Itchy Skin

This sounds like just what I went through with Flurry starting before she was a year old. The same itching, red, flaky skin etc. My vet tested her for everything under the sun, with skin scrapings and other tests. Everything was negative, it kept coming up as a staph infection. We tried cytopoint injections, antibiotics, medications, medicated baths, restricted diet...nothing worked. It is beyond frustrating.

It took a year until I finally took her to a canine dermatologist. Flurry is basically allergic to herself. She has an allergy to the staph her own body produces. The derm doc prescribed an allergy serum and I inject her with a shot once a week. Been doing that for more than a year now. She still gets flareups in between, and I treat her with medicated baths and benadryl. I make all her food from scratch; it's a special diet for skin issues. This has at least helped.

The best advice I can give you is to find a canine dermatologist. The tests mainstream vets do aren't specific enough. I wasted a year trying to find out what was going on. A dermatologist can pinpoint it in one or two visits. Thankfully, I have Flurry insured with Trupanion and 90 percent of all her expenses are covered. That's been a godsend. The allergy serum alone costs $260 a month.

As a stopgap if the Benadryl isn't working, get some Clorhexidine shampoo and spray and bathe him with it, then treat the irritated spots with the spray daily. It's what my vet prescribed but you can get it on Amazon and it's cheaper too. It really helps give them some relief.

I wish you luck, I can so relate to what you're going through. Stick with it until you get answers. Skin issues are the worst, and the hardest to diagnose. Give your boy a pat for me!

 

I second Sandy's suggestion about Natures Farmacy. It's their nutritionist who gave me the homemade diet recipes for Flurry's skin and she is wonderful. They consult for no charge if you have questions and will suggest supplements for your dog's needs. I use all their supplements for my gang! In fact, if you get on their website you'll see our story there.

 

Swimming can definitely cause issues.

Deska had skin issues and I saw a dermotolgist, she didn't help. All I knew was none of the skin supplements or fish oils helped, but using a multivitamin did.

Now I'm working with a vet nutritionist to developed diet for Tully and I think I know why Deska had issues - it was linoleic acid (Omega-6) that is the issue, not Omega-3s (which are fish oil). This is what the nutritionist said "
Linoleic acid deficiency (an essential fatty acid in dogs) typically produces signs of skin disease, like a dull coat and scaling" (she mentioned dull coat and scaling because that's what Tully has). Tully gets 1/4 teaspoon of Safflower oil and half a boiled egg added to her diet to help with her coat. We've just started on the new diet so I can't tell you yet if her skin is looking better.