Itchy legs.

Dr. Marie replied:

How frustrating. I am never happy with seeing a dog who has to wear a collar every day. To me this is not acceptable. Sure, the collar stops her from doing damage to herself, but the itch is still there. It has to be extremely frustrating for her! Similarly, just covering the area is not going to stop the itch either.

But I can understand as well that it must be difficult for you guys and also your vets. It sounds like everyone is working really hard to fix this problem.

The best thing that I can suggest is to ask your vet for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist. All that these vets do is deal with really frustrating and difficult to solve skin problems. They see the unusual things and they usually can find a solution.

I have a few thoughts that you can mention to your vet and ask if they are a possibility. First of all, is she still on Atopica? If so, is it possible that she needs her dosage changed?

Is she on a prescription hypoallergenic food? If so, sometimes dogs can develop allergies even to this after a couple of years. Sometimes a change to a new one can help. If she isn't then it is a good idea to ask your vet about trying one. It is important to use a prescription one. Many OTC foods claim to be hypoallergenic but there is much more research put into the prescription foods you can get at the vet's office.

You could ask your vet to test for yeast. Sometimes I will see a dog that is allergic to yeast and even a small amount of yeast infection can be extremely itchy. Often these dogs can be cured with a course of oral antifungal medication.

Has she been tested or treated for sarcoptic mange? These tiny mites can be hard to pick up on tests. Any time I see an itchiness that doesn't respond to normal allergy treatments I do a treatment for mange just to be sure.

One final thought would be to have your vet biopsy the areas to see if there is any sort of unusual skin disease. If so, knowing what the disease is will help us know what medication to use.

I wish I had THE answer for you. In almost every one of these frustrating cases that I have seen, though, there is an answer that will stop the itch. The problem is that often, coming to this answer can be expensive.

Please let me know if you have more questions and I hope that Kirsty gets some relief soon!

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Is Kirsty biting at one or a couple of spots on her leg consistently? If so, then she could have something called a lick granuloma. There are lots of ways to treat these, but the treatment usually involves keeping her away from licking it.

*If* you were to use a muzzle, then it would need to be a cage muzzle and not the cloth type that wraps around her nose. The cloth type is meant for very short term use as it doesn't allow a dog to pant.

If it is not a specific spot on the leg then I really feel like it is not fair to put a muzzle or a bandage on as something that is this itchy really does have to have some type of medical reason. There is a small chance that it is a psychological behavior and if this is the case then a short term of medication such as Reconcile (which is prozac for dogs) could really help.