Why is my dog scratching so much?

"Over 80% of my cases are dogs that scratch excessively. These dogs may have an itchy rash, they may have hair loss from scratching, or they may just scratch incessantly.

One of the most common problems presented to all veterinarians is the “itchy” pet, and as a holistic practitioner, the same holds true for me too. Most often the source of itch is allergies. With conventional medicine, the treatment is often to suppress and in chronic cases this can mean endless rounds of antibiotics and steroids.

So if it is so common, there must be effective treatments out there, right? Causes of dog itchy skin include parasites, allergens and skin infections and there are treatments for each one. Common treatment recommendations will be given when possible, but given the difficult nature of these situations, treatments often need to be individual patient based to be effective.

Allergies can be due to parasites, bacterial infection, fungal infections, food or the environment. All of these conditions can look very similar to each other as well to other disease processes that affect the skin. Method of figuring out accurately what your dog is sensitive to can be tricky. These conditions are not mutually exclusive, and often a bacterial infection is actually caused by an underlying problem such as allergies.

There are different types of skin infections that can affect your dog. Try to remember that your dog may react uniquely to a certain skin disease or may be suffering from a combination of a few skin conditions.

I do encourage my clients to work up the root of the allergy. If an allergen can be identified, a change in environment can improve the situation and certainly changing the diet is far simpler and better for your pet than forever fighting an allergy to the chicken you feed each day.

One of the main causes of dog skin disease is bacterial and yeast infections. These can cause excessive scratching and are usually brought on when a dog’s immune system is low because of stress, illness or hypersensitivity.

Herbs and nutritional supplements designed to alleviate the itchy skin and support skin health are another step in the treatment program for chronic allergies. This can help relieve the stress caused by the discomfort, which is supportive of immune function and healing. In addition, reducing the itch helps in the reduction of secondary infections and allows the skin to heal.

Natural treatments do take more time and effort than a course of antibiotics or steroid treatment. The long-term health and well-being of our pets, however, will be far enhanced by treating the pet’s entire system and the underlying cause of the itch, not just the symptoms.

Perseverance in treating the itchiness topically while you are addressing the underlying causes through diet and supplements will significantly promote your pet’s ability to heal and lessen his trauma as well. Secondary infections caused by persistent scratching, licking or biting make matters worse and slow the healing process, and topical treatment can help prevent this.