my puppy scratches all the time. He hasn't got fleas and the vet emptied his anal glands last week, as amoung other things he said that would make him itch. I gave him a brush today to remove any loose hair and he walked away and scratched again. Could he be allergic to something. His dad has a wheat allergy, could it be something similar.

yes

It could be.. how do you know the dad has a wheat allergy?

Could be a food allergy or maybe even grass/pollen is irritating his skin.  They can test for food allergies at the vets.

What breed is he ?

we went to see dad as well as mum and his owner told us. He is a Beagle.

Our dog is scratching like mad at the moment, think it is definitely pollen he is allergic to because he has only started scratching his body this last couple of weeks, although he has scratched his ears all the time.

Whilst ordering some stuff from first4pets website, I came across a new page entitled 'Identifying Skin Disorders in Dogs'...might help.

We took him to the vet as his itching is very extreme, the vet said it sounds like a food allergy and has changed his diet. The vet said his behavoir could be due to this also, as he is very stubbornly hyper at certain times of the day. He has been on the new food for a few days and although he still itches it has calmed dramaticly, (the vet said it would take a couple of weeks to be completely effective) and he has calmed down a bit. I had never heard of food being the cause of bad behaivoir in dogs before. Fingers crossed this has solved the problem. Thanks to everyone who replied and i will let you know how he is doing in a couple of weeks.

Food can definately change behaviour. The most dramatic I have seen was a dog that reacted to the red colouring on chews, he was fine on the brown ones and as soon as he got down to the red he became manic and uncontrolable.

I found mine is alergic to some foods, caused itchiness and almost continual moulting. It would appear that it was artificial vitimins that she had a problems with.

can anyone give a rough guide to suitable treats as lots of them dont give exact ingredients. I am worried about filled bones and dog chocolate drops mainly, but is there any wheat in chew sticks? I need to be careful as i want him to be comfortable, this morning he was itching like mad again. It could be artificial vitimins too, the vet said he was guessing wheat but he wouldn't know. What cant you feed your dog and what is suitable. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

Hi Stann

I know how confusing it can be believe me I have spent years reading up on doggie diet!

First there are several good 'complete' dry foods available in petshops. Personally I use 'all in one' as it is holistic and I have found it to suit my dogs. But I know most of the major manufacturers also do them. Alternatively you could try a BARF type feeding regime, which at least means you know exactly what your dog is eating. There are many pages already written about that here.

Personally I would stop giving all choc drops (almost all contain some chocolate which is not good for them anyway). Chew sticks almost always contain wheat, there are a few wheat free treats on the market from the top manufacturers. Also I make 2 varieties of wheat free see www.barkery.co.uk, if you have any specific questions please feel free to contact me by PM or via the web site. 

He is on james wellbeloved at the moment. Someone advised me to use nutro lamb and rice, but he has a bit of a runny tum at the moment due to a change in diet. I asked the vet if i should introduce the new food gradually and he told me to change it immediately, hence the bad tum. I have changed vets now and will trust my instincts in the future. Any way, i would very much like some feedback on wether these are suitable foods for him. If not which would you advise? Cost is not an issue but convenience is so i would prefer to use a dry complete food. Thanks

Naturediet is an excellent food, just meat, carrots and rice vacuum packed but if you like dry I would recommend Burns, again just meat, rice and veg.  If, of course, he does not have an allergy to either meat or rice.

As for treats you can cook up heart or liver.

Chocolate drops for dogs do NOT contain chocolate which is, of course, toxic to dogs; they are made from carob.

Thanks i will look into burns food. I will get back on his progress.
Tohme, the vet believes it is an allergy to wheat and/or gluten not anything else so as long as it doesnt contain either of those then it should be fine. It is still early days, but i want to give him the best food for him that i can. It's the treats i am more concerned about as the packaging is so vague and he is training really well with little treats. i will just use his food instead. He is a beagle so as long as it is edible i am sure he wont mind. Thanks x

Is there any connection between boosters and skin allergies?  Only ask because my 8 year old beagle developed itchy skin last year and it was just after her annual booster.   Probably just a co-incidence, but eventually it cleared up on its own (after the vet suggesting mites and food allergies - proved to be neither of these).   At the time, I did bathe her regularly in a coal tar shampoo to ease her itching.

sarah

The reactions from vaccinations can vary from none to severe;  FWIW I always administer the homeopathic remedy Thuja 30c after every vaccination of my dogs.  Not had any problems.

Sarah immunizations can cause havoc with the immune system leaving the dog suseptable to a myriad of complaints.
Skin problems are a common problem caused by boosters :(

Having said this i do vaccinate my dogs,every 4 years,definately not every year!!

really interesting, because I held off for about 4 months taking bonnie for her booster because of the problems she may have had last year because of it.  Strangely enough though, when my husband asked the vet about a possible connection he dismissed this out of hand and said no way.

Yearly boosters are one of a vets biggest earners :) However i'm sure a few like to err on the side of caution hence reccomending yearly boosters.

There is a word for negative reactions to vaccines,it's called vaccinosis. Type it in to google and you should come up with lots of references.

Ask your vet if there is no connection,then what is vaccinosis ;)  When i asked my vet this very question,he said he had never heard of it :rolleyes: yeah right!

Just thought i would add that i have followed this protocol for a long time and never had a problem with any of my dogs.One of them came into contact with a parvo dog a few years ago but he never caught the disease,which means he was covered by the booster he had 3 years prior,or he was just lucky ;)

My vets practice is finding more cases of vaccinosis (yes, they know about the syndrome!) with the new, stronger, 3-yearly booster than they ever saw with the regular annual booster, which is milder in effect.
:)

JG i dont get the stronger version :) They get the same dose as the dogs that get yearly boosters.

It is always hard to say Sarahl, when you think about it there is a 1 in 12 chance of any condition occuring within 1 month of a booster :)  This report may help you put it into proportion.

I'm not sure now if it started after his booster shot, i will ask my husband if he remembers. He did have a bad reaction to a jab as i previously stated on this forum so it is possible. I have also noticed he bites more when he is itchy almost as if its frustration. He has also started putting whole paws into his mouth and chewing them. To be honest i think it may have been as i spoke to the vet about him scratching when we went back for his final jab & he emptied his anal glands. I took him back as the itching continued. If it is that, how long did it take for it to go away? He is making areas on his skin sore now so i am a bit concerned. He didnt itch when i picked him up and if he had a food allergy, surely he would have shown symptons sooner, or can they become allergic at any time? Thanks to all concerning the wheat free snacks. Where do you get coal tar shampoo from and does it sooth for a while or just a little time?

Hello Stann. You could also try 'Paddywacks', these are dried sinew strips and can keep them quiet for quite a while, as can rawhide bones or Nylabones. I get the edible ones as mine much prefer them.  also I get for mine dried fish as treats, bought from the petshop. It is %100 pure blue whiting. Burns also did this but have now changed it to more of a biscuit. I think its called 'Ocean Bites' by Burns. The one I have is in a 300gm bag, made by a company called Inpeto and cost about £3.50. It looks like it could be a German company. They go down very well :) Carrots are also good to chew on.
also there are things like liver treats or even liver cake which is easy enough to make. Hope this is some help to you. I know what its like having a dog with allergies, so I sympathise.
Anne