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  1. #1
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    My dog is biting her fur from her paws

    Hi, I am new to the forum and looking for any advice anyone has. My black Labrador is just over a year now and for a while has had issues with her skin on her front legs, resulting in her biting them and licking them and them balding as a result. She used to be on James Well beloved but has recently changed to Skinner's dog food (as it was suggested it could be a food allergy and to change the protein). The vet has treated her for mites/mange and this didn't solve anything although at the time appeared to reduce the itching. She is regularly flead and wormed as normal. We have tried tea tree spray which she hates and has to have rubbed in by hand. We have also been giving her piriton 2 times a day (now upped to 2 tablets 3 times a day) as well as evening primrose Oil tablets (2-3 a day). Nothing seems to be releiving the itch which we thought could be due to grass. We have been advised against allergy testing until she is 2 but want to make sure she is comfortable and help her skin/fur recover. Does anyone have any advice that may help. Getting desperate now!! Thanks.
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  2. #2
    Real Retriever Laura's Avatar
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    That looks terrible. There has to be something else that the vet could give her to relieve the itching while he finds the cause. There are multiple antihistamines that can be given to dogs, so trying something different isn't outside the realm of possibility. If your current vet isn't willing to try to relieve her symptoms, maybe try a different vet.
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  3. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    I am not a fan of anything with Tea Tree Oil in it and definitely not on irritated skin. In and of itself it's a skin irritant for some and should NOT be ingested by dogs. Smell the oil, it's very like turpentine.

    Did you double check the food ingredients yourself to make sure there is no duplication of ingredients? Food allergies are actually less common than environmental allergies but if you are going to try food make sure no two ingredients are the same. It's hard to find two commercial foods with no overlap. Home cooking solved that for us, a novel protein and a novel filler, nothing else.

    There are some options I don't see you've tried yet.
    Over the counter anti-histamine. I'm in Canada, we used Reactine. Oh, wait, that's what Piriton is, an antihistamine. Well, maybe try a different one. REactine worked for us, for a while.
    Prednisone
    Atopica or Apoquel, lesser evils than Prednisone (names in the UK might be different)
    HOmeopathy, can take a long time to find the right fix.
    Allergy testing, ditto homeopathy. And there are different ways it's done - skin scraping, blood test, skin pricks.
    Nutriscan saliva test or Glacier Peaks test. I did Nutriscan on my boy. GP cover more things and I know people who are happy with it but no personal experience.
    TCM

    Good luck. My boy is ok this summer and last but I know people doing the exact same things we tried successfully and it hasn't worked for them. Vinegar/water cut 50/50 did give my boy relief but only very short term and it would sting broken skin.

  4. #4
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    Could be yeast issues. You may want to switch to a grain free food.

  5. #5
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Our old girl used to lick and chew her legs out of nerves. I used to wrap her legs with vet wrap. She hated it. I remember we had her unwrapped for awhile again and she started up. I grabbed her legs and told her to her face that if she kept licking I'd wrap her up again. I swear she stopped. LOL

  6. #6
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    Thanks everyone. Yeah I have just read about it being a grain issue and both foods we tried were not grain free.. The trouble is trying to find a good food to try that is affordable. I will definitely look into that. We tried putting socks on her but she just took them off.. Just really want to make it comfortable for her.

  7. #7
    Senior Dog arentspowell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by barry581 View Post
    Could be yeast issues. You may want to switch to a grain free food.
    My first thought was yeast issue also. Switching food is a good start but also watch for the ingredients in treats and shampoos. Oatmeal shampoos make it worse rather than better.

  8. #8
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Ditto on stopping the tea tree oil, it may be burning when applied. You could try rinsing her feet and legs with warm water when she comes in from outside in case it is an environmental allergy. Checking for yeast would also be a good idea. If you have tried OTC allergy meds and they haven't helped much you should talk to your vet about trying Apoquel (or what ever it may be called there). I sure hope you can find something to help your puppy, it hurts just to look at her poor legs.
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  9. #9
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    Thanks. I will ditch the tea tree as she doesn't like it anyway so haven't really been doing. The yeast idea/changing food is definitely something I am currently researching and looking into and I'll start rinsing her paws and legs after being in the garden to see if that helps. Thanks :-)

  10. #10
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Food allergies are actually fairly rare, I believe they account for 1 percent of allergy issues in dogs. Environmental allergies are most often the culprit. Along with rinsing her legs I would definitely talk to the vet about trying OTC allergy meds to start. Benadryl is one but you can also try other longer acting OTC allergy meds.
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