MY AB puppy is constantly scratching and biting.It is so bad that she keeps us awake at night with her scratching. She is on Comfortis and has no fleas. I have recently switched her from Merrick Puppy Plate to feeding Sojos and RMB. I thought maybe she was allergic to chicken but I thought if they were allergic to a certain food it would be accompanied with vomiting. I bathe her as little as possible. I add a supplement called Mirra-Coat 03 which contains organic oils to her food. I have never had this breed before so I don't know if they are prone to allergies. The hair on her back is pretty soft and very shiny but the hair on the base of her tail and by her rear end feels very dry, wiry, coarse and looks dull. I know if I take her to the Vet they are going to want to give her steroids or some other type of shot, which I would rather not do. Her skin tends to have a slight odor and her breath does not smell offensive, but it does not smell nice either. I live in the South so it is very humid here. Is there some type of oil other than Emu that I can massage into her skin? Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Allergies aren't neccesarily accompanied by vomiting. It depends on the severity of the allergy. Not much different from people.

If your dog's diet is balanced, you shouldn't need to massage oil into it's coat.

Even in Iraq, we didn't massage oil on the dogs.
We bathed them weekly to keep them dirt/dust/sand free, and they did just fine.
If their skin seemed irritated or dry, we cut back on baths, and tried to keep the dog clean through more meticulous brushing.

Food allergies are not even close to being at the top of the allergy list for dogs. Flea hypersensitivity and environmental/inhalant are both way more likely.

What is the odor like? Is it yeasty?

Is there any rash?

Where is the worst itching? Any paw-biting? Are the insides of the ears clear?

P.S. Vomiting is not classic canine allergy presentation, even if it is a food allergy.

Also, how old is the dog, and do you notice increases in itching at certain times of the day?

What's in Mirra-Coat 03?

What kind of flea prevention is the dog on?

Thats funny...I was just talking about it to my husband on the phone and he said it smelled yeasty to him.

There is some redness by the base of the tail..not sure if it is a rash or just red from biting at it. The inside of the ears are clean as a whistle as do not smell. She does not bite or lick her feet at all. That is why I did not think it was a grass allergy. She mostly scratches by her thighs, tail and rear end. Nose is wet and cold and eyes are bright and shiny. Anal glands were full once and I expressed them. Teeth are clean, white and shiny....however they are baby teeth. Even though brushing the hair distributes the oils, I am not sure that will solve the problem. And I have read with this breed to bathe as little as possible.

Connie,

Dog is on Comfortis for fleas. She is 5 1/2 months old and she starts scratching at around 2:00am and 6:00am. The 6:00 am morning scratching being the worst time. Ingredients in the Mirra Coat are Linoleic Acid,Zinc, Vitamins A, B, E, Biotine. Sesame Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Wheat Germ Oil, Water, Zinc Chloride, Propianic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride. She has only been taking the Mirra 03 for about 2 weeks.I did give her a flea bath and found 2 fleas but they were dead.

Sounds more like the dog is getting antsy, than itchy.

What do you mean Antsy?

"Mom, I gotta pee, but I guess I can hold it.".

Betcha a nickle, she used to get up to go pee at about 2am, when she was younger.

She's used to waking up at those times.
Does she have something else to do when she's bored at 2am?

A truly itchy dog will stop in the middle of something else (eating/playing/walking), to scratch.

 Quote: lisa harrison

Dog is on Comfortis for fleas. She is 5 1/2 months old and she starts scratching at around 2:00am and 6:00am. The 6:00 am morning scratching being the worst time. Ingredients in the Mirra Coat are Linoleic Acid,Zinc, Vitamins A, B, E, Biotine. Sesame Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Wheat Germ Oil, Water, Zinc Chloride, Propianic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride.

I have to go to the shelter, but I wanted to say two things from a vantage of loooong allergy experience. One is that 6 a.m. (sunrise) is often a bad time of day for allergic dogs. Here, there's always a sunrise breeze, which stirs up and blows around allergens (pollen, etc.), but even where there is no sunrise wind, the sun warms a lot of plant life into opening up and doing stuff. (People with hay fever typically have sunrise (or sunrise and thereafter in the worst cases) events.

ALA (alpha linoleic acid) is not particularly beneficial to dogs, compared with long-chain Omega 3 EFAs (DHA and EPA). And dogs don't have the ability to convert ALA to long-chain Omega 3s the way humans so. In fact, it's not efficient in humans, either (up to 15% conversion rate). That's why flax and canola, etc., are not what you want for Omega 3 sources for dogs. You want marine sources.

I would get fish oil and Vitamin E. Fish oil is "the" source of long-chain Omega 3 EFAs.

More later. I don't know what Comfortis is. The base-of-the-tail-itch being fleas was what I thought until I read "6 a.m."