Dog biting itself

Vince32

yeah from what I can read on it, and from the posters here, it defo seems like a food allergy / reaction, if "barking heads" does the job that will be her food for the foreseeable future, regardless of cost, I can cut another pack of cigarettes out of my week to make up the difference (2 packs a week). It looks like it has a good composition so if it works I'll be happy.

littlebug

Vince if things don't improve do keep in mind to get her glands checked . My dog had the tail chewed to bleeding constantly when I got her and once her glands were emtpied it stopped. She needs them done regularly and I can tell when she starts getting a bit antsy.
I've just started mine on Barking Heads too. Seems to be working well so far

Vince32

Oh I will, we're going back to the vet on the 9th of feb, if it hasn't resolved or it gets worse we will book a sooner app.

Cherry Blossom

Vince32 wrote: »

Barking heads "puppy days"

Lol - I knew the exact one it was as soon as I saw the ingredients list, before anyone suggests I get a life this is what I'm planning to feed my new pup - at least it will be until I get to the stage where both dogs can be fed together as her ladyship can't have chicken so I don't want her robbing the puppy's food.

I know you mentioned fleas but has the pup been wormed recently? Sometimes puppies can have a high worm burden which might cause them distress.

Vince32

Yeah AJ, She has had "Advocate" apparently it de-fleas and something gets absorbed into the blood stream to de-worm. It's an all in 1 thing the VA gave to me from the clinic.

I have my doubts about it, as all the worming was in pill form for my last 2 dogs, but I guess this is progress at work.
I dosed her on monday and I guess I have to have faith that it's working, we're both going to the vet on 9th feb for a check up and more flea / worming but it might be sooner if the symptoms don't subside.

I'll give it a week, and introduce the new food, hopefully it will all calm down, tonight she was sitting on my lap and went at her legs again :S to early to tell if it's the food or something else.

axle108

I also use Advocate, but the vet recommended to use Drontal plus as well, it is very affective for Tapeworms.

Heres a link i found, has a section on worming and info on fleas. Might be of use to you.

http://www.victoriavets.co.uk/PuppyPack.pdf.pdf

Vince32

Good information there, so thanks for that

Doesn't advocate cover tapeworms also? I thought it did, Drontal x2 a year doesn't sound so bad tbh.

Cheers

axle108

From what the vet told me as far as i can remember, advocate doesnt cover tapeworm. Your post got me thinking on worming my dog , so i found another link which explains the difference between drontal and advocate.
Your dogs problem might be nothing to do with worms, could be the food as you said or something else. Best of luck sorting it soon.




http://www.ashwoodvet.co.uk/our-practice/services-facilities/service.php?Name=Worming

The Sweeper

You can check if it's fleas by taking the dirt you collect from the cardboard test, and squashing and smearing it with a damp tissue. Flea poo is full of congested blood so the black spots will turn into little red smears. If it does: bingo, fleas.

Spot on flea treatments treat the flea lifecycle by causing infertility in fleas so they don't reproduce. It's a good long-term solution. If your dog is heavily infested, the current fleas will keep biting after the spot-on treatment. Pop into the vet clinic and ask about a capstar tablet - a pill that kills every flea on the dog within an hour or so of being administered. Make sure it can be given to the dog alongside whatever other meds you've treated her with.

Alternatively, give your dog a bath and comb-out with a medicated flea shampoo to kill the fleas on her.

You need to wash her bedding and wash or vacuum any soft furnishings she's allowed on and give the whole place a good vacuum just to be safe. Try restricting her to her bed in the kitchen for a couple of weeks until the fleas are all gone - only because she may drop some on the carpet or couch, and then you'll wash her and then as she passes back through the house the fleas will hitch a lift back on her again.

You don't have to go mental scrubbing the place down with bleach or anything, but a bit of extra care can help break the infestation cycle all the more quickly.

Vince32

I think its subsiding, she rarely goes at it any more, she has a nibble at her back leg and licks her forward paw 1-2 times a day, down from almost constantly. When I stop her biting at herself she doesn't protest, she just sort of agrees with me to stop it.

We are almost 40-60 with the new food and I have to report firstly she absolutely loves it, and the irritation although still present is diminishing with great speed.

I had a moment today which made me smile, she was barking in the kitchen, and when I went to investigate, she was sat in front of her food bowl patiently waiting for me to fill it

I put 40g of the new food into the kong wobbler and let her have at it, so far no sloppy 2's and looking a bit more energetic, I'm really pleased with the results.

I'll try the smearing thing on the card test in the morning, and if I see bloody streaks I'll take your advice. Thanks for that little titbit.

Vince32

Just had a go at trying to smear some of the black flakes that drop off her, and only one went brownish, more the colour of mud than blood. the rest didn't smear at all.

So I'm fairly confident it's not fleas, today she had her breakfast with no fuss and was bouncing off the leash at 26 feet. I let her off for 10 mins in a large open green ( about 3 soccer pitches in size, and she ran a figure 8 around me for about a minute at really high speeds, then settled into the off leash position.

I don't usually let her off at all, but this food ( im assuming ) is like rocket fuel, once she burnt off her burst energy she was a lot more happy and controllable.

She had another quick nibble at her leg when we got home, but she stopped before I could correct her. Things are back to normal, ....I hope.

andreac

Vince, is she not a husky? If so you really shouldnt be letting her off in open spaces, its asking for trouble....

Vince32

RE: Off leash training, I only ever do this in areas I feel are safe and have low to nil traffic, or chance of escape. I wouldn't risk a dogs safety, thanks for the post.

Just noticed a great food from barking heads called "bad hair day", even with their silly names for their foods, I'm starting to think these guys are top notch food makers.

Bad Hair day - £65 / 20kg // £3.25 / kg : http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/for-dogs/lamb-rice-dog-food-bhd.html

I think this is going to be the adult food I use for my husky, it looks great, good content, has anyone tried this? or know anything about it?

andreac

Vince32 wrote: »

RE: Off leash training, I only ever do this in areas I feel are safe and have low to nil traffic, or chance of escape. I wouldn't risk a dogs safety, thanks for the post

But it wasnt an enclosed area so you really are asking for trouble there, i wouldnt be taking one chance at all if it was my dog. The advice is there regarding Huskies, i think you are putting your dog at huge risk by doing this, but its your dog.

DogsFirst

barbiegirl wrote: »

Our retriever cross was quite similar always biting at herself and licking, and also her eyes and nose were in absolute bits. The vet said allergies.

We have found that the advantix sets her off, she seems to be allergic and really goes at herself when it's applied so now looking at some alternatives. She's overdue a treatment.

On the food, we switched her to Robbies and the difference is massive. She's been on it over a year now and no vet visits for eyes, nose or skin. We had thought we were in for years of problems with hot spots and the vet had said if it kept up she would have to be on steroids full time.

Hi Barbie. All the symptoms of a food allergy, as eyes and nose effected it is almost definitely gluten (wheat, barley, rye). White coated breeds and especially goldies (amongst others) are notorious for gluten sensitivity. I'm gluten intolerant and when I eat it my eyes stream and nose blocks up (basic mucous / IgA immune reaction). Most of the time this allergy will manifest on the skin of your dog as hot spots, itchy red paws, lick granulomas, ear infections and maddening itch.

The robbies move worked as it is gluten free. You need to treat your goldie as having something like a nut allergy (no cheap pet store treats). One bit of gluten will set you back weeks.

You're lucky you made the move, lots of vets move owners from one food to the other while they try to find the "mysterious allergy" (which 99% gluten or else cooked protein hence beef and chicken are number 1 and 2 known allergies in dogs! Like cows being allergic to grass). Most of these dogs are on a cocktail of drugs to quench the hyper immune system before landing on the ever expensive, scientifically engineered, nutritionally defunct prescribed diet which cost 50cents a pellet.

Include lots of oily fish for omega 3 (mackerel, herring, sardines not in oil) to help that immune system recover (also it will aid skin/coat repair)

Cherry Blossom

Vince32 wrote: »

I think this is going to be the adult food I use for my husky, it looks great, good content, has anyone tried this? or know anything about it?

I feed to my Westie, it's the only food I have managed to find that doesn't have some description of undesirable effect after feeding it for a while, it would be quite expensive for bigger dogs though! As I only buy a small bag at a time it costs me no more than any other good food as they are all around the same price for small bags.