Animal Corner - Skin problems in dogs - 14 October
Itching and scratching in dogs can be related to several
things
- allergies
- external parasites such as fleas, mites
- yeast or bacterial infection
- self trauma from behavioral issues
Skin problems are very common and are a real problem in many
animals.
Diagnosis of the cause and effective treatment of many skin
problems can be difficult as often there are many things going on
at once (i.e. immune dysfunction, primary allergies and secondary
infections)
Problems with the skin reflects an imbalance in the body especially
the immune system
Correct diagnosis and effective treatment not just of the skin but
the overall body imbalances is important for long term resolution
of the problems
What to look for
- There is often a huge range of symptoms shown
- Scratching and itching, chewing and gnawing of the
skin
- Red lumps, patches, fur loss in areas,
- Moist, raw areas maybe pus present
- Often a "dirty socks" smell due to the excess chewing
resulting in overactive oil glands and excess bacterial
multiplication causing the body oils to go rancid
- Fur may be greasy and rank, often there is excess scurf
present due to the skin being scratched resulting in a higher
turnover of external skin cells
- Often the dog is miserable, lacking in energy and generally
"off".
What to do
- See your vet! A well supported diagnosis is crucial
in treating skin problems
- Your vet will look for flea dirt, maybe scrape the skin for
mites, take biopsies, look for infections and other possible health
problems
- There are several important organ problems that can result
in skin disorders and a blood test may be required to investigate
these.
- Often there are several issues present and a skilled and
experienced vet will notice important symptoms and put everything
together to come to the best diagnosis.
Treatment of skin problems
- Depending on the results of tests, a range of
treatments may be advised. This may include effective flea
treatment, medicated washes or shampoos, antibiotics and maybe
steroids or antihistamines to help reduce the inflammation of the
skin.
- Improving the overall health of the dog is very important,
with an appropriate, high quality diet and supplements especially
essential fatty acids which can act as a natural
anti-inflammatory (e.g. Flaxseed oil, evening Primrose oil,
Fish oil)
- Herbs can help detoxify the body (e.g. Milk Thistle for the
liver) and herbal creams can help soothe the skin externally (e.g.
Chickweed, Calendula, Comfrey)
- If allergies are diagnosed, then re balancing the immune
system is important (an allergy indicates an overactive immune
system, reacting to everyday things in the environment)
- Unfortunately conventional veterinary medicine relies a lot
on steroids to suppress the immune system which often doesn't treat
the primary immune imbalance, just the symptoms
- Complementary medicine can be very useful as it looks at the
whole body not just the skin and aims to re balance the entire
body
- Nambutripads allergy elimination technique (NAET) (see
www.naet.com) is a system I have
used for many years which identifies and eliminates the allergies
from the body. Huge success rate even on very chronic cases. It
uses kinesiology (muscle testing) to identify what the animal is
allergic to then TREATS the allergy with acupressure, permanently
eliminating it from the body.
