Have you tried Stronghold? My eldest Bichon was itchy for 18 months and the vets were treating him for food and skin allergies and it turned out to be sarcoptic mange. Just had to put Stronghold on him every two weeks for a few weeks and it cleared up. He was really bad with it too and had to wear a buster collar 24 hours a day.

Tea tree skin cream from the pet shop has sometimes helped my dog if she's been somewhere and got itchy skin from fleabites (along with flea treatment of course).

Try Natural Instinct - Natural Instinct - High Quality Natural Dog Food - they use nothing artificial and only meat, bone, fruit and veg. They also have single protein source foods (lamb or chicken) for dogs that may have a protein problem. Its delivered frozen for free overnight. Can really help with skin/yeast infections too, and is recommended by an holistic vet.

Thanks Jazzy - no we tried all that stuff first - she has been on advocate since we got her religiously every month, which treats all the mites (body & ear), fleas and additional other things I think.

Actually, just as an update in case of interest to anyone - we put Maggie on Burns Venison & Brown Rice after our vets consultation on Friday and within 12 hours of having a sprinking of the new biscuits with her old ones for her lunch & dinner, she was itching like mad!!!! I took her off it again and she calmed down - so we have narrowed it down to being some form of grain allergy, as this is the only thing that has been consistent in her foods that caused allergy!

I went out and got some Orijen at the weekend which is grain free, put her on it since saturday morning and she is currently almost itch-free!! So fingers crossed this works!

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Hi

There are several things you can do to ease your dogs itch while you try to figure out, with the help of your vet, what is causing the irritating itch.

1. Bathe the dog regularly in cool water. Warm or hot water will only make the itch worse. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes. Adding some Epsom salts, baking soda, or colloidal oatmeal (like Aveeno) to the water will increase the soothing effects. This will provide only a temporary relief lasting from a few hours to a few days. After the bath, pat the dog with a towel. Do not rub the skin, this will only increase the dogs itch. Do not use a hair dryer on a heat setting. A cool (no heat) setting would be okay. Heat and rubbing the dogs skin will increase your dogs itch, making the bath ineffective.

2.Fatty Acids, found in either marine oils or evening primrose oil, can be very effective in easing an itch. You can try giving one of these fatty acid supplements. It will take several weeks before the benefit will take effect, so they are for treating long term problems rather than an on-off irritation. You can find these at your local health food store.

3.Antihistamines can sometimes be effective with short term itches. For example; insect bites or a flare-up of hay fever. You can use an over the counter antihistamine such as clemastine (Tavist), chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Be sure to consult your veterinarian first. Your vet will give you the proper dosage and tell you if this will be a good thing to try for your dogs problem.

Thanks
Have a anice time ahead.

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