Dog help needed

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Jim

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I'm at my wits end with this dog. He is a boxer that will not stop scratching. His ears, his chest, his back-side. You cant even touch his back side without him lifting his foot to start scratching. I have changed his food 3-4 times going 2-3 weeks at a time.....nothing.

He is now eating 85% hamburg and rice twice per day with an omega fish oil cap or two added to it. #-o

I have given him baths in oatmeal, epsom salts, flea shampoos......nothing.

I have cleaned his ears with special stuff and even treated his ears with mite stuff....Just in case. HIS EARS ARE CLEANER THAN MINE!

He sleeps on the Hardwood floor, or on his special blanket. Wife has not changed laundry detergent in years, can't be that.

I'm about to take him deep into the woods, tie him to a tree and leave him there. :LOL2:

Any ideas guys?

I hate to take him to the vet where they will charge me $300 plus to test him.

He eats. he drinks, he plays, he is 100 percent normal except for the scratching.
:evil:
 
Sounds like some kind of allergy. My buddies dgo (wienne dog) had the same problems, so much so that she licked herself raw trying to treat it. He tried everything until the vet found the allergy and treated it.
 
Sure sounds like dry skin.. but does he ever get flea bites?

Some dogs are super allergic to them.

How often do you bathe him? If it is dry skin, frequent baths may actually add to the problem.
 
My initial thoughts were that he has a allergy to soy beans which is a common filler in dog food, but the switching to hamburger should have had an impact.

I know a pretty large network of dog owners (mostly greyhounds but it's a start). I'll forward your symptoms on and see if any of them have an idea.

Poor guy :)
 
My basset hound has allergies.. she also scratches herself. the vet told me to give her 2 25mg benadryl.
this helps her makes her a little sleepy but she doesn't scratch.
 
redbug said:
My basset hound has allergies.. she also scratches herself. the vet told me to give her 2 25mg benadryl.
this helps her makes her a little sleepy but she doesn't scratch.

I do that too(it helps a little). I just hate giving it to him every single day.
 
My dog is the same way, you can get 2 type of allergy remedy's. 1 is a shot (1 vet told me that this is hard oin their kidneys, or 1 is oral). At the beginning of spring every year, my dog will scratch, scratch, shake her head, and paces non stop. This helped. Althought this year I just let her tuff it out, and it wasnt as bad as years prior. But when she did get the shot, it stopped almost immediately. They sh9ould be able to give the shot or oral medicine with just a 40-50$ office visit. (Call to be sure)
 
Does he break the skin Jim when he scratches? If so Its gotta be allergies, if not it then may be some skin sensitivity to something.

I had a Chow back in 91 that would scracth his head raw and was always told it was a skin condition, went to another vet on accident(he was cheaper) one time and he said it was allergies and he gave him a shot, took care of it and every sense then I got him a shot twice a year and it always took care of the problem, the vet told me if they scracth hard enough to draw blood it usually is allergies.
 
I have a Boston Terrier with some pretty bad food allergies. I think (knocks on wood) that we finally have them licked though due to some help and advice from my step-mom who is a Vet.

Beef and Chicken are among some of the most likely things they can be allergic to. Meats they are less likely to have issues with are fish, venison, and rabbit. Sometimes chicken fat will get them, but chicken protein is fine too, it really depends. In addition to this, lots of grains can really set them off too.

We started our dog off on a prepared raw frozen diet by Natures Variety, but it got WAY too expensive. It did clean her up almost instantly though. Now we are feeding her Nature's Variety Instinct Grain Free Rabbit Meal. It's expensive ($60 for a 25lb bag), but much less expensive than the frozen diet (cost roughly $120 a month) and our pup looks fantastic now. No more scabbed up ears and face, broken out chest, etc.
 
My mom and dad have a Rat Terrier. She has always scratched and rubbed her self raw on the end of her back just above her butt. They tried switching food, shots, benedryl (sp?), just about everything under the stars and nothing helped.

Then one vet recommended an air purifier. That did the trick. She was allergic to something in the air in our house.
 
sounds like allergies to me , i know some one that has a boxer that had same problem,and they was told it was allergies.
good luck with the dog and vet. bill i know about them :shock:
 
I hate taking my dogs to the vet, but I think in this case that is probably your best option... It has to be allergies or some sort of skin condition.

I realize this is completely different, but I thought I would add it in: my female German Shorthaired Pointer had really dry flaky skin to the point of being gross to pet her because of all the flakes. We were feeding her the expensive dogfoods at the time. After trying all sorts of different kinds, we tried the cheap WalMart Ol Roy skin and coat formula and it cleared her right up. Saved us a ton each month in dog food too...
 
Jim, the consensus of the 'dog' people I know is that your little buddy has an allergy to something. A trip to the vet is your best option to getting it solved... just remember, he's man's best friend :)

And your right Breachless, expensive doesn't always mean good. After going through several of the 'Premium' brands of food with less that stellar results, the Costco Kirkland brand is what your 4 Greyhounds do best on, and it's like $17 for 40lbs.
 
One thing that no one has mentioned is a behavioral issue. Dogs develop neuroses, just like people. You might want to check out the Dog Whisperer and Ask Cesar where you can get some advice or input.
 
DocWatson said:
One thing that no one has mentioned is a behavioral issue. Dogs develop neuroses, just like people. You might want to check out the Dog Whisperer and Ask Cesar where you can get some advice or input.

Not sure if your joking, but I believe this. The wife says he only scratches when I'm around. :LOL2:
 
Jim said:
DocWatson said:
One thing that no one has mentioned is a behavioral issue. Dogs develop neuroses, just like people. You might want to check out the Dog Whisperer and Ask Cesar where you can get some advice or input.

Not sure if your joking, but I believe this. The wife says he only scratches when I'm around. :LOL2:


could be? He gets excited when your around. Our Boxer will not eat untill we are all home together, and had one dog that would pee everytime I got home from work, found out that was his way to show me I was master??? and I was told to avoid him when I get home and wait about ten minutes to pet him, so I did this and it worked, the sucker quit peeing when he saw me. weird :roll:
 
I had a border collie once that was allergic to carpet.He could lay outside all day and never scratch ,as soon as we let him in he would scratch his self raw.You may watch and see if he does better indoors or out,that may help you figure out the problem.I seem to recall reading somewhere boxers are prone to allergies for some reason.
 
Jim
My male boxer does that (pee) to my sister everytime she comes over now i have to let him out before i can let her in the house and she will not go out back were he is,only her on on else :LOL2:
 

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