Hello,
I brought home my new boy about a week and a half ago... he is truly a fantastic GS puppy... a beautiful conformation from temperament to coat... he comes from a lineage of V VA and Sch3 bloodline from both sides...
First days of being in my home I changed his food to Wellness Super5 Mix for puppies as well as Wellness treats...
Within a couple of days acquiring him and his first days on Wellness, I noticed he was itchy>> biting and scratching away at his hind area near his butt and tail... at the same time I noticed myself itchy and scratching away at what appeared to be rashes on my arm and leg... As ignorant as I am being that I am a first time GSD owner, I thought he may have fleas and they are getting to me aswell... I took him to the vet immediately only to find out that he doesn't have fleas and my rashes are from poison ivy... my vet still applied the flea and tick ointment on his coat but clearly because he doesn't have any fleas my poor boy is still gnawing away at his coat... its depressing to see as I have noticed a change in his coat by his butt or tail as caused by what I can see by his itchy skin...
He is also itchy around his collar area but not as much as I see him taken away his coat near his hind legs / butt...
Vet and the breeder recommended half a dose of benadryl twice a day and just started applying fish oil to his food...

Can some one please give any info based on the given info above if they have had or heard of a similar circumstance and a direction or lead to help my boy...

BTW, the itching hasn't changed his playfulness nor his willing to learn and please... tough the first effort with fish oil ruined his appetite as the fish oil had a lemon lime flavor... the little guy has not eaten his food all day today... I just picked up another fish oil brand and hopefully he will be willing to eat...

I emailed the breeder asking what dog food she was giving as I am looking to get him back on it as she didnt have this issue with him... but she is away on vacation and still no guarntee that it is the food...

Thank you in advance for any info provided,
deelaw

This is a "Connie" thread but just to get the obvious out of the way...

The vet is sure your pup's itching isn't due to poison ivy exposure?

Hi Sandy,
Well, if I understood my vet correctly she said that the dog can carry the poison ivy on his coat but cant be affected by the poison ivy... I guess in answering your question as if the vet is sure, I am not 100% about that...

 Quote: waleed alrahim

Hello,
I brought home my new boy about a week and a half ago... he is truly a fantastic GS puppy... a beautiful conformation from temperament to coat... he comes from a lineage of V VA and Sch3 bloodline from both sides...
First days of being in my home I changed his food to Wellness Super5 Mix for puppies as well as Wellness treats...
Within a couple of days acquiring him and his first days on Wellness, I noticed he was itchy>> biting and scratching away at his hind area near his butt and tail... at the same time I noticed myself itchy and scratching away at what appeared to be rashes on my arm and leg... As ignorant as I am being that I am a first time GSD owner, I thought he may have fleas and they are getting to me aswell... I took him to the vet immediately only to find out that he doesn't have fleas and my rashes are from poison ivy... my vet still applied the flea and tick ointment on his coat but clearly because he doesn't have any fleas my poor boy is still gnawing away at his coat... its depressing to see as I have noticed a change in his coat by his butt or tail as caused by what I can see by his itchy skin...
He is also itchy around his collar area but not as much as I see him taken away his coat near his hind legs / butt...
Vet and the breeder recommended half a dose of benadryl twice a day and just started applying fish oil to his food...

Can some one please give any info based on the given info above if they have had or heard of a similar circumstance and a direction or lead to help my boy...

BTW, the itching hasn't changed his playfulness nor his willing to learn and please... tough the first effort with fish oil ruined his appetite as the fish oil had a lemon lime flavor... the little guy has not eaten his food all day today... I just picked up another fish oil brand and hopefully he will be willing to eat...

I emailed the breeder asking what dog food she was giving as I am looking to get him back on it as she didnt have this issue with him... but she is away on vacation and still no guarntee that it is the food...

Thank you in advance for any info provided,
deelaw

Some brands of fish oil made for people (like Nordic Naturals) have lemon peel infusion; this is probably the only one that many dogs would hate. (There is absolutely no reason not to use fish oil meant for humans; it's just that the lemon oil version is probably one of very few tastes that some dogs would hate. Mine like it fine, and in fact that's the kind I buy because I use the same one my dogs use, but lemon is not a commonly dog-beloved flavor.)

Some questions first:

Do you see inflammation (bumps, redness, anything) on the skin under the fur at the affected sites? Is it dry? Weepy?

Are you certain that the dog was not itchy when you first brought him home?

How far (geographically) are you from the breeder? (I am asking because of environmental/inhalant allergies.)


By "butt" do you mean only the base of the tail, or also the actual rectal area? Is there inflammation at the actual anal opening as well as the itching/biting at the base of the tail?

Is the collar a flea collar, by any chance? Or what kind is it?

How many days has it been since the flea med was applied? How certain are you that he did not/does not have fleas? (One exposure can drive a flea-hypersensitive dog crazy for days.)

What is the protein source in that food?

When did you start the benadryl? What effect did it have?

How much fish oil are you using?

Have you changed the food? To what?

BTW, animals are very resistant to urushiol, the oil resin that causes the poison oak and poison ivy dermatitis, but they can easily spread it to humans. (Also, an animal who *did* react to it would react on light-fur places like the belly, etc.)

They can get it, though, so I'm glad he saw the vet.

Connie Sutherland>>>
I dont see any inflammation in the affected areas and as far as the puppy bringing with him I dont think it is the case as the area where he is itching at has been chipped away at where you clearly can see a difference in his coat... I would have noticed this when I first picked him up from the plane... As a matter of fact, when I first got him I overlooked him entirely and admired at how beautiful his coat/ coloring is... I would've definitely noticed a lighter area near his butt...

When I say butt I mean the area near his tail and butt not the actual rectal area... its approximately about less than 1/4 inch left of his tail... but I can see it on both sides of his body more so on his left side...

the collar is not a flea collar its just a basic collare with a belt like metal buckle... cloth i believe

I live in NY and my breeder is in St Louis so definitely a plane ride away about three + hrs... I asked her when I first noticed and she said that she did not have nor does she have any problems with itchy dogs and that my boy Maximus was not itchy in her environment...

its been about four days since the flea med was applied... My vet did a comb through his coat in the itchy areas and we did not find anything

about two pumps of fish oil as directed on the bottle and the benadryl, well just started both about two days now if that... benadryl doesn't have much of an affect on my boy... he is still eager to play and run around ready to bite everything in his path LOL

Aside from the coat's appearance, I meant are you sure he was not itchy/scratching when you first got him. But the breeder answered that.

Did you change the food? When, and to what?

Did the vet do a scraping, or did he say that he thought it was allergies?

Does the dog have itchy paws? Any redness between the toes?

The benadryl: I meant did there seem to be any effect on the itching/scratching?

BTW, this does sound like inhalant allergies, but all these questions/answers will help.

I'm assuming he hasn't had any kind of vaccinations/shots? Be sure and read all the material here on vaccinations/vaccinosis before you make any decisions regarding shots.

First thing I tell everyone is start a log or diary of everything that's going on and what changes you've making. After a while, even if you don't forget things, they'll all start running together. And when you start making multiple changes in diet, supplements, etc., you'll lose track of being able to identify what's working. Also, some changes should take effect within hours (like some meds, if they work), while other changes - food, supplements - may not have a noticeable effect for a few days or more.

I know that Wellness is on Ed's short list of good commercial kibble, so while it may not necessarily be your ultimate or final choice, I wouldn't go right back to what the breeder fed unless you find out it was as good as or better than Wellness. Wellness doesn't have the ingredients/grains that tend to be problematic for dogs, so it's a good choice. And it has the Omega3/6 oils in it. Not knowing how good the breeder's choice of food was, though, I guess there's some slight possibility that he's "detoxing" from his previous crap food. But the chances are it could also be an inhalant/environmental thing, although I didn't think it came up that early in puppies.

Yeah, stay away from the flavored fish oils. Salmon oil, like this is one of the more popular choices.

Most people find that benadryl has little or no effect, but you might find otherwise. Anyway, it's cheap. And this is an example of something that should start working within hours.

There's a ton of very valuable material on this site in the form of articles, podcasts and DVDs for you to read in your spare time.

Keep the questions comin'

. . . and congratulations on the new pup!

Mike

BTW, you can go on weather.com or a similar web site and get reports on the pollen/grass/mold situation in your area.

Connie

Thank you for being as helpful as you can be...

I am not 100% as too whether he had the itching prior to his arrival I could only base the knowledge upon my breeders dignity...

I did change food from what she sent to Wellness Super5Mix for puppies... I forget what she was feeding him and I am waiting to hear from her but she is on vacation for few days... I changed immediatley... the first night of his arrival I mixed what food she sent and some of the Wellness... this lasted two days before her food ran out and he was consuming the Wellness only... but he doesn't seem to be so crazy about it so I have been mixing some Vanilla Yogurt into his food as suggested by the breeder...

the vet did not do and scraping just a come through with a metal type come which I assume would pick up the fleas... she wanted to add some fish oil and give it a couple days... The vet suggested to wait but if i see and scabbing or penetrating of his skin to address it quickly...

the dog doesn't have any itchy paws or redness between the toes...

he only itches once he is playing inside the house... when he is outside he is too overwhelmed with everything going on that he is always paying attention to something else which leads me to believe that he is distracted from his itchiness..