Mary Allen
Scratching, nibbling, pushing: when our dog’s fur itches, they are grateful for any relief. The first step to dealing with persistent itching is to find out the cause.
How Much Scratching is Normal for a Dog?
Every dog sometimes scratches and every dog nibbles its fur. This is part of normal personal hygiene or serves to relieve social stress. For example, if a dog doesn’t know exactly how to behave in a certain situation, it simply sits down and scratches itself. Occasional scratching is nothing to worry about, but what is “occasionally”?
The boundary between “normal” scratching and “morbid” scratching is fluid. So you can’t say, “If the dog scratches itself once a day, that’s normal, scratching twice a day is pathological”. In general, however, the following applies: If the dog scratches and nibbles so far that it develops bald or even bloody spots, this is not normal but a reason to go to the vet.
In the case of acute, local itching, cooling, and moisturizing skincare products bring rapid relief. Proven products for the dog medicine cabinet are, for example:
What are the Common Causes of Itching in Dogs?
If the skin is irritated by something, it always reacts in the same way: with itching, burning, and/or inflammation. Itching is therefore a symptom that can have many causes.
The sooner you let your veterinarian get to the bottom of the cause of the itching, the better your chances of ending the spook, because once the skin itching becomes chronic, the treatment usually becomes lengthy.
Possible causes of itching in dogs include:
- fleas
- Mites: for example autumn grass mites (Neotrombicula autumnalis), mange mites (Sarcoptes scabiei), hair follicle mites (Demodex canis) or ear mites (Otodectes cynotis)
- insect bites
- fungal infections
- ear infections
- dry, scaly, or inflamed skin due to other skin conditions
- bulging or inflamed anal sac glands
- Allergies to environmental allergens such as house dust mites
- food allergies
- flea saliva allergy
- contact allergies
You can identify a heavy flea infestation yourself. Either you see a flea, or you find flea feces by combing your dog with a fine-toothed comb. If you place the finely crumbly, black-brown flea dirt on a white handkerchief and moisten it, it will dissolve and you will see a “bloodstain”.
Indications of a skin disease that is causing the itching are, for example, reddened skin areas, a rash (eczema), pimples, dandruff, or hair loss. You should leave the more precise search for the cause of itching to an experienced veterinarian. For example, he can use “imprints” or tissue samples (biopsies) to determine which bacteria, fungi, or mites are up to mischief on the skin and use allergy tests to find out what triggers the itching. Sometimes finding the cause of the itch can be tedious, as it takes repeated sampling to find the culprit, but it’s worth persevering with!
How Can I Relieve My Dog’s Itching?
Of course, it’s best if you can eliminate the cause. In the case of infectious itching, the problem can usually be solved quite quickly by fighting fleas, mites or other things with medication.
It becomes more difficult to get rid of the itch if an allergy is a cause because then you often only have to treat the symptom of the itch without being able to eliminate the actual cause.
If you cannot eliminate the cause of the itching, the following options remain to relieve the itching:
- Local treatment of the skin with supporting skincare products (shampoo, lotion, spot-on) (such as the Dr. Hölter Jolostrum Lotion specially developed for this purpose)
- support skin healing with dietary supplements, e.g.: anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids
- Systemic treatment with medication prescribed by the vet (e.g. cortisone)
- local treatment of the skin with drugs prescribed by the veterinarian
- consistent ignoring of scratching (see the last section)
Since itching is intensified by many interacting factors, supporting measures such as the right skincare and optimal nutrition often have an amazing effect. They can help to improve the condition of the skin so that your dog’s personal “itch threshold” is undercut and the scratching stops.