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My dog is itching, anxious, and has hot spots. How to calm her?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Miniature Schnauzer | Female | spayed | 7 years and 8 months old

Dog been itching, panting, scratching. Anxious, won't sleep. Gave bath w allergy shampoo. She has a few hot spots I treated. Ideas to calm her down?

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Angel Alvarado, LVT

Licensed Veterinary Technician

Published on March 25th, 2016

Do not give any medications to your pet without the advice of your veterinarian. Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian. Since your dog has hot spots, she is at risk for a skin infection and requires antibiotics. Your vet can also prescribe a short course of steroids to break the itch cycle then can dispense or recommend an antihistamine to prevent the itchiness from returning. Some antihistamines work better than others in different dogs, so you will need to find the one that works best. A pet approved colloidal oatmeal bath can soothe itchy skin. Use cool water and pat dry after to minimize the itch. Consider adding an essential fatty acid supplement (usually a fish oil) to her diet to promote healthy skin. EFAs may also decrease inflammation. Search www.pet360.com for fish oil supplements. If a diagnosis of allergies is made, your task is to try to determine what she is allergic to and decrease or eliminate it. Discuss food elimination trials, hydrolyzed diets and allergy testing with your vet.

6Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Megan, DVM, CVA
Veterinarian
Published on June 10th, 2017
You can try to give 75mg of Benadryl (3 tablets) to Tubb twice a day to help with the itching. You can also place a cone collar to prevent him from chewing it which is what makes it worse. Finally you can use Benadryl spray directly on the sore. If it isn't improving then I would recommend to contact your vet for an exam because many hot spots need oral antibiotics and stronger allergy medicine to help them heal.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on June 21st, 2019
I am sorry to hear about your concern for Sooky. This appears to by a hydrocortisone cream which is a topical steroid to decrease itching and inflammation, so if she has a small itchy spot it may help decrease the irritation, but won't get to the underlying cause/trigger. I would recommend an examination at a vet to see if there is secondary bacterial infection that may require treatment as well. The vet can look at the lesions, the distribution of lesions, and let you know if they think a change in diet is recommended, a trial of allergy medication like an antihistamine, medicated shampoo such as Duoxo Calm line, or other treatment.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on March 24th, 2018
Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine him so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. This could be a skin parasite known as Sarcoptic mange this is transmissible between animals and humans. The vet can prescribe the most appropriate treatment once confirmed. This could also be a severe allergy and you may have a reaction to the shorter hairs poking your skin. The sooner this is diagnosed and treated the better. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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