Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 9/15/2008

Question
my 13 month old german shepherd cannot stop scatching it is mainly on the joints of his paws the vet says he cannot see any kind of flee or mite.the dog was prescribed a 7 day course of rilexine and also fleed again but after 7 days we had to return to the vet and he repeated the prescription for another 7 days the dog is half way through the second course and is still itching the vet has told me to return when the second course is complete.should i change the vet.i have also used an allergy soap on him (cant remember the name but it cost £7 and was made in scotland if this will help you)thanks.

Answer
Even if the vet did skin scrapings and did not see any mites, like demodex, I would treat him anyway.  That is common place for these mites to show up.  The itch when there is an infection, so the rilexine antibiotics may need to be continued for several weeks. In addition, if the dog is itchy, I would ask the vet for a short treatment with a steroid like prednisone to see if it is allergic in origin.  If all else fails, ask your vet to do a skin bipopsy to see what type of disease it is.