Quote 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!
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.