I'm asking for a freind: she has a problem with her 3 year old bitch. She has very red and angry skin on her belly around her bits and it looks like a rash. The rash drives the dog mad with scratching and chewing This has happened several times in the past and she has not been able to work out why. This dogs mother also had it when she was younger. She thinks that it might be hormonal as it happens when she losses her coat and is due in season.
Aloe vera gel seems to soothe it
Any ideas???
GG

Aww poor girl.  Skin problems can be so nasty.  What has her vet said about it?

Debs

I don't know much else. I think that she might go for steroid injections (as she mentioned that she will take her for one but I am not sure). She has had her on Eukanuba sensitive skin for a month now and it is still bad.
GG

To be honest I wouldn't feed my dog any eukanuba! Try her on Nutro! all the best, Dawn

The trouble with steroid injections is that they will just mask the problem and get rid of the symptoms, it won't cure anything. It would be better to try to find out what causes it and act on that. My Papillon is allergic to several kinds of foods and gets a bad rash, I tried a few and eventually found one that suits him perfectly.

I know that she has tried several different foods but it still occurs. Is it definately food? Can it be hormone related?
What tests can be done to determine the cause?
GG

if its seasonal could be harvest mites,  One of mine gets it and I bath him in Maleseb (sp sorry) which seems to work. 

By seasonal do you mean spring, summer etc??
She gets it in line with her seasons???
Am I getting confused?? :-)
I think that she has tried malaseb, would it work after the first go?
GG

I have a bitch who went extremely hormonal at the age of four which was affecting her coat.  She had no red patches and Langford Veterinary College could find nothing on her skin but she was itching and biting like mad.  Her hair was very thin in patches and she looked and felt awful :( I had no choice but to have her spayed.  She's been fine ever since. :)

Debs

Does anybody know what tests can be done to find the cause? Or even what she can do to help ease the itching?
GG

my vet sugested wafcol fish and potato this didn't work so did scrapings of her skin, we had to change her bedding no problem since.

The only thing that can be done is to go to the vet and try to establish the cause. This could take months, and be expensive, but it needs to be conducted by a vet, and maybe someone who specialises in dog skin conditions. If it is only around season times, and no other time, then perhaps a spay would be the kindest thing for the bitch. As her dam had the same, I wouldn't think breeding off her would be an option anyway. I would strongly advise my friend to take the dog to the vet.

been there done it all thje only thing that helped was nzymes, got them online in this country cant for the life of me remember who off but ?????4 dogs or something like that anyway helped a lot had, had steroids skin tests etc then took a chance as SHE  improved and mated her  she was 2 had 8 puppies and  after they were weaned lost a LOT of coat especialy off the back of her neck where she went bald  she,d had no probs with her skin there so why that happened who knows but 9 months later what a difference lovely coat no scratching  or little saws in fact has since gained her stud book no   and won bis at breed show so might be worth a try if its a dog try the Nzymes    good luck i know what its like i tried everything

My only worry with breeding from a dog that has skin problems would be...could it be passed on, if not to the first, but the second generation. I wouldn't want someone else to have the worry I would be having. This is just my personal opinion, and may be well flawed!

well dont know if what she had was hereditry or if it was hormone prob but pups all ok and as i said bitch never better  no more constsntly scratching and chewing at herself and pouring money down the drain on things that never worked i even took her to liverpool univ  they didnt give me any satisfactory  help either