Dog Itching Complications | Canine Itching Complications
Dogs itching because of repeated exposure to fleas can triggered a hypersensitivity (an abnormal, excessive reaction) to the bite of even a single flea. Every veterinarian that have dogs as patients has been fooled into making a diagnosis of “allergy”, not even suspecting fleas, simply because no fleas were discovered at the time of the physical exam. This is a classic example of a Parasitic Dermatitis (flea bites) triggering a complicated Allergic Dermatitis (due to the flea saliva).
On occasion fleas will leave an ulcerative lesion that is notoriously slow to heal. It is common, it can be lifelong, it is a challenge to diagnose, and once identified it can be resistant to attempts at treatment. All the other categories for dogs itching with dermatitis must be ruled out before a diagnosis of Allergic Dermatitis can be made. Food ingredients, synthetic and natural fibers, medications and pharmaceutical products, plant material and even dust all can trigger dogs itching with Allergic Dermatitis.
Fur loss and breakage is another common result of a dog’s itching skin, and it results from frequently scratching at, itching or biting the coat and skin. And when dogs are left untreated, infections on their skin’s surface can penetrate the underlying tissues, resulting in scarring, permanent hair loss and serious infection that can require surgery to remove the damaged tissue; thereby allowing healing to occur.
1. Make sure that your dogs and your home are completely free of fleas. Many dogs are extremely allergic to flea bites, and will lose hair, as well as begin itching, scratching and chewing at their skin all day.
2. Remove your dogs from all foods that contain food coloring, which can contribute to allergic reactions. Read the back of any products you buy for your dog’s consumption and check for any food dyes. That includes treats as well their main meals. Avoid junk food snacks. It is OK to treat your dogs to the occasional steak snack, salmon or cheese; sometimes even pistachios. Dogs may have itching allergic reactions to ANY protein commonly found in foods (lamb, beef, chicken, wheat, corn, soy, fish, milk…) and may need to be on a diet FREE of that specific allergen.
3. Speak to your veterinarian about giving your dogs a steroid injection (this has NO benefit over oral steroids, and is more likely to cause side effects). Using oral cortisone sparingly with oral antihistamines gives you more control and the gives the dogs less side effects. Removing your dogs from foods with food coloring may not completely relieve the itching problem. Sometimes dogs itching can be caused by a reaction to something specific the animal has eaten. Or the problem could be a seasonal allergy. Your vet may recommend a treatment that includes cortisone shots followed up with an antihistamine for dogs.
4. Follow what is called an “allergy hypo-sensitization injections.” Have your dogs tested for what they might be allergic to. The allergens can be determined either by doing skin patch-testing (more accurate, but harder), or by drawing blood and sending the sample to a lab, similar to what a person goes through when they are having allergic reactions. A series of shots are prescribed that need to be administered to the dogs once every three days, starting with low doses and moving to higher doses. At the end of the treatment you are required to continue the treatment ad infinitum, but only every 10 days and at a full dose.
Skin infections that are associated with dogs itching, such as bacterial infections and fungal infections (which have the ability to cause an itching, flaky skin condition), can also spread to other parts of the dog’s body and in some cases, the infection can even spread to other dogs.
Even common bacteria on the dog’s skin can provoke an allergic reaction to themselves! These cases of sensitivity to normal resident bacteria are very challenging to correct. No matter what kind of allergic dermatitis afflicts the dogs, the ultimate cause of the inflammation and resulting “itching-and-scratch-bite-and-lick” activity has a common cause… the release of histamine from the dogs skin cells, and the release of toxic chemicals, and the chemical and physical irritation of sensory nerve endings. Sometimes this is why a doctor will prescribe an anti-histamine or cortisone. Do some researches on the type of cortisone as that also could create complications in your dogs.
And here’s a creepy thought… mites (which can cause a huge complication in your canine) can also be transmitted to humans where they create, just like on dogs, alopecia (hair loss) with a dry, itching, flaky, slightly pruritic skin surface. So, if you and the dogs are sitting there watching a movie and both of you are itching and scratching away… time to get you both to the doctor.
Mycanineallergies.com| Los Angeles CA