Skin Allergies

When your dog itches, you know it. That relentless licking, scratching, chewing – anything he can do to relieve the itch. He seems obsessed, and he probably is. Whatever you do, don't ignore this problem (as if you could!). Incessant scratching and chewing may indicate food allergy. He'll constantly tear into any place on his body that he can reach with his teeth or claws. You may see ugly hair loss. Until you find the cause, this problem will go from bad to worse.

There are countless so-called hypoallergenic" dog shampoos on the market

You can get sarcoptic mange from your dog. but the canine variant of the sarcoptic mange mite can’t fully reproduce in people, so symptoms will fade in 4 or 5 days.

Upon waking up one morning many years ago, I greeted Mandy, my six-year-old tri-color Collie, who slept beside my bed. As I leaned over to stroke her luxurious black coat, I gasped. There was an angry, oozing sore the size of a grapefruit on the outside of her right hind leg. It was cherry red, inflamed, and looked incredibly painful. I was horrified. I worked at a humane society at the time. This looked like the kind of wound we would investigate an irresponsible owner for, for not providing proper care and attention! I was sure it hadn't been there the night before. What had happened to my dog?

Yikes! What happened to Fido’s nose? And what’s wrong with Fluffy’s paw pads? The possibilities are many, and a surprising number of nose and paw pad problems are related. Because illnesses in this category often have similar or identical symptoms, a veterinarian’s diagnosis can be important. The following overview will help you identify, prevent, or treat these disorders. The most frequently asked questions about dogs’ noses concern color. Dogs have black or dark noses and paw pads because of melanin, a pigment that darkens skin. When melanin production slows or stops, the skin lightens uniformly or in patches. The term nasodigital refers to both nose and toes. A thickening of the outer layer of skin (hyperkeratosis) at the edges of the nose or paw pads can develop into painful cracks, fissures, erosions, and ulcers.

In late autumn, we closed our pool, an annual event that all four of our swim-loving dogs dread. They will swim as long into the fall season as we allow and I am pretty certain that our Toller, Chippy, would bring out an ice pick and break his way through the ice if he could. In addition to the daily joy, excitement, and happiness that our pool brings to us all, we have found that it has had an additional benefit for some of our dogs. The pool and the daily swims that it provides help to keep itchy dogs from itching all summer long.

Thirty years ago, even though the systemic yeast infection called candidiasis had already become an epidemic, practically no one knew anything about it. Even now conventional medicine tends to ignore the problem, but word has spread among health-conscious consumers. If you haven't had a candida yeast infection yourself, you know dozens of people who have and dozens of dogs as well.

Excessive self-licking and chewing can be caused by a medical issue. It can also be a behavioral problem, a classic example of an obsessive/compulsive disorder. Either way, it's annoying to the dog's human companion, and dangerous to the health of the dog. Here are tips for dealing with dogs who self-lick and chew excessively. To begin behavior modification, determine your dog's stressors and start eliminating them. Make a list of everything?you can think that is stresses your dog – even just a little bit, even if the stressors don't seem directly related to the licking. Your list might include thunder, small children, dogs on television, cats, riding in cars, visits to the vet, shock collars, medical issues, and many more. Most owners can identify between 10 and 20 stressors for their dogs.

There are a few different types of tests available that purport to identify the allergens to which a dog is hypersensitive; some of them are helpful, and some are a waste of time and money. Since all of them are commonly referred to as allergy tests

Over the years I have treated literally thousands of animal patients for allergic problems, using both Western and alternative medicine methods. The more I think I know about allergies, the more I read and learn about them, the more confused I get. Nothing I have tried therapeutically works with all my patients; some patients get better with hardly any effort on my part; others finally respond to my third or fourth treatment protocol (or 9th or 10th); and some never respond, no matter what I try.

All dog lovers appreciate seeing a healthy, happy dog, running in the sun with a glistening coat. And it's great to hear, Wow! Your dog's coat is so soft and shiny. How do you do it?" It's wonderful if you are one of the lucky owners whose dog inspires this sort of spontaneous compliment

On April Fool's Day 1996, my soon-to-be-husband took me to get a puppy. We already had one dog, Ladybird, but she was getting older and we felt a young friend would encourage her to be more playful. We also hoped Ladybird would pass on some of her fine qualities to the puppy. We drove out of town to a place where people play paintball. There were more than a dozen young dogs running around, and the owner told us to take our pick. One young female seemed to want my attention more than any of the others, and I fell in love with her pretty face. We took her home and named her Cheyenne.