Dog with dermatitis

hairyprincess

My 11 month old cocker had been itching a few weeks ago and losing hair mostly on his paws and belly area. With little crusty kind of spots on his belly and scabbiness around his mouth. The vet reckoned it was dermatitis caused by a change in food.

She gave him a steroid injection and malaseb shampoo to be used 3 times over the course of 6 days. This treatment really helped but the itching, redness and spots have returned.

In the space of time that it would take me to get the original food delivered, she advised me to give him boiled chicken and rice, with it being mostly rice. I did this along with giving him salmon one of the days and he's been having a tin of sardines once or twice a week since.

Additionally I have been giving him a probiotic, coconut oil and his food is Applaws grain free. But he's now worse than ever.

Obviously I'm going to bring him to the vet as soon as I can get an appointment but I'm looking for your suggestions. I thought I was doing well with his diet but maybe not. Or maybe it's not his diet that is the problem. Or am I expecting too much too soon in terms of his recovery? Should I have continued to use the shampoo for a while longer?

Rogueish

Our boxer had something similar. She would scratch her neck and ears raw. We brought her to the vet and he gave her an injection (steroid iirc) and tablets (steroid tabs for about 5days). They worked really well and her itching and skin irritation died away only to return a few weeks after.

The vet asked if we were giving her any extra foods apart from her dry dog food (burns chicken and rice). I said definitely not and he asked if she was a scavenger for treats etc which was a definite "yes" but that I didn't think that she had gotten anything extra lately.

Anyway the long and the short of it was that when I really sat down and thought about it we were giving her far too many table scraps especially gravy. Her diet was too rich and her system couldn't handle it. Since we stopped the table scraps she hasn't looked back. She still gets her treats but with a far more moderate hand.

I'd check it out with your vet but it sounds like the regular protein of chicken or salmon plus 2 tins of sardines (I know it is over the week but if the dogs system is already overloaded it may still be too much) and coconut oils might be a bit too rich for the dog. I'm not familiar with the applelaws food. Is it a dry dog food? If not then consider switching to dry as the wet stuff can be very rich for the dogs.

I hope that your doggie feels better soon.

Bells21

To be honest OP, given where the reaction is occuring i.e. paws and the undercarriage, I would be more likely to say that it's and environmental allergy. This is something that your dog is coming into contact with. My dog would become itchy in the same places and after a couple of years of steroids etc we had him allergy tested and he's got allergies to certain types of grasses and pollen. We now wipe him down with a damp cloth when he comes in, pop a t-shirt on him either and use some aloe Vera for dogs to soothe his skin. I've opted not to keep up with steroids, Non steroids or apoquel as they didn't have a good affect on him, he's a JRTx who at his worst when on steroids weighed almost 13kg!!!

hairyprincess

The vet, a different one from the first one, said that he is young to be developing skin issues. He is treating him at the moment for a mite, dermatatic mange I think he called it. He gave him a steroid injection, wormed him and gave him antibiotics for 2 weeks.

After chatting to our trainer, I have started to change his food so we will see what happens over the next few weeks. He's due to go back to the vets in 2 weeks to see how he's getting on. I'm also bathing him with the malaseb shampoo.

Bells21

hairyprincess wrote:

The vet, a different one from the first one, said that he is young to be developing skin issues. He is treating him at the moment for a mite, dermatatic mange I think he called it. He gave him a steroid injection, wormed him and gave him antibiotics for 2 weeks.

That's where we started almost 4 years ago OP and it wasn't mites. He was allergy tested so we know what the cause is now. Has he done a skin scrape for mites? I would use the shampoo for now to keep him comfy but also wiping him down with a damp cloth when he comes in from outside would be an idea in case it's an environmental allergy such as pollen/grass etc.