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Beagles/Beagle Scratching a lot
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we adopted our beagle, Shiloh about 3 months ago. He has been chewing, scratching, and biting himself to the point the some of his tail has gone bald and on his butt too. I'm not sure if this is normal for beagle but personally i don't think it is. is this something due to his food possible, Nutro Rice %26 Lamb, we give him Milk-Bone treats too and also use frontline for flea and tick prevention or is this some other reason the he just keeps doing it. hes still playful as always but just gets those times where he just goes to town and itches for a while. we got him a cone for a while but he just started back up when we took it off. any advise would be greatly appreciated and helpful.
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Hi thanks for writing..... Poor Shiloh, he definately has some bad allergies going on. First off check his ears, are they poink or red, crusty or full of wax..... if any of these this is the teltale sign for food allergies which are not at all unusual in Beagles. Unfortunately the fact that they are such allergic dogs is the reason that laboratories and companies like Proctor and Gamble do tests on them but that is another story.
He is on lamb which is usually the first thing you try with an allergic dog, but it is possible that he is allergic to the lamb. ( I had a beagle who was). My current beagle has turned out to be allergic to everything but fish so I can only feed him salmon dog food and treats. I still allow him to have rawhide sometimes (beef) which does flare up his ears but once I got the intial issue calmed down it isnt too bad and unfortunately no one has come up with salmon rawhide. :)
You are going to have to try an elimination diet to figure out what his allery is from. The most usual suspects are beef, chicken and grains. You have to be very careful when you do this to not slip in anything that can taint the test like Milkbone or treats that are not the same as the food you give. When you try him on a new food you have to do it gradually, you cannot just switch or he will get diarrhea. You would buy a new food and start by mixing small amount into his current and each day increase the new and decrease the old so it is gradual like over a weeks time. I would suggest using Dick Van Patten's food, it can be found at PetCo and other pet stores. They have several Limited Ingredient Diets with novel proteins. Novel proteins are meats that a dog has never encountered therefore it is a true test. I would start with Venison and a Sweet Potatoe diet. ALl of their foods are also grain free and free of the most common allergenic items. Sweet potatoes are extremely unusual to be allergic to for dogs for some reason. Give that one a try for 2-3 months, if it hasnt improved his sores and itching then switch to the Salmon like I did. You have the luck of talking to someone who has runthe gamut with this and tried everything there is including the incredibly ridiculously overpriced special diet from the vet and the one that worked was Dick Van Patten's allergy diets; Limited Ingredient Diets which is more expensive than Nutro but way less than the vet stuff. It is also one of the few foods out there with a five star rating as far as providing pure and healthy proteins.
So now there are a couple other things you can do. Start him on benadryl 25 mg every day. You can buy it over the counter, this will help with the itching some. Keep him on it every day, it is not harmful and lots of beagles (including mine) are on it forever. The other thing is using DermCaps. These consist of Omega Fatty Acids and are specifically for allergies and coat issues. I start all my dogs, beagles or not on these as soon as I get them and it staves off some allergy issues and their coats are amazing. They come in capsule form and can be disguised in a piece of cream cheese or wet dog food (Dick Van Patten food makes wet food that matches the dry) The cheapest place I have found them is www.omahavaccine.com
So ........ you have just learned what took me years to learn, lots of trips to the vet and dematologist vet for free! Hope it works out. ALso if SHiloh still is scratchinglike crazy he does need to wear the cone because if he gets a secondary infection in the sores it will be be not ony painfuland take forever to clear but costs you some big bucks.It is fairly ocmmon when dogs have hot spots so better to cone him until some of these things above kick in.
Feel free to check backanytime or gie me an update!
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Answers by Expert:
Have4Paws
Expertise
I am happy to answer BEAGLE BREED SPECIFIC behavioral questions. Please DO NOT ask CRATE TRAINING OR MEDICAL questions! I am not a vet nor an expert in the use of crates.
Experience
I currently have one beagle, a male age 4.5, an 9 month old Pit Bull, and a 6 year old min. poodle. I have had to let go of three of my dogs, 2 beagles and 1 whippet/rat terrier mix in the past 4 years, most recently my whippet mix. The two beagles lived to 15 and the whippet mix to 13.5, it has been hard to say goodbye to them. I have done rescue work on and off for years as well as fund-raising for the local animal shelter. I worked for a dog magazine in the past (Southern California Dog Magazine). Being a psychotherapist has encouraged me to do in depth studying of animal behavior as well. I have worked with many people to help curb undesirable behaviors in their dogs (or them!) or to form good behaviors. My life is devoted to and surrounded by my dogs........The picture you see here is Zeppelin but we also call him the "miracle dog". He was hit by a car April 2010 while out with the dog walker and had very serious injuries... 4 surgeries and $17,000 later my boy is whole again and back to loving life. He is so special to me and he weathered a lot of pain and trauma yet is still the sweet boy he always was!
Organizations
HSUS, PETA, SPCA
Publications
Dog Fancy
Education/Credentials
I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in the state of CA and am also credentialed as a Certified Addiction Treatment Specialist
Awards and Honors
Honored by the Agoura Animal Shelter for my volunteer work.
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