We dog sit for our son on occasion. Last couple of times we’ve had him scratches a lot, especially at night. Not much at all during the day. No sign at all of fleas. Any ideas? Dry skin, maybe?
Thx
IANAD, but IMHO, dogs scratch for all kinds of reasons. Fleas will usually cause the dog to nibble at the spot where it itches. Scratching can be caused by “hot spots” (topical skin infection), dry skin, or just neurotic behavior. Try to look at the spot where the dog is scratching, and see what condition the skin is in.
Could be a particular food allergy also. We had a Boston that scratched a lot and had to try several foods till he stopped.
If the dog is scratching the same area “a lot” you should be able to see some skin irritation. Is there bleeding? Is the dog chewing the area? Sounds to me like it’s time for a check-up with the vet. Lots of things can cause abnormal scratching, including stress and anxiety.
We have all the best poisons all over our big hairy dog.
Big hairy dog
I think it must be chiggers or flee’s but we feel that we would see them on the other critters we have.
Done the vet, food, physicist thing.
Less scratching or chewing on cool days so, Bid hairy Dog. ??
Keep us posted on anything you find.
We have done all our Vet & Google have suggested and he is not totally scratching & chewing free.
He is a BhD.
Do you give him a rawhide for being a good good doggy and being nice at grammy & grampy’s house?
I used to give my dog a rawhide after every bath and she would spend all night scratching. I thought it was the bath for years. It was the rawhide!
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
My Magnificent Mutt recently had a bad case of the scratchies. He is very sensitive to what’s in his kibble, so right now he’s on a new kibble (his 7th, I think, in less than 2 yrs) and a course of steroids. The goal is to calm down his immune system, remove all the food he was eating when he started scratching, and see what happens.
Now my Scottie would lick her front paws until they (and whichever lap she was in) were soaking wet. That was just a Scottie thing.
My dog is an obsessive licker too. He’s a Teddy Bear (shih Tzu & bishon cross). If anyone has reasons for that, I’d be thrilled.