[marbella]

I adopted a 10 week old Shepherd mix (possibly mixed with a golden retriever since she's blonde) earlier this week. She had an upper respiratory infection at the shelter, so I was given medicine for it. I also changed her food from Purina Puppy Chow (what they were giving her at the shelter) to the Blue Buffalo Puppy food.
Now she seems to have stopped the reverse sneezing fits, but she is very itchy. She scratches her ears and bites her tail and legs.
I don't think she has fleas, but I was told to only "spot-clean" her at the shelter. Is she too young to give her one of those oatmeal baths to see if that will help? I had also been rewarding her with those "Nutro" treats, but just found out that those are not good quality.

Any ideas or suggestions? Does it sound like more of an allergy or a flea problem?

Ginger and I thank you very much!!
-Marcia

 

[FourIsCompany]

You can get a flea comb and comb the areas where she's itching to rule out fleas, but I think it's more likely an allergy.

She is not too young to bathe. I don't know why they told you not to bathe her... I have bathed every puppy I've had as young as 8 weeks.

If, after bathing, she still is itching, I'd start looking at the ingredients in her food. Some dogs are allergic to certain proteins. My dog is allergic to chicken and has been doing fine on a venison diet.

 

[marbella]

Thanks for the reply Carla! How did you figure out what your dogs are allergic to? Does the vet tell you or do you test them out with different foods?

Thanks again!
-Marcia

 

[FourIsCompany]

He started getting hot spots after I changed to a chicken based food. I had no clue! After about a month of dealing with it, I talked to my vet and some people on a dog board. The vet suggested allergy tests, but some of the more knowledgeable food people on the board suggested a protein allergy and told me to first try a food that had only ONE protein and one that he hadn't had before, to avoid the cost of the allergy tests. So I tried Venison. It's a Natural Balance Limited Ingredient food for allergies and only has the one protein. Within a few days, the itching went way down!

 

[StardustInVegas]

My puppy got reverse sneezing when I brought her home from the shelter. I was just given antiboitics for it and she was fine within the next week. So, unless if your puppy has a lot of discharge, lethargic...I wouldn't worry too much about it, but if you're concerned, take her to YOUR vet, not the shelter's.

 

[ambercober]

It could also be environmental allergies, just a thought. Goodness knows it's that time of year and in some places (cities/towns) my dog has reacted badly to ragweed, things like itchy, sneezy, hair loss etc.

 

[NalaBaby]

Nala had a bout of itchiness as well. I had been feeding her Nutro for oh, maybe 3 days and she started itching. I stopped it and it stopped by the next day. I'm not 100% sure what it was that caused it, but the main ingredient that was different from other foods was Corn Gluten Meal. It had soybean oil as well, but I've got her on a probiotic (as suggested by my vet for loose stools) and it has soybean oil and she's not itchy now, so I think it's the corn.

Try stopping the treats, and see if that helps. If not, then it's probably something in the food or environment that's causing it.

 

[Bonnie Napholc]

If she has black coffee grind looking stuff in her ears it's probably mites. I find the best way to check for fleas is to either blow on the fur usually the back before the tail or use a lowair lowheat blow dryer setting so you can see through the fur to the skin and if you see flea dirt (black specks) then you know it's fleas. If she's still itchin I would try a limited ingredient diet. good luck with your dog as an itchy dog is just awful, mine gets itchy and sensitive too

 

[kevin1969]

Nala had a bout of itchiness as well. I had been feeding her Nutro for oh, maybe 3 days and she started itching. I stopped it and it stopped by the next day. I'm not 100% sure what it was that caused it, but the main ingredient that was different from other foods was Corn Gluten Meal. It had soybean oil as well, but I've got her on a probiotic (as suggested by my vet for loose stools) and it has soybean oil and she's not itchy now, so I think it's the corn.

You are probably right. It's sad that people feed their dogs food with Gluten. I just ran into this exact issue.