Hi! My name is Pitch. Can you help me scratch an itch?

That’s an inflammatory reaction with a possible (probable) secondary bacterial infection. The cause is the hard part of the equation, and you might not ever figure out exactly what’s causing it, but you should be able to control it.

The hydroxizine is a very mild antihistamine, and masks the symptom, but does nothing to deal with the issue itself. Using steroids will help with the inflammation and itching, but as you seem to be aware, there are some serious health risks associated with long term use. And again, if the root cause of the problem is environmental (which it probably is), then the problem will return once the steroids wear off. (Folks love to blame food allergies, but it’s not nearly as common as people think, and yours doesn’t look typical at all.)

Ideally, if you have the funds, I would recommend that you ask your vet for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist. They may recommend allergy testing, a skin scraping to check for parasites, or even a biopsy. But at the very least, he/she will be able to get you more comfortable. After all, that’s all they do – skin!

If that’s not an option, then I would talk to your vet about a course of antibiotics and steroids. Some “old-timey” vets rely too heavily on steroids, but if used correctly, they can be a very powerful tool. Since it functions in a completely different way, you can also keep giving antihistamines, too. Continued chewing and licking just makes things worse – wet skin is the perfect petri dish for growing bacteria. If the meds don’t control the itchy, then the cone of shame will be necessary.

In the meantime, clean all of the bedding with a hypoallergenic laundry detergent, make sure to use flea and tick control year round (not Hartz or any other cheap over the counter crap), and put up a barrier to keep the wee-wee away from the scratchy bush.

Go to a shelly beach, play dead, start wiggling.
Repeat.

One thing I can suggest. My little dog is also on hydroxyzine for itching and it didn’t work very well until we added Tagamet – yeah, the otc acid reducing med for humans (generic is cimetidine) It comes in 200mg tablets. My little guy gets half of one twice daily with 25 mg hydroxyzine.

Somehow the cimetidine acts as a catalyst to make the other drug work better. The difference is astounding! Cheap too, so definitely worth a try.

Edit: source

@PitPit :
<——- Zuppy here. If you do have to wear the cone of shame, rename it. I can pick up 128 channels with mine, it’s very entertaining. I had to have the thing on for a week because of that nasty chewing….oh. I’m being told it’s too disgusting to tell about. Geez. Well, without thumbs I’m somewhat limited, OK, no more description. Anyway, I always got Animal Planet.

Looks like yeast to me…Is it smelly?

Try a grain free diet for a month. Change your drinking water to bottled spring water, and your detergent to the dye-free/fragrance-free type.

Allergies have been a common thread with three of my past animals (one feline, two canines). The worst case was our Jack Russell that was allergic to everything. He, unfortunately did need steroids even with diet, water and laundry changes implemented.

K9-Bender standing in for Kayak8 . . . how often do you have to get a bath? Where do you live? Do you have to walk through grass? I am not worried about what looks like a Japanese maple tree but I am curious about your grass. I am a red head and grass can give me the same kind of irritation. Sometimes I get a benedryl and it really helps me. Don’t be afraid of the steroid shots because they can help too.

Wow thanks everyone! Lots of options, but I’m not so keen on the cone of shame.

@Kayak8 (K9-Bender) I take a bath every two months. It’s a great scrubdown with oatmeal shampoo. It’s what I’ve used forever. But this last time was some was some type of allery shampoo from the groomer. Didn’t help.

I’m in Missouri and I don’t have to walk through tall grass anywhere. But my dad thinks there might be certain bushes that irritate me when I pee on them. I really like to get into some of these fluffy bushes… I don’t know what kind they are. They look like miniature cat tails, about two feet tall. Plus remember my favorite pee spot where I’m killing that tree. All the grass is brown there too. Think I should find another spot and not jump in the bushes so much?

@SpatzieLover No it doesn’t seem to be smelly. That’s good advice about the changes in water and food. Grain free huh? I get meaty canned food and lots of pizza. I’ll have dad check the labels for grain free.

@JilltheTooth (Zuppy)... WOW 128 channels? My silly doctor told me the cone wouldn’t work on me. Dad suggested it but the doc just scoffed. I think dad might do it anyway though. I hope I can get the SciFi channel!

@Blueroses Tagamet? Huh, who knew? How would I calculate my dosage? I’m over 100lbs and taking 200mg of hydro… hydroxy… hydroxyahaharrggg… nevermind.

@rebbel A shelly beach sounds keen! But are there any babes on shelly beaches?

OK @syz dad’s not too pleased with the idea of big medical bills from a “veterinary dermatologist”, but you don’t think my itch looks “typical at all”. Do you really think I need a specialist? Both you and K9-Bender have the same idea as my dad about the bush peeing. I guess I should stop that immediately huh.

Well, one thing I forgot to mention (doh!) is that I had surgery a few months ago to remove a lump in my neck. I wasn’t myself for a few days afterwards, and very clingy to dad ever since. The itch started about six weeks after the surgery was performed. Do you think there’s any connection?

Thanks all!

I would second the steroids for a limited time to see it they work. The hydroxizine doesn’t seem to be doing the job. And BTW you are such a beautiful dog to have such a problem and the cone would be a “Cone of Pride” on you, framing your handsome face. But anyway, the hydroxizine isn’t working so it maybe time for something stronger. My cat Casper, who was also very handsome had terrible flea allergies and would get awful, itchy, inflamed sores all over him but mostly on his but. He had very good results with Vetalog. It is available in tablets, injections and ointment. There are other options but that is the one I am familiar with and had good results with. I gave him tablets for a while when he had flare ups and then he got a shot and never had trouble again.

I think you should talk to your regular vet about corticosteroids and hopefully get on a course of those before seeing a specialist. Antiobiotics too maybe at first, but if the sores aren’t infected and the corticosteroids take care of them then I’m not sure the antibiotics are needed. I’m not a big fan of taking antibiotics if they aren’t really necessary.

And welcome to fluther, @PitPit.

@PitPit The dose for cimetidine is 3–5mg/lb, so you would take 1.5 (200mg) tablets with each dose of hydroxyzine.

It’s $4.50 for a bottle of 60 at Walmart.

We treated a lot of itchy dogs in our vet practice. There are many other oral meds you can try if hydroxyzine doesn’t work, including different antihistamines and oral steroids (prednisone). Surprisingly, the human antidepressant, amitriptyline works for itching for some dogs.

Often allergies are a combination of contact/inhalant and food, but it’s best to try one solution at a time rather than change everything at once. That way you know what’s working. I would try the tagamet with hydroxyzine for a few days, then change diet if that doesn’t help. There are lots of hypoallergenic brands you can find in pet stores. One of the best over-the-counter food trials is a fish and potato diet. I believe Solid Gold still makes that. Most dogs LOVE it and the unique carb/protein combination gives you an instant answer about if diet is the problem. If you do well on fish and potato, your problem is probably with corn or rice.

One of my dogs had something similar years ago, but only happened during the summer. She had to go on steriod shots during the summer months only. I was aware of the dangers of steroids too, but she was miserable if she didn’t get them. The doctor called them hot spots (there were two), and said it was grass allergies. Apparently the steroids didn’t do damage because she lived to be 16. This was many years ago though, so there may be new approaches to treating that now. Good luch Pitch. Molly says to stay cool!

@PitPit Your pictures don’t look typical for a food allergy is what I meant. The fact that it’s on the ventral surface makes me think it’s more likely to be a contact dermatitis, from something in the environment.

But if you do decide to try modifying the diet, be careful about bouncing around to different foods. A true food allergy means that you have to find a novel protein, and you can react over time to even new ones. If you’ve bounced around before following a strict, monitored trail period with the vet, you may have eliminated a lot of your choices. (And always be careful to make gradual diet changes so that you don’t wind up with GI issues as well as skin issues.)

If you want to start conservatively, do what you can for exposure (walks on short or no grass only, cleaned bedding, no contact with bushes, flea control and medicated bathes, etc). If you’ve already done that or it’s not working, the next step would be to talk to your vet about a course of steroids and antibiotics if he/she thinks they are warranted. Why did your vet think that an e-collar wouldn’t work? The chewing and licking really needs to be controlled.

If all of that doesn’t work, then you should think about a dermatologist. I know folks that have struggled for years and years with skin issues, only to find if they’d made that initial investment (yes, a specialist is more expensive), it would have saved them money.

I honestly don’t think that the mass removal is associated with the current issue. And don’t panic – it doesn’t look at all that bad. But you should be prepared for this to be a chronic (or seasonal) issue, rather than something that can be “cured”. You may get lucky, it may be just a one time “thang”, but a lot of times this is a recurrent problem.

@PitPit – Sorry I don’t have any advice for you, but I wanted to tell you how gorgeous you are and that I hope your itchies go away soon!

K9-Bender here again. My vet said it didn’t matter how long the grass was, I still had a grass allergy (my fair skin). If I plop down on any grass to rest for a bit or even run across it I have an allergic reaction. Then I scratch it and it sets off this cascade of events.

OK thought I’d let you all know what happened…

My itches kept getting worse and worse and began showing up in other places like the top of my butt. Dad was getting really worried. So taking into consideration all of your advice here, and getting a second opinion from another vet, my medication was changed to Temaril P, which has a steroid mixed with antihistamine.

My itching stopped within hours of my first dose. And the redness changed to ugly dark gray a few days later. Boy was I thirsty and drank so much water that I barfed all over the house for a few days. I peed a lot too.

But now it’s settling into my system and I’m almost back to normal. My energy is coming back too.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice!

<——Zuppy says:
@PitPit : Now that you’re all better you can come over and play! I have a ropey I’ll share…