he's gonna scratch a hole in himself.....help!

[lute]

beanie has started scratching and biting his backside and back legs. i've givin him a medicated itch bath and put vegitable oil in his food,but he's still scratching! how do i stop this. he's almost scratchedholes on his butt!

thanks for any help.
lexie

[heinz57_79]

Scratching is hard to curb, but if he's biting you can use Bitter Apple spray around the area. It's a taste deterrent and is good for stopping coat chewing and things like that.

[lute]

i'll try that.....what if he has just really dry skin?

[heinz57_79]

If it's dry skin there's a few things you can do. A little olive oil in his food helps, and when you give him a bath use an oatmeal shampoo that has no fragrance and don't use doggy cologne or anything like that on him. Also, if he does have dry skin don't bathe him more than once a month, twice a month if he gets dirty. What kind of food is he on? WHen we got Anna, her previous owner said she had really bad skin, and it was really flaky. But he had her on Purina puppy chow (not the best stuff out there) and kept bathing her in stuff that had tons of fragrance. We started feeding her Nutro and I gave her a bath in oatmeal shampoo and now her coat is beautiful.

[Logan]

I have to say, Lexie, that you need to talk with your vet. A simple course of Benadryl might take care of the problem, but obviously, you need to get the right amounts and make sure that it is something that can be solved without bringing the dog into the vet's office.

Good luck!

[lute]

heinz,
i am feeding him diamond dog food. i've been feeding it to him for a while now. i don't think it's the food. i just started putting olive oil in his food today. i gave him a bath a week and a half ago. but if the oil doesn't help i'll bathe him agian.

Logan,
if all else fails i'm gonna take him to the vet and see if he has allergies or something.

[Logan]

Depending on what Diamond food you are using, Lexie, you might have your answer. Their "basic" foods are filled with corn, which are huge cause of allergies.

[lv4dogs]

I agree it is probably an allergic reaction to something.
Possibly food, they can get allergies at any time, so even if he was allright on it before it may still be the cause.
Fleas are a big allergy problem in dogs too.
Dry skin also, which olive oil or safflower oil may help, but you may not see any improvement until a month or maybe longer, as it will have to heel fromt he inside out when dealing w/ food issues/treatments.

Just an FYI: dry skin is not very common in the summer months.

I probably would not put the bitter aplle right on the sore spots as it may just make the problem worse.

bathing often may make it worse, if you know the condition & have the right shampoo it may make it better though. A vet can tell you what you should use.

The best bet would be to take him to a vet. Or at the very least at first try him on a better food, good lamb & rice formulas (w/ no corn) is good for skin problems, and continue to add the extra oil to his food.

good luck

[lute]

it may be the food,because i've had him on it for about month. i'll talk to my mom about it when she get's home from work. i may,just because i hate changing his food, take him to the vet just to make sure it's the food.