Why won't my senior dog's extreme skin itching respond to treatment?

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. From the pictures that you provided my primary suspicions would be a skin infection. There are some things that you can do at home if you are unable to get to a vet right away. I would suggest starting with a shampoo that is medicated such as Duoxo chlorhexidine PS combination and bathe him twice weekly until the infection is resolved. I would also suggest starting welactin omega-3 fish oil and essential 6 Spot On by dermoscent. If there is no improvement then I would see your vet for further testing and treatments. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I am also available via phone or text base consultation if needed

This does look like a severe skin disease. Dogs can develop environmental allergies similar to eczema, but I would expect that he would have responded some to the medications prescribed at least temporarily if this was the case. Buddy could have a parasite, resistant infection, or an autoimmune disease causing these symptoms as well. You may want to recheck with the vet to see if there are any other tests they might recommend - a skin scrape, fungal culture, skin cytology and culture, or biopsy might be the next steps. If Buddy is not on a good flea and tick preventative I'd recommend starting one as well just in case of parasites.

Hi there, It would be helpful to know what diagnostics were done with your veterinarian. This could be something like a deep skin infection, an immune mediated skin disease, or a primary nasal problem erupting through the skin. It is difficult to say from this photograph. I suspect she may need to have a biopsy done for definitive diagnosis and to know what treatment is best. She may need more than antihistamine tablets for this to resolve. I hope this helps. Best of luck to you and Coco.

Milo needs to see a veterinary dermatologist or internal medicine specialist and have allergy testing done. You need to know what the underlying cause of the allergy is to properly treat it. All that has been done so far is treating the clinical signs, no the underlying problem. I don't know where in India you are located but maybe these links can help you find someone in your area. http://indianvets4u.com/ http://www.indiacom.com/bp/animal-medical-services_in_pune/ My other thought is she may have mange and that is why the treatments are not working or only work short term. Speak to your vet about this. It is very easy and inexpensive to treat even if you are only going by a presumptive diagnosis. I hope this helps. Best wishes.

Hello Kavita! I'm sorry Chinnu isn't feeling very well. I'm sure he's quite uncomfortable with that skin. Unfortunately the medications names you wrote down aren't familiar names to me in the states and I'm not finding any information on them online. I'm wondering if perhaps you mis-typed them. So I can't speak to those particular medications. I can tell you that cocker spaniels are VERY prone to skin issues and allergies that cause skin issues. He could have allergies in addition to parasites. Both issues weaken the natural barrier of the skin and make it easier for yeast and bacteria to start growing. To treat these guys, we have to clear up the yeast and bacteria, and then address the underlying cause (allergies, parasites, or other things like endocrine disorders). So it sounds like you're veterinarian is working on dealing with those initial issues and also the parasites. After that's cleared up, ask to talk about testing or treatment to help lessen the frequency in the future. I hope that helps a bit. Definitely check the drug names and post another question if there is a different spelling we can check out. Good luck! I hope Chinnu is feeling better very soon.

Hello, sorry to hear about Zoey. The mass on her back leg looks a little more than something brought on my fleas or allergies. That mass should be sampled by your veterinarian to ensure it is not an aggressive mass. The lesions on her neck, do seem like are most consistent with severe itchiness. Things such as allergies and skin parasites (fleas and mites) can cause this kind of itchiness. Mites are microscopic and you may not be able to see them. In terms of fleas, dogs can develop flea allergy dermatitis, an allergy against flea saliva, and you do not need to see fleas on Zoet for her to have this. Other allergies include environmental allergies and food allergies. Her cough could be associated with the allergies although in smaller dogs like Zoey, you also have to rule out heart disease or a tracheal collapse as the cause for her cough. I think Zoey should be evaluated by her veterinarian to rule out the possibility for flea allergy dermatitis or mites, rule out a maliganant back leg mass, and to check for a heart condition or collapsing trachea for her cough. Hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!