Constantly Itchy Beagle

[MirandaNoij]

My housemate has a Beagle. It scratches all day and all night, only stopping when it falls asleep, but reawakens several times during the night as well (It sleeps outside my window so I hear him). The dog is red raw in some parts of its body, and has little sores from the scratching and biting. The sores have caused an unpleasant odour. For this he has been given many courses of antibiotics since it was a puppy, which couldn’t be ideal for a dog that is really still a pup. For the scratching, the Vet first treated for grass (which was successful for 3 months or so), fleas, different sorts of mites, recommended oatmeal dog shampoo or shampoos for sensitive skin, and has given at least 2 long acting (steroid?) injections which seemingly had no effect. We really need help. We have been to 2 different Vets, and it’s becoming time consuming, costly, and each time we walk away feeling we know nothing more . The next step would be a skin specialist, but apparently that’s hundreds to just walk in, so we want to know there is a solution so that it’s worth booking. The owner is considering giving the dog away because of the issue. He’s a real character, and she loves him, but the scratching is a real problem. Please help!

[Cliff Redford, DVM]

I understand your frustration and concern. Skin allergies are a time consuming and at times costly disease. Often the scratching and inflammation leads to secondary yeast and bacterial infections which worsen the problem and cost more money just to get back to the level of primary disease. The good news is that a veterinary dermatologist will definitely help and is well worth the money. It is not inexpensive, here in Ontario a good exam and allergy testing will cost about $1000 plus treatment costs about $1000 a year after that but it sounds like you have paid way more then $1000 so far and you have only temporarily controlled the disease.
Good luck

[zenora]

I have a pit that had this problem and when he went to the vet they gave him a skin scrape that was 30$ to see if he had a skin disease, he didn't so they gave us, these pills called Cephalexin & Predinsone sayin it could b from dry skin !! It really helped.