Hi,

Need some practical suggestions my 10 month Golden male is chewing the fur on the front of his legs.When I first noticed a small patch on the front of one leg it looked like someone had taken my thinning sissors to trhe area and now he done more.We have entered Manchester CH.show and Crufts.The thing is i've not caught him in the act and at ringcraft they say if he chewing a toy with his back teeth and its over his front paws it is
posible he is shearing some of the fur as well,but he has no toys where he sleeps just another older Golden,so puzzled?

Any ideas of what I can do?

Briony:-)

Hi Briony,
  I just mentioned this on a post to someone yesterday - that my dog started nibbling and licking the hair away on his legs.  My vet is quite sure it's an allergy, and I did actually change his food a few weeks ago - which may or may not have something to do with it.  Just in case, I am now trying him on Wafcol salmon & potato, which is a hypoallergenic diet - hasn't got any of the ingredients that dogs can be allergic to (maize, etc).  It could actually be anything in the environment though, air freshener, soap powder, dust mites - I think the list is pretty endless unfortunately!  My vet did recommend giving evening primrose oil, as well as something called Omega-aid (your vet should stock this), so have been using that for two weeks now.  Anything's worth a try!
  Hilda

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,all my dogs are fed JWB never a problem and its the only complete food i'm happy to feed my dogs,all my dogs receive evening primrose except puppy.
I think he must be doing it at night after we put him to bed he has no other skin problem,the food he eats is also hypo- allergenic  and been on it months so i don't think its his food.
I will some breeders phone see if they have any experience of this otherwise baffled.
Also found the thread on the visitors board never caught him doing it so it must be a nightime thing and his legs are nice and dry and clean.

Briony :-)

Hi,

We took Gundo to our vet who agreed in this case not down to his food.It would appear he was nibbling the fur on the front of his legs in exactly the same place on both legs.The skin is perfectly healthy and dry and there is no licking.There is no evidence of mites or fleas.So he suggested he wear  a collar at night to see if this made any difference.He thought possibly he thought may be bored at night however he did agree a bored dog was more likely to chew something in my utility
where he sleeps with my other dog than himself but there is always a first.So we will wait and see,

Briony:-)

Hi Briony,
   It is very hard to know sometimes.  My dog was licking his patches enough to wear away the fur, yet the area was never wet or anything.  The vet said it was like the start of it, before the skin becoming inflamed.  Reckons its something called canine atopy, which is caused by an allergy to something inhaled or ingested through the skin (which includes vaccines unfortunately), but then I read that it's quite difficult to distinguish between atopy and food allergy - that's why I thought it wouldn't hurt to change my dog's food.  Does your dog get enough exercise in the day?  Can't really imagine why he'd be bored at night - mine just go to sleep and hardly move all night!  Anyway, let us know how things go!
  Hilda

Hi,

He gets walked twice a day,he would take an awful lot more but I'm due to get him hipscored in a couple of months time so for the last 10 months its been steady with limited off lead in the fields.At the moment I don't think I'm going to put him back in the ring he has sheared his fur not quite to the skin  in exactly the same place on both legs its odd.
He gets alot of company during the day as their are 6 of us in the family plus 2 other Goldens.We start the collar on at night and there is enough us during day to watch him,have to say never seen him lick or bite at his fur during the day.

Briony:-)

Hi Briony,

I found JWB made my dog itch more after I put her on it thinking it would help.

Sometimes when dogs mature they develop allergies that they did not have as puppies.  The change of seasons and increasinging confinement to the house, central heating and so on can push allergies that were not noticeable over the edge to become real irritants.

Stacey

Hi Briony,
Just a thought - are you sure he's doing it to himself & it's not one of the other dogs doing it to him?
I once looked after a friend's OES & he & my dog used to play for hours - I thought how good they were being. When my friend came back she was not impressed to find that my dog had nibbled all the coat off the OES's feet!!

Hi Anwen,

Well he sleeps with my 5yr old bitch that is sooooo horizontal I think it would be too much effort for her and I dont think he would let her (she is the one having radiation therapy at Cambridge last session tomorrow:-) ).Well no more has appeared he had his collar on last night we will wait and see.

Briony:-)

Hi Briony,
    Sorry if I'm being a bit dim here, but how does wearing a collar stop him nibbling at his legs?  My dog was doing it whether he was wearing a collar or not!
  Hilda
Edited to say:  just thought, is it one of those Elizabethan collars?!

why dont you invest in some bitter apple spray, you can get it from pet shops.

Rox

Hi,

Yes we will give the bitter apple spray a try,knowing my luck he will like the taste of it:-D

Failing this will try a temporary change of food for a few months and see what happens.

Briony:-)

Hi Briony,
  In case it is an allergy problem, I would think twice about spraying anything onto your dog's skin, as it could make things worse.  If he's itching already you don't want to make it worse.  With mine, I'm not even bathing him at the moment, in case the shampoo aggravates his patches.
  Hilda
edited to say:  just read John's post on the Bitter Apple thread saying you can use Leo Laboratories "Bitter Spray" on dogs okay, but only available at vets.

Hi,

Yes we will give that a go,I can't see him being ready now to take to Manchester ch show,
so will use the time for no bathing I am just thinking about it whether its the conditioner i use it was Asda coconut conditioner which I normally use on the bitch.

Briony:-)

A very lovely anti allergy, anti parasitic, totally chemical free shampoo to use on dog`s is available from link below. The dog shampoo isn`t on their webpage but phone/email Stuart & they will give you all details, very very helpful :)

http://www.wykken.co.uk/canine%20listings.htm

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine,

Thanks:-)

Briony

Hi,

We've solved the fur chewing!!

Following wearing a collar at night we have had no more problems,so it was not his food or shampoo he was just getting bored in the middle of the night.
Hopefully the collar will be removed at night and hopefully he has forgotten his habit well we can hope.

Briony :-)