Hi, our GR has recently started scratching more than usual,there are no fleas as is treated regulary. Her coat is good but fairly heavy all though she does occasionally get hotspots that we treat effectively. She is fed Arden Grange lamb and rice with fish 4 dogs salmon moose as a topper. She is fit and well just can't quite figure out what the scratching is about? Any ideas?

Thanks.

Try giving her spinach  daily. You can use the frozen cubes. It seems to help. Yumega may also help.

I use a tsp of pureed spinach daily nad my boy also has Dorwest Mixed Veg tabs. When he is bathed I use baking soda shampoo which really helps.  

Could be environmental. Air fresheners or washing powder etc could be causing it.

What do you use for flea treatment?

Helen

Could she be allergic to something in the food?

I did wonder about the food, but she has been on it for about 8 months now and she is the picture of health and stools are nice a firm so I assume the food is ok? Will give the spinach a go and see if it helps may also give her a good bath what shampoo is a good one to use in this situation? She has advocate every 6 to 8 weeks.

If nothing much else has changed it may well be Hayfever.  If you Google autumn hayfever you'll find a list of plants/trees that may cause an allergic response at this time of year.  If you are wood walking you might consider fungi or alternatively look for ragwort near your normal walks.

I find a wash with dilute hibiscrub after a walk works well to remove dust, pollen and spores from their coats - remember to wipe mouths, eyes and ears too - and dry thoroughly as damp can exacerbate the itching.  I appreciate this is a bigger job with a GR than my wire haired vizsla!!  In the meantime try and keep your heating low if you've recently switched it on as it can take an allergy sensitive dog a little time to adjust to new house temperatures :)

Check with your vet first but Piriton can helpful for some dogs.  It doesn't work at all for others so try it and see.  I wouldn't rule out food being the cause but try the above first (ideally for a minimum of 2 weeks, 4 is better, before trying something new).  Spinach will do no harm but I've never found it very successful with my itchy dog.

We went through a very itchy period with one of our GRs and we tried Yumega plus and it sorted it within days.

I have both my labradors on Fullolife! It's an oil supplement that you put on their food! One is on Joint Care the other is on the Skin and Coat. He used to have quite rough fur at the base of the tail, be quite itchy and have bald patches on elbows and moult quite badly! Seen massive improvements in both the skin and fur since he started on it. Less Moulting, less itching, bald patches healing over, fur nice and smooth. Had tried a few different things before this and none of them seemed to work aswell. Seems quite cheap compared to when we tried Yumega! Only downside is it's only available online at the minute website is www.fullolife.co.uk. Hope this helps and she gets better soon :)

Thanks again everyone for the great advice. Have ordered some yumega so fingers crossed may ease the itching.

Advocate should treat for various mites as well, but I think my vet mentioned she hadn't always found it that effective against mange. If all else fails it might be worth trying Stronghold, if you've ruled other things out, in case she has some sort of mite. Even though she's been treated for fleas, it could still be a flea allergy as it only takes one bite to cause a reaction.