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About Jana Connell RVT, CVT
Expertise
PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME: I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer. IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!! I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I DO NOT do birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!

Experience
I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina. I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.

Organizations
Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

Education/Credentials
Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Birds > Ask the Veterinarian > My dog scratches non stop

Ask the Veterinarian - My dog scratches non stop

Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 11/2/2009

Question
I have a pit bull who is a little over one years old. Im not sure of her vaccination history because shes a dog that I rescued. She seems to be in good health but she scratches all the time. she does not have flee's and whatever is bothering her is not bothering our other two dogs. I havnt noticed any dry or flaky skin, or any sort of rash, but bathing her does not help at all. Do you have any Ideas on what could be causing her relentless itching, or what i can do to help her?

Answer
Dogs that scratch like this are allergic. Most of the time it's fleas. Just because the other two dogs don't scratch doesn't mean there are no fleas. I am sure if you looked really closely you will find plenty of them.

Bathing is only going to make this worse. Bathing dries out their skin and makes it harder for them to battle the itches. She could be allergic to anything other than fleas or on top of fleas. She could have inhalant allergies, she could be allergic to your rugs or carpet or smoke in the house.

If it was food she would have more symptoms but sometimes food makes it worse. The major allergen for dogs in food is beef, wheat, dairy products, cheese, lamb and rice. Pork is also an allergen for some dogs.

Dogs with atopic (all over inhalant allergies) will scratch all the time, itch and have red and inflamed skin. Eventually they start to damage the skin.
Flea allergies do the same thing. A dog need only be bit by one flea to scratch for two weeks or more. So if she is getting bit daily she will scratch all the time.

If you have had this dog more than one day then she should have already been vaccinated by your vet and on heartworm prevention. That means rabies also.
She needs to have a little trip to the vet now and get a good look over as to what is causing this itchiness before her skin breaks down and you have a real mess on your hands.

You may also want to put her on a diet for sensitive skin or even a lamb and rice diet for a while to see if that helps.

If it's fleas, then the whole house and all the dogs need to be treated with a knock down spray, preferably one that will also kill eggs, larvae and adults.

Get some Ovitrol spray as it will do all of that. It has an IGR in it, an Insect Growth Regulator- which is what you need.

Here is a page about the life cycle of fleas:
http://www.ah.novartis.com/cab/en/dog_fleas_lifecycle.shtml

So start with the flea issue and then go from there.

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