Bichon itchyness

SleetAndSnow wrote:

I think I might try Wolf Of The Wild foods, just to see how he gets on with them. He has never really liked royal canine and only eats it when he has to but its what the vet pushed on us (thinking of it their entire vet has royal canine plastered everywhere). Going to order some later. Looks like its natural and full of nice flavours for him

Yep, look on Zooplus. There's quality foods and lots of user reviews to help you out.

Hi op,
The following very much depends on the assumption that you're not dealing with fleas, but that it's atopic dermatitis your dog has.
I have a lot of experience with itchy white dogs... Almost all itchiness in white dogs is allergy related. The secret is to try to find what that allergy is to, so you can limit exposure to it, coupled with trying to reduce the body's over-the-top immune reaction often via meds.

Right. First things first. The dry food has to go. Doesn't matter how expensive or hypoallergenic it is! Whilst a sizeable proportion of white dogs have allergies to various ingredients in their food (~25% of itchy white dogs), there is a cohort of them that are allergic to the tiny storage mites that are present in all dry foods. So, for that reason alone, the dry food has to go for at least the next 8 weeks to see what happens.

Now, back to food types that may cause allergies. One person above has listed the common ones, but also a few less likely ones (my god... You went through a process to eliminate some of them tedpan!)... But you can take it as read that you need to eliminate grains, beef and chicken, and stick to novel proteins. And eliminate dry food.

So where does that leave you? There are excellent quality wet foods available, they are absolutely complete and much loved by most dogs.
Naturediet is great because there are a few different and unusual proteins available (rabbit, pheasant, venison, lamb), but it does contain a small amount of rice. However, although it's a grain, rice is generally benign and harmless as it's gluten-free.
Rocco (available on zooplus) is also good, they have a sensitive range which includes lamb and turkey. Zooplus is well worth rooting around for their great range of high-meat, grain-free wet foods.
Oily fish is an absolute must for itchy dogs... So, tins of sardines from Lidl or Aldi! They contain all sorts of fantastic stuff that's great for skin, balanced immune response, and brain health.

Meds-wise, infor123 describe how they used Atopica. The active ingredient in this is cyclosporin, which is an immunosuppressant. It was revolutionary stuff at the time infor123 would have used it, but things have moved quickly in the itchy skin department in recent years, and there are alternatives.
Atopica is now de-licensed, and cyclosporin is available in other formats that, from what I've seen, usually work better. Atopica is given in capsule form, and each capsule size covers a broad weight range, so I was finding that our 8kg dogs were getting the same dosage as a significantly larger dog. Cyclosporin makes them nauseous for the first few weeks, and I feel the large dose in Atopica makes them sicker... There's nowt worse than watching expensive meds being yakked up on the kitchen floor!
Newer versions include an accurate dosing syringe, so an 8kg dog gets a dose for an 8kg dog. These include Sporimmune, and Cyclavance.
Weirdly though, occasionally we get a dog who Sporimmune or Cyclavance don't suit, but Atopica does... Despite them being the same drug! But all in all, results with Cyclavance and Sporimmune have been great.
There's also a newer kid on the block called Apoquel, which blocks the immune response and doesn't have as many side effects as Cyclosporin. Many itchy dogs, are benefitting from it, especially those for whom cyclosporin doesn't seem to work so well.
None of the above are cheap, you're looking at anywhere from €50-60 per month, but as infor123 notes, very often the dosage can be scaled back as the dog recovers (min 6 wks at full dosage) and so becomes cheaper.

Medicated baths with Malaseb shampoo or similar are important too. At least 3 baths a week with it in the first few weeks. Again, these can be scaled back with recovery, but do take care to follow the instructions carefully... It must be left on, all sudsy, for 10mins.

Calming, soothing sprays can be great for when the dog is in recovery, but gets the odd scratch and is in danger of irritating healing skin. Dermacton is good stuff, and has a lovely herbal smell!

For the same reasons, we've also used babygros and baby vests to protect healing skin from sharp claws.

Even if it's not atopic dermatitis you're dealing with, many of the above tips will surely help!

heldel00 wrote: »

Very detailed answer above. You should take on board their advice....but just my tuppence worth.
Neighbour's bichon had same issues as yours. She started her on piriton(sp?) from local chemist. Problem sorted.

Yep, anti-histamines will certainly mask the problem in many cases, and the beauty of them is that they have few unpleasant side effects.
BUT, I must appeal to the op and anyone else reading this thread to pleeeease check with your vet before giving your dog any otc meds, or any other meds that have not specifically been prescribed by your vet