From denmark, my dog scratchesss and itches till blood?

aagaard82

Hi

My parents have a Danish-swedish farmdog (Danish-Swedish Farmdogs USA)

It is 5 years old and it has been "sick" for almost all 5 years. The first 3/4 year of its life it did not have the itching and scratching. That came when it was 3/4 year old.

I'll try to describe the problem as good as I can. When it was about 1 year old my parents noticed it was extremely sensitive, it would haul and barf if someone touched it and if you pat it, it would turn its head and like snap at you and it still does this today. When it was about 1 year old my parents noticed I scratched and itched itself way more than what is normal for a dog. It looked like it was fleas or some kind of thing in its fur. Then they took it to the animal doctor, then it got treatment for everything, worms, furtreatment, penicillin, you name it, it got it. The times it has been given penicillin, the days after it was given the penicillin it would not scratch and itch itself, but after about the 10 days the penicillin is in its system the dog, its named Koko, just starts scratching and itching itself again and get a lot of wounds and sometimes scratches itself till it bleeds.

To sum up things my parents have then in the following 4 years been to 5 animaldoctors and tried EVERYTHING they could offer and tried more than 10 different dog foods, including biological, hyperantiallergic and BARF (where it only eat raw meat and veggies). But none of all of this has helped it. It still bites and scratches itself, it is completely red all over its legs and thighs, very little fur on its thighs due to all the scratching and itching.

When it was about 3 years old it began to develop these dry crusts in its forehead, the doctor just said we should peel it off with something, just dry skin, but it has been getting a lot more of these dry crusts around its head. It also has wounds on its tail and as I have said bites herself to blood sometimes. Very hard to keep looking at, since it does it ALL THE TIME. There must really be something the matter with it. It has tried a diet with something allergenic without anything that could provoke an allergenic reaction, but the conclusion was clear, it still scratched itself during this treatment.

One animal doctor has suggested to get it sterilized, but I don’t know if this would help with the issue at hand?

The latest thing my parents are trying is the BARF food, which is raw meat and vegetables, but this was very wrong and to much protein according to the animal doctor, but the BARF people have said it is only healthy and back-2-nature animal food, they have been using this BARF food for the last 3 month, but without any positive progress. They think it drinks to little water, although it has its waterbowl outside and inside.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before and could point us in a direction for something we could try out as a last resort?

Koko is a very happy and über active dog, maybe a little to skinny and has never been adding weight, but it weights about 10,5 kgs which the animal doctor says is normal.

Please do ask all the questions you need, this is a last thing we want to try, in hope of someone whom may have experienced the same thing and found out what it was?

tmbkaity

I'm not sure, but mange pops out at me right now

aagaard82

I'm not sure I understand you tmbkaity? Mange? My English is okay, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean exactly?

aagaard82

Okay, I got it now, thank you google translate =) My parents believe it has been given a treatment for mange, but this obviously didn't help, although I would have to go ask my dad to know for sure, my mom says she believes it did get a treatment for mange.

Yes it has been treated for mange, ticks (dunno if that is the right word fur mites....

But still the same itching and scratching =(

Dawnben

3 months is not a long time when you take into consideration all of the treatment the dog has received. All of those things compromise the immune system. What you need to do is rebuild the immune system with healthy fresh food. I would also include a good healthy supplement to the diet. It sound like early in life the dog got a food allergies and the vet did not see it. My first question is what was the meat source in the food the dog has been on for 5 years, if when your parents changed food and they did not change the kind of meat it could be that simple. Some dogs are allergic to some meat , some to certain grains . Second is the dog on a flea treatment like frontline, one flea bite can set off an allergic reaction in a dog that has flea allergies

kmes

I would check for mange again. Have a new skin scraping done, maybe even several from different parts of the body.

If it is not mange, then my second guess would be allergies. Like Dawnben said, some dogs can be allergic to certain meats or grains, so your parents should rule those out. Also, what about environmental causes??? Has the vet tested for environmental allergies? Just like people, dogs can be allergic to common household products, pollens, grass, etc.

aagaard82

Thank you very much for your reply (dawnben) (Kmes) (tmbkaity) me and my family really appreciates it!!!

Well, first thing first.

My parents will continue the raw diet (raw meat and vegetables) which is called BARF here in Denmark, don't know over there? As you said Dawnben, 3 month is not a long time, their plan is to continue this BARF food for 6 month and if the scratching and itching is not gone, then they mean they can exclude the food. But I can understand, that if it is the meat, then BARF is not the solution.

My parents think they can cure Koko's problems just by giving it BARF for 6 month, personally I think they have given up on it after having used all those money and all that frustration and just to see how bad the dog still is today.

What i a good healthy supplement to the diet? Concrete?

It has been given dry dog food in all those years up until 3 month ago, when it was given BARF. So it could be allergy to some kind of meat, since dry dog food in those 5 years could have contained the same meat and also BARF (Deer, guts, cow stomick, sheep stomick, chicken mix, every 7 days only bones)

We don't know if it has flea allergies?

It has never been tested for allergies? I think, my parents think, it is very expensive, because they have heard it from someone they talked to private, but I'm not sure this is the case and I don't understand why the vet didn't recommend taking a test for allergies?

Is it so expensive over there?

We just found Koko's medical journal and it has actually been given treatment for mange twice, so do you still recommend us insisting on it once again Kmes?

As I said above it has never been tested for environmental allergies...

But a new aspect on the whole thing is definitely to out rule the meat allergy, since we have out ruled that it is not grain allergy since it has been on BARF (raw meat and vegtables for the last 3 month and still scratches as bad?)

aagaard82

I forgot to mention earlier that the fur is extremely greasy and it smells very bad, not nice for Koko, since no one will ever want to pat it or even touch it =(

And dandruff around the head and back...

And it has always been extremely sensitive when touching it, as if it is very sore or skin sensitive some kind of pain...

Dawnben

This is supplement I use Canine I did a lot of research because I needed one without meat because my dog has issues with meat allergies. As far as the meat is concerned look at the meat content of the dog food the dog was on the longest and avoid that meat just to make sure it is not the meat. In the states we have dog foods like venison and sweet potato, bison and potato they use these meats to make sure the dog has never had them. Those would be my choice for a dog with allergies. The more simple the diet the better to eliminate food as a allergy factor. So on the raw diet make sure it does not include any meat that the dog has had before.

aagaard82

Dawnben can you give me the name on that Canine dog food that is without meat? So we can try it now or after the 6 month with raw meat and vegetables?