Star Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Seven and Star are itching like crazy. It started with just Seven, and now Star. Tummies, legs, necks and ears. I know they are miserable. When I asked vet about it two weeks ago for Seven, she thought food allergy and asked what I'd changed. But now it's worse and Star is itching like crazy too. Can't see any fleas, and none of us have been bitten by fleas, but did a good flea bath and washed rugs and beds day before yesterday. They are still itching like crazy. Any thoughts? I'm going to try to get them in to the vet today....I find it hard to believe it's allergies to grass or food since it started with Seven and now Star has the itchies too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I wouldn't even think twice about mange. If you're not seeing fleas, I think it's much more likely to be an allergy than mange. Mine have been way, way itchier than usual, too. No sign of fleas, but I've come to the conclusion it is either their food or an airborn allergy. One had pink feet and the other ear problems. The pollen counts are way up here. Just in case, I switched the protein source in their food, but I'm leaning towards it being something environmental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I agree with Paula. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Another possibility is mites. My old girl picked them up on a trip to the west coast last summer; the youngster didn't seem bothered, though later I figured out he had them too. She was totally MISERABLE. It took the fourth vet and two months to figure it out. Hope you have better luck! (Yes, two vets did the "tape test" but couldn't find any....she has a pretty thick long coat.) Treatment was three doses of Frontline, two weeks apart; after the first dose, five days later, she COMPLETELY stopped scratching. We never did the third dose then. Curiously, exactly a month after the first dose, she started up again (no travels this time); one more dose did the trick. Yes, I washed everything, vacuumed, etc. etc. FWIW, we dosed the youngster too so he didn't spread them back to her. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted March 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Thanks you guys! Did a skin scraping but the vet really thinks it's allergies to environment too. Your feedback helps me believe that's possible. She too said pollen counts are at an all time high this spring. She did a skin scrape, said no mites. I can't find evidence of fleas and neither could she. So, we'll do some prednisone and keep addressing potential fleas to see if it helps. Poor girls are starting to hurt themselves they scratch so much! I've had the itchies with allergic reactions to meds, so I know just how miserable they feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I'm chiming in with "seasonal" allgeries. Spring is a hard time here. All the dogs are blowing coat and with all the new growth we always get itchy in the sring. Ray gets it in the fall too but spring is the worst. Benadryl helps a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Kristen has a good idea with the Benadryl. I forgot to mention that I use that when they seem too uncomfortable. We only used prednisone short term with Lilly's ears, because they were so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Yikes, since the last post we've switched food, I've been rinsing them regularly, bathing with oatmeal each week, and I went back to the vet because the itching has gotten so intense! She put them on prednisone (which is fun in and of itself) and it didn't do any good. I called the vet Thursday and still haven't heard back. Switching vets tomorrow (which is really a whole other thread). They are miserable, I can't sleep, and I'm just furious that Seven, in her "golden" years is so miserable. I am convinced it's sarcoptic mites. The symptoms really do fit perfectly. INTENSE itching, scabs (Seven has several hot spots as well), itching is worse when they are warm, and no history of allergies. Keep in mind that Seven is 12 years old and has never had allergies. The hair around their armpits and groin is coming out from the scratching. If you look at a few pictures of sarcoptic mites, it looks like my dogs. We've certainly been to places since the holidays where they could pick it up--kennel over Christmas, the dog park, the ER vet and the regular vet. Also, as I've told my vet each time, Seven started first, then Star started in. We did do a skin scrape, but it seems that only finds the little buggers a small percentage of the time. It appears treatment is fairly simple, so why in the world wouldn't the vet recommend we try it, instead of being so dismissive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Yikes, since the last post we've switched food, I've been rinsing them regularly, bathing with oatmeal each week, and I went back to the vet because the itching has gotten so intense! She put them on prednisone (which is fun in and of itself) and it didn't do any good. I called the vet Thursday and still haven't heard back. Switching vets tomorrow (which is really a whole other thread). They are miserable, I can't sleep, and I'm just furious that Seven, in her "golden" years is so miserable. I am convinced it's sarcoptic mites. The symptoms really do fit perfectly. INTENSE itching, scabs (Seven has several hot spots as well), itching is worse when they are warm, and no history of allergies. Keep in mind that Seven is 12 years old and has never had allergies. The hair around their armpits and groin is coming out from the scratching. If you look at a few pictures of sarcoptic mites, it looks like my dogs. We've certainly been to places since the holidays where they could pick it up--kennel over Christmas, the dog park, the ER vet and the regular vet. Also, as I've told my vet each time, Seven started first, then Star started in. We did do a skin scrape, but it seems that only finds the little buggers a small percentage of the time. It appears treatment is fairly simple, so why in the world wouldn't the vet recommend we try it, instead of being so dismissive. Oh, let me clarify one thing--if you look at pictures of dogs with sarcoptic mites, just know that mine are not like the starving, 80% of hair gone pics that you might see. But, as an example, this puppy's ear is just like Sevens: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 We had a round with mange. I just used Revolution - per vet's insturctions. Application - wait two weeks and give another application. Then two more weeks and do it again. And then monthly. It worked pretty fast to ease the discomfort. It took a while to completely get rid of the stuff. I still don't know where we picked it up but probably at a vet's office somewhere. Are you scratching? That is one of the first ways to tell if it's mange - the owners get the mites on them and get bitten. Mites can't survive on humans because it's the wrong host but they sure can make you itch for a while - and then it goes away by itself once the dogs are clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Evans Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Mites can be missed on the skin scrapings. My dog had them once and we never found any on her but the hair loss looked correct. We treated for them and it worked. So go for the treatment even if you don't come up with anything on the scraping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted May 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 It has been a long month, to be sure, but I think we might finally be turning the corner. I took the dogs to a new vet and she saw fungal issues with a black light on Seven so we tried a fungal shampoo. Didn't work. Went back and saw another vet who took the time to listen to the whole history. She told me of a time early on when she had a dog she kept treating for allergies then finally treated for mites and it solved the problem. We dosed with Revolution and I just gave the second dose last week. One week after the first dose, the dogs were scratching less (almost not at all). Seven is also on an antibiotic as she had a mean looking hotspot and her skin was red and hot all over in the places she was itching. That is now improving, too. I finally started giving her Benadryl as well (really tried to avoid this as she's on pheno, but had to do something more immediate). They've had a couple of bouts of extreme itching, but the bet called Pfizer and they said this would be typical--increased itching as the mites die. The proof will be in one more month when we give one more dose of Revolution--then I can start backing off the Benadryl and (fingers crossed) they will not start scratching. Just in case, we also switched food (TOTW--yes, saw the recall a few minutes ago) last week. I still don't feel like we're done with this whole thing, but hope is on the horizon. The most important thing is that Seven is clearly feeling better--she actually played hide and seek with me yesterday and got really excited which was lovely to see. This is how I want my old dog to feel--bright eyed and waggy tailed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rufftie Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 good for you for keeping up the fight to get to the bottom of this problem. you are your dogs champion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 It's been a long, long time since I weighed in on this--2012 was a busy year and this year is shaping up the same.....Had my benefit horse show, then my parents' 50th anniversary, then the holidays, plus Seven's been keeping me busy this past year as a dog nurse (I sometimes joke to her that if she were a person I'd stick her in a home and come visit her on Sunday). Anyway, I thought an update might be useful--I think my feeling the problem was sarcoptic mites was dead on. We did Revolution, then again two weeks later, then again a month later. By the third dose, as expected, the itching was totally gone and the hair loss was growing back. So, if your dog suddenly starts itching like crazy......don't necessarily believe the food allergy/pollen count thing. Thanks to everyone for all of the feedback, which really helped me work through the problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Great that you got it taken care of! And thanks for giving us all some feedback so we know what to consider when itching is a problem. Very best wishes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted March 20, 2013 Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 It's been a long, long time since I weighed in on this--2012 was a busy year and this year is shaping up the same.....Had my benefit horse show, then my parents' 50th anniversary, then the holidays, plus Seven's been keeping me busy this past year as a dog nurse (I sometimes joke to her that if she were a person I'd stick her in a home and come visit her on Sunday). Anyway, I thought an update might be useful--I think my feeling the problem was sarcoptic mites was dead on. We did Revolution, then again two weeks later, then again a month later. By the third dose, as expected, the itching was totally gone and the hair loss was growing back. So, if your dog suddenly starts itching like crazy......don't necessarily believe the food allergy/pollen count thing. Thanks to everyone for all of the feedback, which really helped me work through the problem! Did you itch, too, when all this was going on? One easy way to tell sarcoptic mange is that anyone who handles the dogs will start to itch, too. They are kind of like flea bites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted March 20, 2013 Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 Tommy Coyote, just for the record: when my old girl had mites, I myself did not itch. My other dog didn't seem to be itching much, and the two were together. But I treated him anyway, just in case he might pass them back to her. Revolution, awful as it is, did the trick. OP will hopefully reply to your question. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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