Ongoing skin issues with our black Labrador - help!

*sigh(* vets are SO BAD at diagnosing what is pretty simple (from "I have been breaking out in these itchy red bumps" -- welcome to sarcoptic mange.  And yes -- it WILL attack one dog and not others (because that one dog has an insufficient immune system.).

I have info I can send you (I do a lot with demodex and sarcoptic mange dogs) -- I don't sell anything, and I'm not going to point you at some expensive magic elixir -- you just gotta get rid of the infestation and get this dog "better" immune wise.   It's likely not going to be just "one magic bullet" -- because it's likely a lot of things that contribute to the poor immune response (his body *ought* to keep them under control like the other dogs do).  He could also have some other things that love to pair up with sarcops (like a contact allergy or atopic allergy likely NOT a food allergy) .  And unfortunately a regular lab thyroid panel won't tell you a thing -- you have to send it to somewhere like Hemopet or Michigan State to get a breed-specific panel to get an accurate read.  (I've had two dogs where repeated lab thyroid tests showed "normal" and yet a breed specific test revealed it was HUGELY low, and supplementing the thyroid fixed a ton of things).

I have psoriasis so to be honest I can't say 'no' to a dog with skin issues.  If you will email me at callieatcritturs@yahoo.com, I'll even send you my phone number and we can chat on the phone too if it will help.  Skin issues with a dog are SO frustrating particularly when you are getting nowhere.  But honestly? I can NOT figure out why "dog who wakes up to scratch" didn't say "sarcoptic" to SOME vet.  

And btw ... sarcoptic does NOT mean "dirty filthy environment" -- a dog can get sarcoptic mange from taking a pee under a tree where a squirrel or raccoon have scratched on a branch above and dislodged a sarcoptic mite -- that mite just WAITS on the ground for the next warm-blooded thing to walk by so it can hop on and get a blood feast.  But a lot of vets also are reluctant to even say "sarcoptic" for fear people will be offended - but gee - just explain a little??  Don't let people go home with a dog that is suffering.

and ps -- Lyme Dip DOES work BUT you actually have to quarantine them and do it for like  a month -- there is a quicker way to kill the mites

BUT you also have to be prepared for other stuff you have to do to protect yourself and not have him re-infected.

Every single thing you mentioned here I went through for almost three years.  I was at a point were I was considering putting her down to end her suffering. She had to wear a cone for almost two years straight. If I could post a picture of how she looked I would. She had soars all over her by and smelled horrible and would scratch herself till she was bleeding. I tried everything the vet threw my way for over a year then moved to home remedies but thought few of the home remedies helped nothing worked in getting rid of it. Switched foods to no grains then home cooked but nothing worked. She started her allergies at around 5 years old so it's not like she was born with it.  At my wits end I decided to switch her food again to core wellness no grain ocean formula and my cousin had told me to try Dynovite because it had helped her beagle with scratching.  I started both at the same time so I'm not sure which one worked or if it was the combination of both but a month into it all her allergies (or what ever she had because the vet had said allergies, yeast, fungus, ring worm ect ect ) was almost gone and by the second month her hair was shinny and her skin was back to normal. It's been two years and she hasn't even gotten an ear infection ;which where horrible before).  I don't know which helped the most the core wellness or the dinovite but I'm not taking any chances by changing one.  I use to be at the vet many times a year and since I started her on that I've only taken her twice for vaccines.  Even the vet is impressed with her and took down the info on the food and dinovite.  Hope you give it a try after everything you've been through you've got nothing to lose.  By the way I stopped all vet prescriptions and even the Benedril at the same time I started her on the core wellness and dinovite.  

Thanks!  I just emailed you!  For some reason, it wouldn't let me log in with my tntdogs username, so I just linked my FB account.   My very first suspicion when this all started was some sort of mange and immune system issue, but the vets insisted that was not it and was most likely "just allergies."  He literally does wake up from a dead sleep to scratch and chew himself and frequently even whines when he's scratching because he's so itchy and uncomfortable..   My husband and I get itchy after handling him and even I break out in these itchy red bumps on the undersides of my arms after picking him up or just even handling him when he touches my arms.   We are so incredibly frustrated with these vets.  All they ever do is throw steroids at him and the last vet even wanted to put him on  an allergy food by Royal Canin!  It's NOT a food allergy!  We have already ruled that out by doing numerous food trials!   His thyroid panel has been sent to MSU twice and it came back normal both times, so we know it's definitely not a thyroid issue.  The last vet we saw also tested his cholesterol since apparently cholesterol abnormalities can contribute to skin issues in dogs as well, but that was normal also.  Like I said, we also  have 2 healthy golden retrievers who don't have this problem at all since they have normally functioning immune systems.  We do keep our Lab away from them, though, just to be safe until we have this under control.  We did the LimePlus dip today for the first time in a month and we are going to do it again this coming weekend.  We didn't do a very good job at doing it on a more regular basis before since we are just so busy and my husband has been traveling a lot for work lately and it's hard for me to get that stuff on him by myself since I can't hold him up to get it on his belly and chest and put it on him at the same time.  This time, we are going to do it every 5-7 days for several weeks in a row and HOPEFULLY we will finally make some progress with this thing!

Oh, and when I told the vet about me breaking out in red bumps on my arms after handling him, she told me that I was probably just sensitive to his hair type!  What a crock!  I have had  Labs before and have been around enough of them to know that is NOT the case!  We will NEVER be using that vet again!

That's exactly what we're going through and have been for about 2 years now.  He has scratched and chewed himself raw and he looks beyond terrible.  He also has made himself bleed in some areas.  Almost all of the fur is gone from his face, chest,, legs, and feet.  If  he wears a cone 24/7, some of the hair starts to grow back, but what kind of quality of life is that?  His skin almost looks like that of an elephant.  The smell is putrid and we feel  so horrible.  This dirt-like substances comes off of his skin every single day in very large amounts that I constantly have to sweep and vacuum up.  Wellness Core is actually one of the foods we tried him on for about 2-3 months with no luck.  We're positive that this isn't a food allergy that we're dealing with, but most likely some sort of mites/mange, especially with the way we itch after we handle him.  We just started doing the LimePlus dip again and we are going to be much more consistent with it this time and do it once a week for a month straight..  Looking at him, I feel like the worst dog owner ever, but at the same time, I know this is not something we caused.  Our other dogs and cats are all perfectly healthy and he is the only one with this problem.  It's heartbreaking seeing him suffer so much and insanely frustrating that none of these vets are doing anything to help us.  

Hi, I would talk to a vet about getting allergy tests done, that would be the best way to find out exactly what's going on. If you don't know what they are allgeric to you could be doing more harm that good. It could be a food allergy or it could be environmental, the test would let you know what foods and what in the environement they are allergice to. I had a rottie that was actually allergic to lamb and that is one of the foods most commonly given to dogs with food allergies, so that would have actually made her worse, the test also showed she was allergic to grass and some trees. I did my best to keep her out of the grass or got her someting to lay on. I would highly recommend an allery test to find out what is going on this way you feed the right foods and know what to keep him away from. Please keep me posted.

This is definitely mange.

If it's mange, it's very treatable. Feeding a good diet helps as well with skin issues.

We do feed all of our dogs a very good diet, but that has not helped our Lab's situation at all.  We are currently being very aggressive with the LimePlus dip and quarantining him for the time being, only taking him outside to use the bathroom.

Johanna did you get what I sent you??  In honesty this is **not** merely sarcoptic mange. That is definitely part of it, but given what info you have given me, I am betting demodex is also part of it (which is where the smell comes from).  But be very very careful -- the Lyme Dip will excacerbate the demodex (it's an irritant).  If you want to contact me please do so.  The posts aren't necessarily showing up in a timely fashion -- my email is callieatcritturs@yahoo.com.  After you told me you couldn't open the document, I sent it to you simply cut into an email.