Hi,

I could really use some help with a very pressing problem. My 3 year old, male GSD is constantly licking his paws and scratching while he is at home. Lots of scratching on the stomach and base of the tail and the neck as well as biting of the legs. He is otherwise in excellent health. I say that this occurs at home because he doesn't do these things when going on a walk or playing outside. I don't see obvious signs of fleas but can't rule out that possiblity.

I have learned that the majority of allergies are caused by inhaled substances and so thought that not being itchy while outdoors may be significant.

I feed him a variety of foods on a raw diet plan (chicken, beef, pork, fish, eggs, broccolli, carrots for the most part with Vit C, Vit E, fish oil and probiotics as supplements). I have been trying the "elimination method" to determine if the problem is diet related but I'm not having much success and the process seems painfully slow.

I have found some products over the web that promote help for dogs with allergies and I was wondering if anybody here has had any experience with "Doggie Goo" or "New Vet Plus" or perhaps another product. I guess I'm hoping to find a "magic bullet" type of cure.

I am reluctant to go with the conventional medical route using steroids and I understand that even allergy shots are not so very great at achieving the desired goal. I have considered trying a holistic animal doctor but I'm not sure what method he would use since I seem to be trying all possible routes already.

Many Thanks for any input!

Hi Dennis! There is an ongoing thread right now that has some relation to what you have mentioned. The last page may be especially helpful. (re: getting a skin scraping, the high liklihood that it is not food etc)
http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=32046&page=3#360330
I bet someone else will chime in, but in the meantime, the search function will be very usefull if you expand the date back a couple years and use terms such as "licking paws" "flea allergies" or "elimination diets"

Thanks, Amy, I will take a look. I'm not greatly familiar with using this webboard but I was looking during the past few weeks and wasn't able to find anything that really addressed my issue.

" I could really use some help with a very pressing problem. My 3 year old, male GSD is constantly licking his paws and scratching while he is at home. Lots of scratching on the stomach and base of the tail and the neck as well as biting of the legs. He is otherwise in excellent health. I say that this occurs at home because he doesn't do these things when going on a walk or playing outside. I don't see obvious signs of fleas but can't rule out that possiblity.

I have learned that the majority of allergies are caused by inhaled substances and so thought that not being itchy while outdoors may be significant."

#1 is flea-saliva hypersensitivity, flea dermatitis, lots of names. Flea hypersensitivity affects the base of the tail (and/or the backbone) and the legs (often back legs) in most cases, plus other areas. Fleas would be my first consideration, even if you have never seen one.




"I feed him a variety of foods on a raw diet plan (chicken, beef, pork, fish, eggs, broccolli, carrots for the most part with Vit C, Vit E, fish oil and probiotics as supplements). I have been trying the "elimination method" to determine if the problem is diet related but I'm not having much success and the process seems painfully slow."


Please see below.





Food?
http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=32046&page=3#360038

Fleas?
http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=29702&page=1


If you would read these and post back, you'll get lots of help here. You are right that environmental/inhalant (atopy) way up there (#2), but food is only about 10% of dogs' allergies.

Licking paws does span the top three for common symptoms.

At what age did it start?

Is it at all seasonal?

How do the inside of his ears look (easier with a flashlight)?

Is he losing sleep?

Breaking skin?

Thanks for your help, Connie, I am determined to solve this problem!

The itching started at about age 2. It seemed to "come and go" (at least I didn't think it was so excessive until the winter of this 3rd year (born in the summer) and now, its out of control.

His ears look great

He wakes up at night to scratch

He doesn't break the skin but there are some very small (size of a tick) patches of missing hair on his paws, about 9 or 10 miniscule patches. I was saddened to see that this hair is not growing back. I don't understand that either.

After reading your posts, I you are right, I am believe we are talking flea problems. Now, I need to find a nontoxic method to eliminate them!