please help with itchy dog before i lose my mind... thanks

i know i know....the vet
i will take him but it is going to have to wait a bit.. money is tight you know

anyway, before i get berated for being a terrible dog owner can you try to help? thanks

i have a 3 year old beagle and he wont stop itching and scratching himself...he does it all damn day. his skin on his belly looks pink and irritated and i dont know what to do.
i have had him about 3 months and this issue just started maybe a week ago.
i thought it was the dog shampoo i was using so i stopped. then i thought it was this carpet powder crap my wife uses when she vacuums so we stopped that. i dont think it is his food cause it is the same food he has had since he has been with us and it is good food. it is not dollar store bone meal crap.

i dont understand why he was fine for months and now he wont stop.
i think it might be anxiety... not sure.

this dude has real separation anxiety. i know that. especially with me though. if i leave he gets really bugged out.
some of the things i have read talks about nervous dogs or dogs with anxiety that itch all the time.

my wife thought it is fleas but i am 100% sure it is not fleas.
i bathed him with different stuff and combed him all out and i did not see a single flea on him. also i have not seen a single flea on the carpet or furniture. plus he sleeps with us in bed so we would be tore up...im positive it is not fleas.

so i am thinking he has anxiety or he is allergic to something in my yard....

i still would have thought he would have been doing this before a week ago.

all i know is i feel bad for him and i feel bad for us cause it is annoying as hell as he does it all day.

just read something that says you can give a dog benadryl. i have some so i think i am going to give him some...
1 mg per lb

if that works maybe it will point me in the right direction. he will get to the vet but it is going to be at least a week.

thanks for your advice....

could be mange, could be an allergy
seriously, take your dog to the vet. you owe your dog that. at least talk to the person on the counter, say money is real tight, and ask them what it looks like...
the vets may have a list of common plants that dogs are allergic to, your area specific.
And also ask about the price of a back of the neck flea/mange/dewormer treatment.

a reply to: CardiffGiant

Before you give him the benadryl... call your vet. Don't trust online sources to tell you it's okay. Just tell the vet you can't afford for him to be seen right now and want to make sure it's okay. But before that even, try mixing a rinse of half water and half apple cider vinegar. Try it on an irritated spot on his belly first before dousing him with it to make sure it doesn't sting or irritate more. Use apple cider vinegar specifically, not any old vinegar.

a reply to: CardiffGiant

Poor little guy. Here is some more homework. The site lists some problems, things that maybe you haven't explored yet. This page also has quizzes that step you through to a possible solution including pics.

Top of page left…

webmd

Try a grain free diet. It worked for my dog. She was
scratching herself raw. It worked and she's doing
much better now.

a reply to: Kali74

Seriously, I've seen articles saying it's ok to give cats tylonel and birds alca seltzer. Don't try either, mange as PS above stated is probably it and benedryl only treats the symptom and is not a cure.

I had a dog that had problems with her skin. It turned out to be an allergy to corn in the dog food. I started making dog food from scratch...boiled chicken, rice, peas, carrot, and oatmeal. The problem cleared right up.

Dog food is probably the cause. What are you feeding him?

Man dogs develop an allergy to the food ingredients. So, it could be corn, soy or even the protein (chicken kibble) so, start with what you're feeding him. Buy a higher quality, grain free or limited ingredient food. Most commercial dog foods are crap in kibble form and MANY dogs have become allergic to them.

Don't feed Iams. Your vet may try to sell you that, but it's not a good food. I would get a 4-6 star food from this website:
www.dogfoodanalysis.com...

i will try the food thing.
i feed him purina dog chow. i know thats not the best but i figured it was better than alpo.
i will look through the ingredients.

ill probably switch him just to be safe. tomorrow was dog food purchase day anyway.

i cant get him to the vet right now. just not possible.

i knew i wouldnt have much cash when we got him which is why we adopted a dog that was neutered and up to date on all shots. i knew at some point he would have to go i just didnt think it would be this soon.

i just looked at a couple different brands online to compare ingredients.
i looked at beneful which i always thought was a decent food. the ingredients were all corn, soy, glutten, wheat.

so i looked at blue buffalo. those ingredients were none of that and then like lamb and rice. thing is he cost.
its crazy expensive.

i dont know what to do.

im going to switch him to a better brand tomorrow. gonna go to the pet store to compare prices and ingredients. i hope we can get it worked out. we love him and dont want anything to happen to him. i dont want him itcchy or in pain but i can not afford to feed him those dog foods that are more than double the price of what he gets now.
i can step it up a little bit but other than that i dont really know.

i feel terrible about it. im not the kind of guy that will toss him the cheapest junk food around. i thought i was doing ok with what i was giving him.
my family has to budget how we eat. that means him too.

originally posted by: CardiffGiant
i feed him purina dog chow. i know thats not the best but i figured it was better than alpo.

Not really.

When you change food, don't do it all at once. Start by mixing 3/4 old food with 1/4 new food for a couple days, then move to 1/2 and 1/2, then 3/4 to 1/4 then all the way on the new food. This will prevent his digestive system from freaking out. Also, he should be eating twice a day.

Here are a few you may want to try: *Fromm, *Natural Balance (my choices for you), Innova, Blue Buffalo, Pinnacle, Canidae, Merrick or Wellness (that's what I feed). These foods are going to be more expensive, but the dog eats a little less, so it's not as bad as it seems and if it gets rid of his itch, that's the goal.

You don't have to go grain free, though that's ideal, IMO. If you go with a grain, look for something with wweet potato, BROWN rice or oats instead of corn. Corn and wheat are BAD for dogs.

Good luck!

Here's another option that can be even cheaper. Feed him raw. Dogs are carnivores. They don't need vegetables, fruits or grains. If you live in a large town and can find meat on sale in quantity (or from the butcher), you can stock up and feed him raw meat. Also, if you hunt or know hunters, you can score. I LOVE feeding raw, but I don't have the resources and it's easier to just get a bowl of kibble, so that's why I don't do it.

www.rawfeddogs.net...

Giving dogs Benadryl is perfectly fine, that's from my vets mouth!

My two mini rat terriers have had bad allergies/itching on their bellies. I switched their food and now give my dogs each a half Benadryl in the morning and a half each at night before bedtime when they eat their dinner. They hardly ever scratch themselves now and are looking great!

a reply to: Bovah

Since you've switched foods, you may want to drop the benadryl. It can cause prostate problems. I give it, too, but only when necessary.

How are his eyes and ears? The dog next door is allergic to ragweed or some other plant on his daily walks and his eyes water like mad. That plus the itching all over makes the whole neighborhood feel for him and try to help find a solution, because he really is a sweet dog. A trip to a cottage surrounded by a forest and lake cured him until he returned home.

he eats twice a day. i am very much against free feeding.
i am going to look at all those brands you just mentioned. i can step it up a bit cause he does not go through that much food.
still though. we are on a budget and when we got him we worked him in.

when we adopted him they sent us home with a bag of whatever they were feeding him and i gradually introduced this purina. i will do the same with the next brand

a reply to: CardiffGiant

Also look at Kirkland from Costco, Taste of the Wild, Nutro Ultra, Back to Basics, Solid Gold and Orijen.

originally posted by: aboutface
How are his eyes and ears? The dog next door is allergic to ragweed or some other plant on his daily walks and his eyes water like mad. That plus the itching all over makes the whole neighborhood feel for him and try to help find a solution, because he really is a sweet dog. A trip to a cottage surrounded by a forest and lake cured him until he returned home. [/quote

he looks fine. his eyes and ears look great. no goop in the eys. no redness. his ears are clean. no mites or goop. he does not itch his eyes. it seems to be his belly and down by the base or his tail by his ass.
only thing i can notice is his belly looks pink.

we are sitting outside right now and he is doing his 'thing'. he lays on his back and wiggles all around and moans. it sounds like a good happy kind of euphoric moan. not an in pain moan.

i am thinking he is either itching himself when he does this or just being a goof. i have seen other dogs do this. could he be picking up some kind of grass mite or something when he rolls around?
seems possible to me

im looking around.... this is purina but different from the onee he gets now.

you think this would be ok?

www.petsmart.com... fm%3Dsearch

a reply to: CardiffGiant

It's got Corn Gluten Meal, which may very well be your dog's problem. Let me look around some...