I took my 2 dogs out this afternoon through a farmers field which had recently been ploughed. Bathed them both with their usual shampoo when we got back and fed them some sardines as a treat with some turkey ham which was 1 day out of date

One of the dogs for the last 2 hours has been unsettled and been running around as if he's got something itchy on his back end

There are no fleas (have checked) and funnily enough I frontlined them both today anyway

I have bathed him 3 times with cool water (not shampoo each time) and this seemed to cool it

Could it be mites from the muddy field or does this sound like an allergy (perhaps from the ham)?

My other dog is absolutely fine

Look at his tummy and arm pits if they seem red then phone the vet as your dog will need an injection of antihistamine. On the other hand if you have Piriton you could try giving that.

You bathed the dogs AND you Frontlined them?? 

As I understand it, you shouldn't bathe the dog AND Frontline the same day!  It needs the oils in the dogs coat to disperse properly and bathing removes them.  You can bathe the dog after two days without affecting the treatment.

I would try some piriton and see if that works, it may just be a temporary reaction to shampoo/frontline/something in the field/mites/fleas etc. ;)

I wasn't aware you couldn't bathe them and frontline same day - wonder if this is why

He is only doing it a little bit today but there is no sign of a rash, or sores or any hair loss

I was thinking perhaps mites from the muddy field (he loves muddy pyddles) but my other dog is absolutely fine

The only food he had yesterday different from what he gets everytother day was a little bit of turkey ham but he has had this before in te past

With regards to piriton -is this the human tablets and does anyone know how much to give etc per kg of bodyweight?

Could be Harvest Mites but these are pretty easy to spot, look for orange/red dots in armpits.  Harvest Mites start to become active in the Spring and more so on warm sunny dry days.  They are most common on chalky soils.  One of my boys got them whilst walking with my MIL, only affected one dog and he's never had them before or since.

I used Hibiscrub first, daubed them with Dermacton (no idea why!!), then Frontlined him and fed him a bit of garlic for good measure.  Overkill??  Maybe, but it worked :)

For future reference Piriton is excellent for allergies, bee stings etc but do always check dosage with your vet.  He/she will want to know how much your dog weighs before advising

My breed weigh between 20 and 25 kg and my vet said give 3 of the original Piriton tablets once a day (not the non-drowsy) and yes, the human ones, you can use any antihistamine that has the same ingredients.

If worried tell your vet you would like to see if antihistamine helped and how much would they suggest for your dog. Give immediately if you know the dog has been stung by bee or wasp. Some dogs have a reaction to flea medication and you  need vets help because that can be a big problem.

My oldest had a really BAD reaction to flea powder - just the Bog standard normal stuff.   Within 15 minutes she was wobbly unco-ordinated and confused, gums were white.  Frightened me to death.  I put her straight in the bath and washed it all out, while DD phoned the vet and told her what happened, and asked about Piriton as we had that in the house (liquid baby piriton).  Dosage sorted and vet advised that if no improvement in about 20 mins to bring her in or sooner if she got worse.

Luckily dog was OK, but we never use flea powder for any of ours ;)  not worth the risk.

As well as fleas you have to be careful with worming as well as some dogs can't tolerate some of them either.

Thats interesting to read about the flea powder - the ones of you who have read my post on my Bedlington with Colitis will know we have had a rotten 18 months with never ending tummy probs -

Looking back at when he started - he had just had his jabs and then was treated with flea stuff - frontline type stuff but with a different name (will check and post tmrw) and that seemed to cause him to have a problem - he went off his food, pale gums, vomit, runs etc and it went on and on.

I am sure to be honest that sometimes we put too many medications in our dogs and to be honest I only flea treat now if I see fleas !!!

> and to be honest I only flea treat now if I see fleas !!! <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20 height=10>

Me too!  And mine haven't needed treatment of any kind for almost 4 years now.

Same here!

I haven't seen fleas on mine for about 5 years too, the youngest one has never had a flea treatment.  If I do I will use Frontline, but not without seeing actual fleas ;)