itching and scratching

Can you visually see his symptoms on his skin? If you can what does his skin look like?

It could be enviromental dermatitis. Have you recently moved, just started taking him to a field where there is a new kind of grass, or started using a new product on your lawn? Many dogs are sensitive to these kinds of changes and his skin could be reacting to it. Does he scratch and bite in one spot or all over?

Did you just change dog food? Because dogs can be allergic to some foods, and some brands of food just aren't as good as the others. Even if the label does say "Complete and Well Balanced" or something like that.

Have you checked for fleas yet? And is he on a flea and tick preventative?

Just trying to cover all the bases. Good Luck......

Spikey Snoot

i have a 4 yr old shih tzu has recently started scratching and biting his fur.  I

scratching and biting *where*?  One particular place? all over? 

What does the skin look like (not just the coat but the SKIN itself)

Redness?  define more carefully please?  red wet skin?  red hot skin?  red bumpy skin? (if so do the bumps have pus in them or just 'bumpy';)

*where* is the redness?  all over?  belly?  neck?  hindquarters?  (yep, it makes a huge difference)

Does the dog scratch **constantly** -- does it wake up to scratch and can't sleep?  Can you get the dog to *stop* scratching or can you not get its attention long enough to get it to stop?

 When you say "mange" -- do you mean sarcoptic mange?  or demodex?  And how do you know that?  (are you aware there is such a thing as wildlife sarcops?  Your dog doesn't have to be hanging out at dumpsters to find sarcops)

What part of the country do you live in?  I don't want your address -- but there are a ton of things to consider -- like contact allergens, how dry it may be, environmental stuff, etc.

Do you have your own yard?  apartment dweller?  rural? 

What were you feeding and if you have changed what and when?

I'm getting itchy just reading this.

Hope you get this issue under control.

Johnny & Tessy

thank you,  my poor little peanut.  i rush home everyday to see how he is doing.  It seems to be getting a little better.  he is my second shih tzu, my other one never had allergies or anything in 13 years.  This one is a handful, but he's my little child.  thank you so much

Hi Callie, Thank you.  His skin looks like a rash, here and there black spots only on his belly.  Mostly all over except for his head.  I was feeding him the walmart food, bad idea, and switched him back to Iams, which he was on before.  He gets one squirt of fish oil on his food to help with the dry skin as the groomer said to do.  He has been on the fish oil for a couple of weeks now and also back on the iams. my other shih tzu never had this, and i am a worried mom, when i had gone to petco, ,they recommended the cortizone spray to help with the scratching, and he gets an oatmeal bath every week to also help with the dry skin.  When i came home today, he seems better.  I am hoping what i am doing is working.  I live in an apartment and barely get by every week, but if i need to take him to vet, i can.  my next step is to wash all his bedding.  this all started all of a sudden.  he is not around other dogs.

There are few things you can try, though I would recommend going to the vet to get a skin scrape done. It's possible he has allergies, but there is also the possibility of a secondary bacterial or yeast infection that has happened that will need medication to get cleared up.

First, I would switch him to a grain-free high quality food. IAMS is pretty expensive for the quality, and you can get a much better quality food for the same price. It is possible he is having a reaction to the unnecessary fillers in the food, which won't be in a higher quality food. And even if food allergies isn't his problem, it still would benefit him to be on a higher quality diet. There are lots of options out there that are grain-free such as Wellness CORE, Innova EVO, Taste of the Wild, Canidae Grain Free (which is competitively priced), GO! Grain Free, Orijen, Merrick's Before Grain, Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, several Natural Balance flavors, and Timberwolf.

If you absolutely cannot afford a premium grain-free food, I'd at least switch to something better than IAMS. Chicken Soup brand foods are decent food and the same price as IAMS, and Kirkland Signature is cheaper than IAMS and a better quality as well.

Also, re-wash all his bedding but do not use any fabric softener or additives. A scent-free detergent would also be beneficial.

thank you for that, very much.  i did find online, it looks like it could be an intestinal yeast infection.  i am going to try and get him to the vet on thursdayk.  So, iams is not good?  it has the probiotics in it.  i am going to look into getting one of the foods you mentioned and try that out.  thank you again

One of my big gripes with IAMS is that they use bha, bht and ethoxyquin as preservatives (and buy meat that is already preserved in it).  Those are major carcinogens.  I home cook for all of mine -- not "cheaper' but man, at least I know what's going into it.  They can be allergic to many many things indoors -- and really that's far more possible than food (dust mites, pollens, mold -- tons of stuff). 

yeast can be a natural progression of the allergies coming out on the skin -- and you'll have yeast if you're using a food with grain in it as well.  You may want to even try bathing in something like Selsun Blue *yep the dandruff shampoo* -- it's medicated and really can help yeasty skin.  Dilute it -- and don't make it a long bath but it really can help bring some relief if there is yeast.

wow! you guys are great!  thank you.  I will try your suggestions and also get him to vet

 Make 100% sure there aren't any fleas too. I have a shih tzu (they're all I've ever had!) and they seem to be pretty itchy dogs all around. My current Tzu, Lucky will go to the point where he'll tear his fur out if he gets one single flea bite. He's that allergic. I agree with all the foods listed, except that Wellnes tends to give Lucky struvite crystals. (not saying all dogs do, but for him, that's what it was). He's on Taste of the Wild kibble right now and doing very well on it, allergy-wise.

he is so cute.  everyone has the cutest dogs!!  ain't it great.  yup, no fleas, my other shih tzu never had this problem and we got spike from the same place.  he is worth it though

IAMS is generally a poor quality food for the price. IAMS contains a large amount of hard-to-digest filler (like corn and sorghum), and also contains by-products. When it comes to kibble, by-products generally mean things like chicken beaks and feet, not necessarily nutritious organ meat. So it's usually best to stay away from foods containing by-products. Also, though the main ingredient in most of their food is chicken, it only is by weight. Chicken and other meats ore mostly water, so once it's cooked down it's significantly less chicken than it may appear. So really, the main ingredient is probably corn, it just weighs less than chicken.

Gross! I wouldn't want my carnivore eating corn! And corn and grains are usually a big cause of allergies and other issues, as their systems aren't set up to digest it well.

It wasn't too long ago that I switched kibble for on eof my dogs that was scratching alot.  Her stools were also a little on the soft side always.  I switched her from a good quality kibble (Oven Baked Tradition) with grains to a grain free (Taste of the Wild) higher quality kibble and by the next day I was seeing results.  After about a week of being on the food she barely scratched at all.  Her stools are all firm now also not to mention her skin & coat looked better.

If I were you I'ld bath her in a good quality shampoo, or like Callie was saying use Selsun Blue.  I've used this on my dog with success and my sister also used it on her dog which had skin issues.  She said it worked wonders on her dog and now she swears by it!  If it doesn't work well the bath would at least sooth her some from the itching no doubt.

Hope you figure this out.

Hugs.

Johnny & Tessy

 If your dog is itching but with no fleas, this article offers several solutions:

 A cool bath

 An oatmeal bath

Moisturizer

Pet supplements

Over-the-counter remedy. If your dog is itching but no fleas can be found, the itching may be caused by hay fever and can be treated with an antihistamine such as Benadryl. Most veterenarians recommend giving one to three milligrams for every pound of weight of your dog. Ask your vet for precise dosing instructions.