Itchy, balding chow chow

Health topics and issues with Chow Chows.

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chica_2626
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Itchy, balding chow chow

Post by chica_2626 »

Hello,

For the past few months I've been battling skin troubles with J.D. When the weather turned colder his skin started getting flaky/dandruff like and he seemed to be itchy. The vet recommended fish oil pills and we've been giving him those for probably two months now.

The itching has only gotten worse, I've been giving him Benadryl when it seems to get very bad, and within the past week or so I started rubbing coconut oil (designed for dogs) onto his exposed areas of skin. The insides and backs of his back legs are practically hairless at this point, and it seems to be creeping up to his sides.

I finally got fed up yesterday and took him to a pet hospital (not our usual one and I will never go back) and they did a skin scrape and it came back clean. I have an appointment scheduled with our vet on Friday, after speaking with her she feels it's like going to be an allergy issue, probably inhaled and said she will probably start him on Atopica if once she sees him she feels that to be true. Has anyone used this? She also wants me to start him on an antibiotic round since his skin is raw in some spots where he has chewed and also a round of prednisone to soothe the itching.

He has been on a grain free diet for a while now but I have within the past month switched him to a much higher quality food and he is on Orijen which he seems to like. He hasn't had an increase in bowel movement so I don't feel that this allergy is going to be food related but anything is possible. I still feel like this is stemming from a dry skin issue that is coupled with another problem.

I just want to get to the bottom of it because it kills me to see him so uncomfortable. I was trying to be patient with the fish oil to give it time to work but my patience is running out!

I think the hair loss is due to his chewing, I don't think it is just falling out but I can't be sure.

Here is his back leg on January 6
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This is the back of leg up onto his buttocks region as of two days ago
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Does anyone have any thoughts on this or ideas as to what this may be?
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Cocoa
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Re: Itchy, balding chow chow

Post by Cocoa »

What formula of Orijen are you feeding? It is a high quality food but quite high protein which chows aren't always good with. As well as grain allergies they can also suffer allergies to different protein sources, quite often red meats or chicken. Cocoa went through a bad itchy phase in the late summer and I switched her from Solid Gold Wolf King to TOTW Pacific stream, which is salmon based and the change was almost instant. I had been giving her salmon oil supplements as well but since the switch I haven't needed to.
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TyChowgirl
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Re: Itchy, balding chow chow

Post by TyChowgirl »

I agree with Cocoa. Ty had this problem too. I thought it was just a few fleas at first, but when the season finally turned and we were rid of the few he kept biting. His underside and legs were all chewed up. My sister in law to be is a vet tech and I asked her about it. She had me switch the brand of food, but stay on chicken or turkey since he seemed fine with it. It stopped within two weeks and we could see the difference. She recommended staying away from other proteins in mass quantities or slowly introduce more after it cleared, one at a time so we could figure out what it was. Red meat can cause this, and she said one thing they are finding a lot more of is an allergy to lamb as well. Different dogs also have different allergies to whatever, so it's going to depend on a dog to dog basis. I will say I will not be going back to Science diet. Even though the ingredients seemed similar to what we're feeding him now... there was enough of a difference.
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Rory's Dad
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Re: Itchy, balding chow chow

Post by Rory's Dad »

i know this off issue, so i apologize in advance if i am hijacking the post, but i wonder about flea/tick medicines. i have never had an issue with my other dogs, but Rory's vet is very insistent on having us apply a Frontline/Advantix type medicine to him. Of course, getting it to his actual skin is a challenge, but i wonder about Chow allergies to this sort of treatment?
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