Hello everyone, It's been several years since the last time i posted here, I am so glad to see this forum is still active!
I will get right to the point..
About a year ago, we had 3 cats. They were outdoor kitties but came in to the house for shelter via kitty door that we had installed. Sometimes, upon returning, they would bring with them.. um.. gifts, ie; Field mice, Birds, Chipmunks. Some were dead, some were rescued. Shortly after the arrival of these 'gifts' our Yorkshire Terrier began scratching at herself, biting, chewing, to the point where she would eat her hair off and cause herself to bleed. We've done everything we could and eventually managed to stop the issue. Her hair grew back, and all was well.
After this, we moved into the city and unfortunately had to give up our cats to the farm beside where we were living (since that's where they spent most of their time mousing and such, the farmer agreed to take care of the cats since they were helping him out greatly.) Athena began scratching again shortly after moving to the city, but was not as vigorous as before. I recently brought a new member of the family in, "Charlie", as my own personal companion (Athena belongs to my mother and her boyfriend). Charlie was fine for the first week, then shortly after that he began to scratch as well in the same area's as Athena....
Both dogs are routinely treated for fleas, we figured topical treatments weren't working so we took them to the vet for an injection. The scratching continued and continued.
I check both dogs consistently for fleas, to make sure that they are nowhere to be seen. There are no bites, there is no flea poop. Earlier this month, the skin on Charlie's stomach (near his hind legs) was slightly red and bumpy looking like tiny pimples. I have a friend who is in school to become a vet. She saw this problem and instantly assumed since there were no fleas, that it was a food allergy. We were told to change the food to Nature's Choice; Rice & Lamb. The itching has continued. I continuously check the areas where he focuses his biting and scratching ad find nothing there, the red pimples that were there before are no longer there. He's perfectly clean, i've narrowed it down to skin mites.
Athena has stopped itching completely, but Charlie has not. The smell that comes from him scratching is poisoning the house. I'm planning to see the vet this upcoming week, despite the fear of them giving me the run around with what is actually wrong.. i hate seeing my boy suffer like this.
I however, would appreciate any input from one of Chazhound's members since you guys are extremely helpful, I would truly appreciate any [re-vet advice.. especially if any of you have had a similar situation before
Please note: it has seemed to spread from Athena to Charlie. He was fine until after a week of being here.
I apologize for this being so horribly long. I just wanted to make sure i was as informative and descriptive as possible. Thank you all so much
I will get right to the point..
About a year ago, we had 3 cats. They were outdoor kitties but came in to the house for shelter via kitty door that we had installed. Sometimes, upon returning, they would bring with them.. um.. gifts, ie; Field mice, Birds, Chipmunks. Some were dead, some were rescued. Shortly after the arrival of these 'gifts' our Yorkshire Terrier began scratching at herself, biting, chewing, to the point where she would eat her hair off and cause herself to bleed. We've done everything we could and eventually managed to stop the issue. Her hair grew back, and all was well.
After this, we moved into the city and unfortunately had to give up our cats to the farm beside where we were living (since that's where they spent most of their time mousing and such, the farmer agreed to take care of the cats since they were helping him out greatly.) Athena began scratching again shortly after moving to the city, but was not as vigorous as before. I recently brought a new member of the family in, "Charlie", as my own personal companion (Athena belongs to my mother and her boyfriend). Charlie was fine for the first week, then shortly after that he began to scratch as well in the same area's as Athena....
Both dogs are routinely treated for fleas, we figured topical treatments weren't working so we took them to the vet for an injection. The scratching continued and continued.
I check both dogs consistently for fleas, to make sure that they are nowhere to be seen. There are no bites, there is no flea poop. Earlier this month, the skin on Charlie's stomach (near his hind legs) was slightly red and bumpy looking like tiny pimples. I have a friend who is in school to become a vet. She saw this problem and instantly assumed since there were no fleas, that it was a food allergy. We were told to change the food to Nature's Choice; Rice & Lamb. The itching has continued. I continuously check the areas where he focuses his biting and scratching ad find nothing there, the red pimples that were there before are no longer there. He's perfectly clean, i've narrowed it down to skin mites.
Athena has stopped itching completely, but Charlie has not. The smell that comes from him scratching is poisoning the house. I'm planning to see the vet this upcoming week, despite the fear of them giving me the run around with what is actually wrong.. i hate seeing my boy suffer like this.
I however, would appreciate any input from one of Chazhound's members since you guys are extremely helpful, I would truly appreciate any [re-vet advice.. especially if any of you have had a similar situation before
Please note: it has seemed to spread from Athena to Charlie. He was fine until after a week of being here.
I apologize for this being so horribly long. I just wanted to make sure i was as informative and descriptive as possible. Thank you all so much