Posted by Carol on March 05, 1999 at 08:44:07:

In Reply to: Re: itching posted by marge grapes on December 09, 1997 at 07:48:28:

>
> > Have a year old that itches then gets scabs, it is on his belly and ears, have taken to vet thinking ear mites, treated but still does itching. He goes crazy at times. Any body else have this problem and what works?

> It can be several problems--skin mites, allergies, dry skin, nervousness. I had one get skin mites and had to be treated with a mite cream rubbed on the sites. I have had a few get allergies and had to avoid bermuda grass. Mostly I get some with dry skin and I squirt the contents of a couple fish-oil capsules onto their dry food and it fixes it. The dermagel capsules are available at petsmart or at any pet catalog and they run about $15 for a bottle of 180. They can also be given whole if the dog swallows pills/caps well. The skin mites can only be diagnosed by a vet taking a taping of the area and looking under a microscope. Good luck!

> Marge
> House of Larymar Pekes

Hi, my Peke "BUBBA" started itching about a year ago. He has been getting allergy shot each month since around July 1998. But they don't seem to be lasting as long as when first started getting them. It seems they only last 2 weeks and at $16.00 a shot it's too expensive, the only other alternative that the vet said was to start him on predisone tablets. I don't like putting him on a steroid because we had an english bulldog and he had a very, very bad skin allergy and was on predisone and from the predisone he got 2 crushed vertibrates at each end of his spine and 3 large bone spurs growing on his backbone. Naturally he was in so much pain he had to be put to sleep. The steroid degrenated his bones. So I have very strong reservation about putting this dog on steroids. But his itching and scratching his very bad. I'm at my wits end as to what to do about it. Can anyone suggest anything else.