Golden chewing his hide

Our five year old Golden Retriever has taken to chewing his hide. Although he is out and about each day, we have not been able to find any traces of fleas or ticks. His feed has always been rice based, either lamb or chicken. Our neighbour has been known to feed him on occasion(they also have a dog, a small short haired boxer looking rocket) as their dog has a "tender tummie" and she restricts his food choices. Our dog gets their "leftovers"
In general nothing has changed in his diet, and now we are looking for a cream or salve that works to reduce the damage/itch/chewing. Wondering if Benedryl might be an idea.......

I had the same problem with our Huskie/GS cross. I checked for fleas and ticks,meticulously. It was driving her half nuts and getting worse and larger by the day. Off to the vet and he told us it was a "hotspot" caused by a microscopic mite under the skin that caused brutal itching. To relieve it,the dog starts licking and chewing,making it red,raw,seepy and eventually leading to Septicemia requiring massive doses of anti-biotics. He prescribed an ointment that we had to apply twice a day while wearing gloves (not good for humans) until it cleared which took about a week to notice a difference and she was completely clear after another two weeks. You can find more information with Google search. Enter "mange in pets". I hope this helps. Good luck,Pat.

re : your question about Benedryl

My setter has an allergy to some weed from May to first frost. I give her Benedryl twice a day to keep her from scratching and causing an infection.

The standard dosage for oral Benadryl is 1 mg per pound of body weight, given 2-3 times a day.

I buy the liquid at Walmart - very cheap and I can measure out the exact amount . My dog accepts a syringe shot easier than a pill too.

Our Lab has seasonal allergies and we treat her with Benadryl as well.

My golden has two hot spots. One on each wrist. She doesn't chew them much but licks them relentlessly whenever she is board. They are always stained pink and when it gets bad the hair falls out in the center probably from the dog biting them a bit. If I tape up the spot with poly-sporin for a week or two they heal right up. She seems to not have the problem as bad in the winter, but come spring it starts and continues to worsen throughout the summer.

Good luck

MC

Gonna try Benedryl. We had another golden many years ago that also had the same symptoms but she was cured by changing diet.

Teatre oil added to there shampoo will do wonders for your pet as well as fish oil with there food ...Dutch

Used tea tree oil while w picked up Benedryl. Amazing!

neem oils good too

i use it on my old black and tan hound

Wife says that she has trouble finding Neem oil....has to buy on line

We ran into the same typeof thing with our yellow lab years ago. To the point where she was licking herpaws so much they were darker than the rest of her. Spent endless dollars atthe vet i.e. try this...try this...try this.... The end result being the same! Founda site on line that recommended a raw food diet. Being desperate, we worked andswitched her over and have never looked back. She has been on her rawfood diet for about 4 or 5 years and we have never had the problem again. Itmay be something to think about if it does turn out to be a diet issue.

Cheers and Good luck

hey patv, try all the health and natural stores in your area. get mine in sarnia and london. most of those types of stores carry the oil.

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Originally Posted by Bear1959

We ran into the same type of thing with our yellow lab years ago. To the point where she was licking herpaws so much they were darker than the rest of her. Spent endless dollars atthe vet i.e. try this...try this...try this.... The end result being the same! Founda site on line that recommended a raw food diet. Being desperate, we worked andswitched her over and have never looked back. She has been on her rawfood diet for about 4 or 5 years and we have never had the problem again. Itmay be something to think about if it does turn out to be a diet issue.

Cheers and Good luck

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Be careful with the raw food diet, some dogs can handle it and others can't and the effects can be pretty bad. For the dogs they get too much protein which causes any raw meat to not break down properly and just collects in the stomach. My St Bernard/Newfoundland cross was on a raw food diet for about 4 years and just this past August she had spent a day with a family members dog playing non-stop and then later on that night she started making this terrible burp/roar noise and then within 10 minutes her stomach had bloated about 3 times it size.

Her stomach, intestines and spleen had all flipped over and twisted and needed emergency surgery to fix it. This is quite serious and if we had been like 1-2 hours too slow getting her to the vet she would've died. We have no idea how long the food had been collecting and there hadn't been any symptoms to warn us something like this would happen. Now she is on a bland food diet for the rest of her life, small amounts of cooked chicken or fish, rice or oatmeal, scrambled egg and a light and fit dry food and also cooked vegetables. For us she will only eat the chicken, fish, rice and dry food and sometimes she will eat the vegetables.

Hopefully this helps people, this is not a fun process to go through.

I have never heard such nonsense about raw food, too much protein or bloat being caused by undigested/unpassed matter.

If a large breed dog ( heck any size dog) ate a full ( kibble, raw, or cooked homemade) meal and played all day - the insides can flip for sure. Did the dog get dinner too and continue to play into the evening as well?
Either way it doesn't matter. Bloat is bloat is bloat is bloat. Sounds like the dog was not given enough time in between eating and playing. And sounds like the vet is quick to point fingers at a raw diet being the cause.

plain white rice added to dogs diets always helps stomach issues. my hound mostly eats game meat, giver some plain cooked white rice, never a tummy issue

helps solidfy stool btw if any runs etc. dont need alot of the meds and treatments they wanna sell these days. i agree with maple. feed and WATER your dog, run it well and let it play. Especially working dogs, they really need it as does any dog, but hunting breeds are alot of energy and strength. So take care of em inside and out.

20 years ago my ex and I had a Weiner dog. Had similar issues. Vet said it's processed dog food. Suggested nutros lamb and rice. Problems stopped. My Dad later raised pups for canine vision. Had a golden with the same issue
switched food and it went away. We kept that golden until he was put down at 13. The issue never returned.

HD

Feed Red Paw performance. Problem solved guarantee it.

Exocet - you have it backwards. Read my post again. You are NOT supposed to feed and water your dog prior to exercise - this is a reason bloat is caused. You are supposed to give minimun buffer time of 1-2 hours at least between a meal and then exercise.
But I pointed out it didn't matter what the circumstances were ( age of dog, large or toy breed or what diet it was on) that feeding and playing all day was a more likely cause of the bloat than the actual raw diet its-self, which is what this vet blamed it on and piling up in the gut causing the stomach etc. to flip. I don't believe that raw caused the issue.

ah, yes you're right, my bad. although, i ran my hound, much later after feeding. especially night hunts. day hunts or tracking, she ate after.