Question by : I can’t figure out why my dog is itching…?
My dog, Toby, is a 5-1/2 year old Jack Russell terrier. About 2 weeks ago, while playing with his rope toy, my fiancé and I noticed that a welt had suddenly shown up on Toby’s left cheek….about the size of a ping pong ball. The hair was raised and I could see very red, partially bloody skin underneath. The rope toy had a thick knot in it, so we thought Toby might’ve hit himself in the head with it too hard during rough play, as he tends to shake his toys around furiously when he is really excited. Soon after the welt showed up, we noticed several small raised bumps showing up on the top of Toby’s head. We immediately threw the toy away.
Now, this is where it gets weird. About two years ago, the same sort of small raised bumps showed up one morning all over Toby’s body. My fiancé and I panicked and brought Toby to the vet immediately. They checked him for mites, insect bites, etc. Nothing appeared to be wrong, so the vet assumed Toby must’ve been having an allergic reaction to something. The only thing my fiancé and I could figure was that Toby had reacted to chemicals in our comforter, as we had just had it dry-cleaned 1-2 days prior. We thought he must’ve been allergic to some of the harsh chemicals. So we bought some children’s Benadryl on the vet’s suggestion, brought Toby home, and monitored him. Of course, we threw out the comforter immediately. Sure enough, the bumps went away and Toby was 100% fine after that. There was no reoccurrence of the symptoms. We were so relieved that everything was ok.
Back to the present situation – the same sort of bumps Toby had that first time years ago were now accompanying the large welt that had suddenly shown up on Toby’s cheek. It seems like a rash and comes on so fast. We were stumped, because we couldn’t think of anything that might’ve triggered it this time. The only thing my fiancé and I were able to narrow it down to was that the carpets in the hallways of the building in which we live had JUST been cleaned, so we thought it must be more harsh chemicals again. We bathed Toby and have kept him off of the carpets since then. We also provided him with small amounts of children’s Benadryl over the course of the first 5 days. It seemed to help, but as soon as the Benadryl would wear off, the bumps would show up again. They usually appeared on the top of his head and along the sides of his back legs, accompanied with mild scratching.
We had hoped this would go away, as we don’t currently have the money to visit a vet, and we know they probably won’t be able to figure out the exact cause and will just pump him full of drugs. When the symptoms weren’t going away, I began to panic. I’ve since spent hours scouring the internet to try and find possible causes. The only things we have come up with are:
1) flea allergies – but Toby does NOT have fleas.
2) food allergies – we are currently in the process of switching him from his regular brand, which is Eukanuba and he has eaten the SAME brand his entire life, but we are now switching him to something with NO corn/wheat/grains/gluten. So we are still not sure if this might be the answer.
3) dust/mite allergies – to purify the air in our home, in the last two weeks we have bought a new electrostatic air filter, laundered EVERYTHING we have with organic detergent + a few drops of eucalyptus oil, as I read that this will kill mites. We’ve laundered bedsheets, his dog bed, blankets, etc. We completely THREW AWAY any feather pillows. We dusted our entire home heavily. We also bought diatomaceous earth and sprinkled it all over our mattress (then sealed the mattress in a plastic protector), all over the bedroom carpet, etc. We left it overnight and then vacuumed the next day. This was a week ago, but the symptoms are still occurring.
3) god forbid he has a form of mange…. but the reason I fear he may is because I am also itching…my head, nose, and (yuck) crotch. But I do not have a visible rash or any redness, so this may be psychosomatic. I’m not sure. I am certainly high-strung because I feel like we’re battling an invisible enemy and it makes my skin crawl not knowing what it is. I feel helpless. I am at my wits’ end. Any advice would be appreciated!
The small bumps haven’t shown up for a few days. But now, it seems as though the hair on the top of his head is thinning, and sometimes he shows a tiny bit if dandruff there. He still scratches a few times/day, usually up around his neck. When I examined the area under his fur, I noticed it was a bit red, but it appears that this is a result of his scratching. He stops scratching when we pet him and he is able to sleep through the nights. It isn’t furious or excessive. If I had to categorize his symptoms, I’d say they’re mild/moderate. He has no open sores, no bumps, no scabs, no oozing, nothing like that anywhere on his body. By all accounts, he appears complet
Best answer:
Answer by ladystang
over breeding by bybs is what i think
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