Kohl has been licking at his wrist for some time now and it has caused an open sore. We have been to the vet several times for medication for it and it hasn't worked. We have tried bitter spray and he likes it. Go figure! LOL! We have had his cone on and he has some how managed to teach himself how to scratch his paw with the edge of it. We have tried bandaging it still doesn't work he rips it off..
Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Less scooping you say now that is a good thing.
Yes bbyrne it is Evo. only my 4 year old is on it. The other 2 are on the green bag (chicken and rice?). Way less scooping too.
My terrier licks his paws, and we have figured out as a result of the vet's records over the last 4 years that this always occurs late in the season, and he both licks paws and sneezes.....this says allergies. We are now treating him with a variety of things -- claritin for the sneezing, benadryl and prednisone for the itchy paws. It seems to work well. The key is to stop whatever is making them attack their paws -- if itching, then treat the itch, if behavioural, then you would have to *treat* that somehow (psychotherapy?)
excellent food for the furfaces - however, you do have to watch the high protein levels in older dogs - it can play havoc with their kidneys.
One dry food I've found works well for allergy ridden furfaces is the natural balance, duck and potato. It does however, dry out the coat so you need to supplement with an oil that they can tolerate.
My guys are both raw fed and we've had no problems with food allergies - just the grass for our boy.
My little girl had grain sensativity as well. We just put her on a high protein diet by Innova. We have to get it a the vet or specialty stores. It is in a silver bag and she is doing very well on it.
a good hotspot cream from Burts Bees. It works nicely to soothe the wound. Shiraz doesn't lick it, but I've never tried it with other dogs.
I'm agree that it could be a food allergy. DBD always has good food suggestions! Even if you don't want to go raw, you could investigate kibbles that have different ingredients - particularly ones that elimintate corn/wheat and possibly have a different source of protein from what you are currently feeding.
Lore
Hot spots on a dog are always tricky to cure as dogs have a tendancy to return to an old would site to lick out of habit (even months later). Couple of things that might help Kohl....there is a spray called Wham Spray and I use it on my guys when they get into the licking mode. Also you could try some neem oil on the spot. Bach flowers, crabapple is also good for skin problems. One thing to try and remember is that if you are using a creme from the vet, to make sure it has time to absorb into the area (about 10-20 mins)
so try and keep Kohl occupied for that time to prevent him from licking.
The licking could be for a variety of reasons although a food allergy tops the list, however, at this time of the year there are a ton of environmental allergens that could be setting him off. I noted that you recently had sod put down and grass allergies are a common factor with dogs. My guy tends to lick his paws whenever he steps on stinging nettles and other noxious weeds.
Licking is also a sign of obsessive behaviour and stress as well as boredom. So you may want to examine what has been going on with the dog recently and try and remove some of the stressors and work on the boredom bit.
However, licking is also a sign of an underlying health problem such as a hypothyroid - that will cause a plethora of symptoms including itchy front legs. I'd get the vet to run a blood panel and check the t3 and t4 levels.
Is Kohl on any type of flea and heartworm preventative?
goes to food. From a lot of the reading/sites I have seen regarding raw feeding it seems that one of the most common signs of a food allergy is itchy paws. If you are still feeding any kind of kibble, you might want to try an elimination diet for a while. The reason is there are several different ingredients in kibble and to find out if something is bothering him you need to know exactly what he is eating and then you can feed him whatever product or food doesn't have that ingredient.
Have you contacted the breeder and see if there are any known sensitivities with his breed. It could give you a starting point.
You might want to go to a forum like RawDogsCanada at yahoo and ask what the best method for doing an elimination diet is. I know what you would do is something like serve Kohl only chicken for a while and see how he does. If he still itches, stop the chicken. If he is okay, still switch to something like beef or fish and put a check mark beside chicken as something is fine with. If he is okay with all the proteins ( I think pork can be an issue for some dogs, but then again I don't know if there is any one perfect food) I think you can then start adding other things like veggies or fruits and if that is okay then go onto grains.
Grains and corn are (if memory serves) the biggest allergens which is why they come last and are the first thing to be taken away. They are also the reason that just switching to another kibble often doesn't tell you much as they all have to have some sort of starch in them and that means grains or corn.
Anyway, there are people on that forum who have done it and have years of experience working with dogs and foods and could probably give you some really good tips and details like how long you try each food for. They may also have thoughts on what else it might be that is causing the hot spot and how to take care of it.
The other issue could be something like lice. My dog got the critters in Aug (I was creeped out totally even though I never saw one on her). She had been scratching her ears, face, and chewing her front paws which was not something she had ever done before. The vet told me he used to see 3 or 4 cases a month but was now seeing 80 (yup, in Calgary) so for some reason it's become very common. Apparently the telling sign is that the itching tends to be on the front end of the dog first. It can be one louse getting on the dog, laying eggs, and 30 days later you have the itching and they all lay eggs and so it progresses. The treatment is a topical ointment type thing (I got one called Revolution) that is put on the dog's skin (between the shoulder blades) once a month. It kills the eggs.
It fit for my dog. She had been in training, the groomer's, and the vet's all about 30 days before she started scratching. I have since discovered another dog taking the same training got lice so that pretty much nailed the source for me.
Originally I was told 2 doses but since my dog is in daycare for a few days, he said I would have to treat again and remember to treat every month this dog was around other dogs or out where there might be wildlife. Luckily people can't catch this bug and the lice die if not on a dog after an hour or so but I guess they can be quite a common and constant problem. The mere thought gives me the willies but so far it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
Kohl may have picked something like that up quite easily so it might be something to find out about.
Here's hoping you find the source and can make it go away. Poor guy must be realy bothered to chew himself that much.
does this too and always seems to be this time of the year....he gets flea drops and i see no fleas....however, my mother inlaw called me and she was told that it is possibly allergy and the vet recommended benydrl...same as what people take.....
smiles
janetc
hey i was thinking of Kohl the other day when i was at the leash free park because there was a handsome black dobbie knocking around my dog in a playful manner of course...they had a blast together. so i was just wondering how you were making out with Kohl lately?
so he's licking one area only to the point of breaking the skin? ouch! did the vet mention anything other than physical reasons for this like maybe behavioural reasons? dogs will do anything for attention good or bad. like kids they can sense tension or change in daily routines.
sorry i havn't been much help...hope he stops soon though that must be so painful for him!
just to give you an instance of bad behaviour our dog wouldn't let up at the park the other day...wouldn't come when i called for him...wouldn't leave the other dogs alone...he was running around like crazy to the point where he tore the skin off his pads on both his paws. i had to carry him to the car, then carry him to the vet and he got to sleep on the sofa cause i felt sooo bad for him. he kept the bandages on for one day before he ripped them off over night. he started licking them like mad constantly but the vet said that the saliva would help in the healing and it has. but since letting him sleep on the sofa that once he thinks it's his spot now for good.
dogs are way smarter than we give them credit for!
that used to do this. It could be allergies or a behaviour problem. It's a very frustrating thing to go through - for all parties concerned. I would try burr oil, that's something they don't like the taste of, it's a natural alternative and should be available from any health food/vitamin outlet. Your vet should be able to do a test for food allergies to rule that out, otherwise you're looking at Prozac for cats and they have side effects. The side effects were what my cat died of. Good luck.