff that put a rash on them, and the vet actually reccomends it, my cockers were at the most 35lbs, so i only gave them one.. hope he gets to feeling better.

Arghhhh...!!!! Whay does tis stuff always happen on the weekends??? I am going to try teh benadryl, and see what happens. It seems that the worst areas, are just inside his back legs, and the back of his rear legs.

The emergency animal clinic can tell you over the phone what dosage of benadryl to give a dog his size.

I didnt see this until this morning, so I am assuming you got the dose. Also with a large chambered heart breed especially, the dose really does need to come from a vet.
Let me ask you something- do you use carpet powders? Or shampoo on the rug, or even floor cleaners or polish. My shepherds several of them were allergic to " Shine bright" type mop on cleaners. If rocky was wet and laid on the floor, it could have gotton on his belly etc. Also I am sure you do not use cedar type bedding as that causes alot of skin allergies as well.
I am sure he will be just fine- and letting the vet be " the bad guy" at this point is probably a good idea.

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

I didnt see this until this morning, so I am assuming you got the dose. Also with a large chambered heart breed especially, the dose really does need to come from a vet.
Let me ask you something- do you use carpet powders? Or shampoo on the rug, or even floor cleaners or polish. My shepherds several of them were allergic to " Shine bright" type mop on cleaners. If rocky was wet and laid on the floor, it could have gotton on his belly etc. Also I am sure you do not use cedar type bedding as that causes alot of skin allergies as well.
I am sure he will be just fine- and letting the vet be " the bad guy" at this point is probably a good idea.

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I have not given him any benadryl yet, i am just not sure about it. I have been using anti-itch sprays which seem to be helping some. I have wooden floors, and concrete. so no carpet shampoos here. no cedar bedding either. they spend most of their time downstairs in the basement, as that is where i spend all of my time, as we are still working on the upstairs. i was thinking maybe dry skin, as we have a woodstove, but wouldnt that effect, more than just his back leg area? I tried last night to have hubby distract him, as i ried to lift that huge fluffy tail to get a look at his back legs, adn all i can see is wet fur, where he has been licking.
the only things that we have done since Rocky has been here, is treated with frontline, been bathed, gone to vet for his Rabies vac.. other than that, nothing has changed in the 3 weeks since he has been here. he sleeps on the same bed, I havent used any chemicals on the floor. I am just lost??

Well frontline doesnt cause this and unless you used a flea shampoo, which I know you didnt, that doesnt make any sense either as far as a reaction. I am lost as well.. let me know what the vet says.. hmmm..
If he was mostly a outside dog, coming in with a woodstove ( I know because I have one) I put water on the stove in a woodstove cast iron pot.. Maybe the excessive licking just aggrevated it..

here are some pics of what i could get him to let me get at, with excessive scrating and lovin. not sure if they will help, but maybe.
a shot of his back legs, nothing but wet fur.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/100_5088.jpg
between his legs
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/100_5117.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/100_5118.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/100_5125.jpg
here you can see the tiny red spots on his skin
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/100_5121.jpg

If it wasnt raw in the skin- I would say spray some bitter apple- but it does contain alcohol, and it would burn.. I am sorry- but I just have no clue.. But I am sure the vet will- if nothing else treatment to get rid of the irratation.
Femka licks the inside of her front legs- after healed up, I put a little bitter apple. I also noticed she does this when she feels stressed.

You washed him at home right? That may be the start of hotspots because of the moisture that was trapped in his coat. Unless you have a forced air dryer there's no way to properly dry such a long thick coat at home. Nebo got hot spots when I'd let him swim because I didn't have a dryer at home to get out all the moisture, trust me, towel drying is not sufficient even it is a warm day. Hope Rocky gets feeling better soon.

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Originally Posted by wolf_Q

You washed him at home right? That may be the start of hotspots because of the moisture that was trapped in his coat. Unless you have a forced air dryer there's no way to properly dry such a long thick coat at home. Nebo got hot spots when I'd let him swim because I didn't have a dryer at home to get out all the moisture, trust me, towel drying is not sufficient even it is a warm day. Hope Rocky gets feeling better soon.

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Ahh- you may be totally right- my collies were like that. The borzois shed water pretty quick- its bath weekend here- and only hottie do I blow out because of how dense his coat is- and long-..

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

Ahh- you may be totally right- my collies were like that. The borzois shed water pretty quick- its bath weekend here- and only hottie do I blow out because of how dense his coat is- and long-..

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so what can i do to make him dry quicker at home???

Put a blow dryer on the under areas. right now we need the skin to heal. I love metro dryers as it forces the water off without the heat. But they will run you about 180 dollars- then again- its the life for the dog if not more so. My last metro dryer that died was like 15 years old! or more..

They look like hotspots to me, 2 of my dogs get them Chance has them right now, if you can and it is hot spots try to trim the hair and use cortisone lotion or spray, it would need to be dried out, seems like longer haired big dogs get them most, but my german shepard huskey gets them from bee stings when she is outside and certain insects.

I would love to be able to trim the hair, if anything to get a better look, but he just wont let me touch. Last night i was using hubby as a distractor, while i looked, be will only take that so much.

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Originally Posted by critter crazy

I would love to be able to trim the hair, if anything to get a better look, but he just wont let me touch. Last night i was using hubby as a distractor, while i looked, be will only take that so much.

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Let the vet be the bad guy and lets get it healed then go from there. I looked at petsmart - there are some forced air dryers that are cheaper- attaching link.. http://www.petsmart.com/global/searc...N=2026059&Ne=2

I am just gonna leave well enough alone, and call the vet first thing tomarrow morning, and we will go from there. thanks for all the input everyone!

Sounds good- could even be something left over from his old home.. Let us know what happens at the vet.. ;)

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Originally Posted by critter crazy

Rocky has begun to itch his back legs, and around his genital area. He is matting his hair, and removing some. I dont understand what happened??? He was fine, then all of a sudden bam!! I cant get him to the vets till monday, so what can i do to help him now??? He seems to have on the hairless areas, around his genital and lower stomache, little red spots?? Like a rash or something??? anyways, the problem is, rocky will not let me touch him, I cant even lift his leg to look closely!! everytime i go near the area, he acts like he is gonna snap! He has been this way since day one! I believe it is because of the arthritis in his legs. So how can I help him, if he wont let me look???

What can i do ???? Please help!:confused:

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If one were allowed to say so on this forum without getting people worked up then I would mention that the dosage for Benedryl is 1-2 mg/lb. I would also mention typically I have given my 60-70 lb dogs 50 mg of Benedryl at night, and a follow up dose of 25 mg in the morning. My previous dog has allergen problems, the current two much less so. Only problem I've found with the 50 mg dose is excessive snoring at night. Although if snoring occurs at any time with my female, I can tell her to "go get on your pillow". At which point she gets up, leaves my bedroom, and goes to the other bedroom where her doggy pillow is located. A win-win scenario.

The spots/rash is most likely a contact allergy problem. Either an allergen in the environment or possibly a flea/mite allergy. There's a smaller chance it could be a food allergy- but unlikely. Probably getting some scrapings at the Vet to check for mites would be prudent. Your challenge in working with the Vet will be to identify the underlying cause of the allergy. The one picture looks like infected flea bites. The Vet will probably prescribe an antibiotic such as Cephalexin to help clear up the skin.

The only time my dogs get shampooed is when they go out and roll in deer doo-doo. Outside of that a once weekly trip to the pond for a quick swim does just fine. Frequent shampooing will only dry out the skin causing more problems. The only exception was the weekly oatmeal shampoos I gave my male when he got Demodex mange as a puppy. I would definitely avoid doing anything that might dry the skin unless your Vet indicates otherwise.

Be careful self medicating a deep chambered heart breed- check with the vet or emergency center for the dose..

It could also be brought on by something as simple as missing a small area during the rinsing after the bath. Even a little bit of shampoo residue would have caused him to lick, which would cause irritation and leave the skin open to infection.

Hope the vet can figure it out and provide some immediate relief.

On such a big guy that's got to be a heckuva big itch! :eek:

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

Be careful self medicating a deep chambered heart breed- check with the vet or emergency center for the dose..

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borzoinmom, this is a new one on me. Can you explain what you mean by deep chambered heart breed? Aren't all dogs hearts the same other than size?

Rocky has an appointment for 10:30 this morning at the Vets, hopefully they can shed some light on this, and make my poor baby feel better!

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Originally Posted by applesmom

borzoinmom, this is a new one on me. Can you explain what you mean by deep chambered heart breed? Aren't all dogs hearts the same other than size?

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No- after having EKG's done on shepherds etc., and spending alot of time with the top veternary hospital in our state- I learned a few years back that several of the giant breeds have a different heart in respects to the chamber of the heart- the amount of blood it circulates, etc. Its also the reason that they have a slower pulse etc. The chamber is deeper, and thicker in the muscle wall. Some theories are that this is to protect the heart more from a blow, some reason its because its to move the amount of oxygen- carried through the blood, for the brain function etc.
YOu can tell by the ultrasounds, images etc the heart of a giant breed. Its also the reason a large breed can have a microvalve prolapse, and other heart problems more than a smaller dog. Its also supports the belief for most giant breeds to on average live shorter lives- although not totally consistant as like the Borzoi is a long lived breed. However- their ultrasound of their hearts has a more average size heart wall and not as pronounced deeper chest.
My point is with the deeper chambers- and more heart valve muscle- this can be stored longer in the heart than a smaller or average size breed. This consistantly shows up in breeds that average over a 100 pounds. Its was quite intesting to say the least.. I had Hottie done in the same place a few years back- and the deepness of the heart chamber amazed me. With a strong heart muscle- what would have been interputred- not knowing the breed- would have looked like at one point he had a heart attack.. The reason I went to the specialist- sure enough- same reasoning. They said because of this to also watch anethesia- a procedure I was always told was something to watch because of the lightness of body fat- the fact is- with the deeper chambers- the anethesia would stay in the body longer as it takes longer to circulate out of the heart valve muscles. After spending that money on a specialist- although it cost more money- the relief to know that situation did not exist was well worth the money.

Rocky And I are back from the vets, Rocky must have sat on something, and got an allergic reaction.The vet seems to think, that he has had this problem for a while. Unfortunately, we didnt know he was having a reaction, this weekeneds licking/itching was due to an Infection that had set in. What we saw, and this morning smelled was a result of him getting an infection in his back legs. So the vet gave him an Ijnection of antibiotics, and he has to take Cephalexin pills for the next 10 days. cost of total vet visit was 34$! I love my vet! he he he!

I was also able to get a Weight on rocky, he only weighs 128.7 pounds! The vet said he should at least be around 150. Even with his arthritis, which is doing very well. So we are still feeding him more food, until his weight is back where it should be. I will feel better once i can no longer feel his spine.

Rocky was a very good boy, and let the vet do everything he needed to without any problems, you could tell he wasnt enjoying himself, but i am very proud of him. My work is paying off! woohoo!

at the vet we got to meet a very aorable 9 week old female Saint!! She was the cutest thing in the world, and Rocky just loved her. We also got to meet, a Blue and Rust Doberman puppy!!! I had never seen one before, an it was the cutest thing ever. The poor thing was shivering the whole time we were there!

Oh honey that is wonderful news..
Question- do you have alot of sand or clay? This can cause problems.. I have been worried about him- I cant explain it- but I watch for any news on him. My heart just goes out to him..
I am sending you a pm.. your vet sounds great!

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

Oh honey that is wonderful news..
Question- do you have alot of sand or clay? This can cause problems.. I have been worried about him- I cant explain it- but I watch for any news on him. My heart just goes out to him..
I am sending you a pm.. your vet sounds great!

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no sand, but we do have alot of clay. the ground has been covered with snow, the last 2 weeks, of rockys three weeks with us. I just hope he gets to feeling better soon. so far since he has been home, he has not licked or scratched yet.

WONDERFUL to talk to you on the phone.. Still working on what we discussed..

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Originally Posted by borzoimom

WONDERFUL to talk to you on the phone.. Still working on what we discussed..

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I enjoyed the phone call as well! Thank you so much!!!