The Story of the never-ending Dog Itch
- Nicole Walther
- Nov 12, 2016
- 4 min read
As mentioned in a previous post, my Mini Cooper suffers from extreme itching. No matter if you call it the "Santa Barbara itch" or " allergic dermatitis" (FYI I thought the Edhat discussions about this topic were very amusing and slightly informative. Especially loved the intelligent comment to "take the dog to a psychiatrist" or "put your head back up your couch cushions"...) we can all agree that your dog is suffering when he itches himself raw day and night. Not to mention the amount of sleep you as the loving dog owner loose along the way.
I'll be honest, it's been a long and ongoing struggle.
Step 1 Flea Control
I started with flea control. Since I am a fan of staying as natural as possible and using chemicals only if absolutely necessary, I first tried to use natural flea sprays and using diatomaceous earth in the house, and vacuuming extensively. The downfall of all natural products is that it can take weeks to work. By the time you figure out it's not working, you already created a bigger problem. So when I finally gave in, MC had already developed a flea allergy. But I caved and put him on Advantage II, after Frontline Plus unfortunately failed to do the job. (Those fleas probably drink Frontline for breakfast at this time and pound their chest after the downed it...)
Once the flea problem on dog and in my home was under control, he seemed to get a little better, just to start chewing his paws and belly again like a maniac a short while later.
Step 2 Allergy Testing
Allergy Testing was my next step. Groupon had a deal on ImmuneIQ, so I thought why not. Shortly after sending the saliva and hair sample I received the report that MC was allergic to dairy, tuna, bread, corn, white rice, wheat, kale, cod liver oil, turmeric, fragrance pet dander, petrochemical, plastic/nylon, rubber/ latex and more. Well, I wanted to know didn't I. So what to do with this information? Most of the food allergies are easily handled. Just avoid feeding the offending ingredient by cooking your own dog food. Not a problem, he pretty much can have what I'm having. I cooked everything up plainly so dinner could be shared. Mixing in the supplements was not quite as easy with that. Mushing up the food, including the meat was the best option to be able to mix in probiotics, enzymes, Standard Process Canine Immune Support and Dermal Support as well as the L-Glutamin, fishoil and Dinovite. Phew, what a mix. Good think I don't have to test for flavor of that dish... I can tell you it takes a lot of freshly cooked chicken to convince your dog to eat that mix.
Step 3 Daily Baths and Apple Cider Vinegar
The itching started getting a little bit better, but soon I found myself switching each day from giving him a bath to take off all the environmental allergens to wiping him down with apple cider vinegar to kill the yeast to slathering him with lavender or tea tree oil to keep him from itching himself raw.
Then I was introduced to a dog allergy specialist in town. Many Santa Barbarans swear by Dr. Greek's methods and after doing my research I found out that it would involve several hundred dollars in allergy tests and the main treatment is hyposensitization, which is also very expensive. However, what most people I spoke to said helped their dog get over their itching was putting them on raw food.
Not a huge fan of raw, I crinkled my nose. MC loves to take chunks of his food out of his dish and place it on the carpet. If I'm lucky, he just puts it there for a second because it's apparently easier to eat from the carpet. But sometimes he likes to leave it there as a snack for later. My stomach turned just thinking about walking in my kitchen/living room to find raw liver and heart on my carpet. Surely the ants will be looking forward to that come summer. Well, I guess MC's health and happiness trumps my desire for cleanliness and now MC is on his 2nd day of Darwin's Raw Food Diet.
Step 4 Raw Food Diet
Ordering Darwin's is easy and they offer you an amazing trial deal. Only $14.95 for 10lb's of food. For an 11lb dog, that will cover a couple weeks of food as per chart he should get about 1 cup of the guts and gizzards a day. Bloody hell (no pun intended.. no definitely intended) that's a great deal and I took it. The highly anticipated dry frozen box arrived at 8pm per UPS delivery and since I've added some pieces of raw chicken to MC's diet leading up to it, the switch so far has been simple. He loves the taste and by cleverly adding only one or two supplements to each spoonful of raw food, he's been getting all his supplements.
Step 5 Wait & Observe
The verdict is out on how this will affect his itching. I feel like the amount of food is not enough, but I'll keep an eye on his weight and will keep you updated on the progress.
Visit my blog again, or best, sign up to get the update straight to your inbox, to find out how the Raw Food Diet is measuring up to other allergy treatments.
P.S. Please share your success stories
Do or did you have a dog with extreme itchiness problems? What did you do about it? Remember, I am not a fan of just filling your dog up with medication. Most of it is immune suppressing and very unhealthy in the long-run. I am interested in healthy, long-term solutions and fixing the root of the problem rather than giving steroid shots or allergy pills. Thanks for sharing.
Comments