Hi to all I posted about my very itchy pup and just wanted to update that I have now had to take him to the pdsa because once he finished his antibios and predicare tabs he had another flare up only this time slightly different his eye is no longer swelled as I keep applying false tears the itching now is mainly his ears,face,and paws,legs he is mainly nibbling paws and scrapeing face with paws his ears are very spotty and sore and this time which he never had before on his back feet are very small bald scaley patchs,he is booked in for skinscrapes weds and im so releived no sedation as my vet before was adamant he wanted to sedate himhe has now been put on carprofen 50mgs twice daily and cephalexin 250mgs twice daily,unfortunately this is not stopping the itching im doing my best to stop the itch and sooth the soreness, can anyone tell me if when he has the skin scrapes will the results b there straight away ?because the vet mentioned he may be able to give a shampoo to ease his skin once he has the resultsthank you .

My Bichon had a skin scrape on his ears last year after intense itching and lots of vets visits where he was being treated for food allergies.  They phoned me the same day whilst he was still there and said they had found nothing on the skin scrape. They also sent some blood away to the labs for testing for sarcoptes.  Two weeks later I got a phone call to say he had Sarcoptic mange and this is why he had been scratching so much.  He also nibbled his feet. It was easily treated by applying Stronghold to the back of his neck every two weeks for 6 weeks and then a further 6 weeks because he was still scratching a bit. 
Wonder if Atopica tablets would help.  They are very expensive though if you aren't insured.  I tried them for our Bichon before we found out that it was sarcoptes.:rolleyes:

Is the mange you mention contagious,only asking as I know Steff has 2 other dogs who are fine

Yes, sarcoptic mange is contagious, and is also transmissible to humans.

Dogs vary in susceptibility though.  For a long time I had three dogs but only one ever got mange.

Well I have heard it is but I don't know why but we never got it - not even one bite anywhere.  Benji used to sleep on my teenage daughters bed too.  Benji also played with my sisters 4 dogs and none of them got it either. Perhaps we were just lucky or they didn't like how we tasted.

Sarcoptic mange mites seem to affect some dogs more than others.  I personally know of two people who keep two breeds, one of which showed all the signs but skin scrapping revealed nothing and one breed that exhibited no signs.  Unless they are all treated, however, there is a chance of it coming back to bite you (literally).  That is why I suggested doing the bloods in the first place before going down the very expensive allergy route.  It cost about £68 I think for the lab tests.  Well worth the money if only to rule it out.

I found this link was very informative when I was looking for information about sarcoptes.
http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/mites.html
That Pedal-pinna reflex test worked on my dog.

Thank you everybody for your replies,and sorry for posting a new topic about the same thing couldnt find my old postim a bit dizzy at times!lol!Ive had the skinscrapes done they have showed no mites,they have now gave him prednicare tabs again as the carprofen has not helped the inflamation and soreness and he is still on the cephalexin antibiotics  the vet said it is most likely a hypersensitivity to something and they will continue to investigate ,so hope they will take bloods soon will mentiion it on next visit this is a different vet im taking him to now so felt a little uncomfortable and zeus was stressed by the automatic doors .My 2 other dogs are still fine and have no itching so am keeping fingers crossed they will find the cause of zeus`s problems if not be able to keep him as comfortable as possible

Just to add, the vet tested specifically for sarcoptes mites and could tell from the bloods that they had been exposed to mites within the last 6 months.  They have since been treated with advocate and are not scratching or sore but it does take a couple of weeks after the treatment for mites for the itching to stop given that new ones are hatching all the time and the irritation they cause from burrowing in the skin is still there for a while after they are dead.  Overall in both cases it was 10 weeks before all signs were eradicated.

Two of the dogs were given long acting steroid injections to control the itching with very little improvement. My friend was given to understand that an allergy itch would have been calmed by the injection.

I hope the solution is simple for you and your dog and the bloods get to the bottom of it.