Chewing - dry skin

[Mboatwr]

My Tobe chews on herself terribly. It is mostly from her hips down to her tail. Her skin is so dry and flakey. This year was the first year that she actually got bald spots on her sides.

I take her to the vet and all they do is give her steriod shots and antibotics. The shots use to work but now they don't seem to. The vet tries to say it is an allergic reaction to fleas but we never find a flea one on her and I treat the house, yard and her for fleas all the time. My husband thinks it is an allergic reaction to something that is in the back yard. But how do you really know?

I have tried different shampoos - oatmeal, tar, human dandruff shampoos, conditioners, etc. I have tried over the counter hot spot sprays. She hates the sound of sprays. I have Vitamin A and D ointment to help relieve some of the itching and help soften the areas but she licks it off before I think it can do any good. I give her sardines weekly in olive oil. She won't lick just plain olive oil and if you put it on her food she turns her nose up to it for days but will eventually eat it if you give her nothing else.

For the past week, I started trying apple cider vinegar diluted with water as a sponge bath with her brush. It seems to help with the flakey skin but she is still chewing. She loves to be brushed because it scratches/itches her spots. Maybe it will just take a little longer than a week for it to work every where???

I feel for my baby and I need to do something for her but I can't afford the vet bill for the same treatment that no longer seems to work.

I just feel terrible for her! She seems to chew mostly at night - she chews so much that it keeps me up at night and usually it is the same time each night.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions of a better shampoo or other treatment?

[Leigha]

I can't give you an answer, but I can empathize. My beagle is allergic to something in our yard. At first we thought it was out laundry detergent, then the vet said it was fleas, then it was the wool in his NON-WOOL bed, but we're fairly certain it's a weed in the yard since he's fine during the winter (dead grass) but as soon as the weather warms he's got a rash again. Ours doesn't chew himself, he just licks constantly or drags himself across the floor (think military crawl).

[emmabeth]

You need to ask your vet to test for possible allergies... the steroid shots just treat teh symptoms and do nothing to fix the actual problem in the case of allergies..

What food does your dog eat?