Question :
I have 3 dogs a 14 yr old swissy and 2 Boston/corgi brothers 4 1/2. We moved from Houston to Austin a little over a year ago and moved in to a house a year ago. Something in my yard when it gets in the 80,s and warmer is causing insane itching for my older dog. My dog have a grain free very healthy diet. I give them coconut oil, garlic. I have found no fleas but use diatomaceous earth also sprayed the yard with cedar oil. I don’t like insecticides my older dog had seizures when using the topical flea products so I don’t use them. I have bathed them with sulfur shampoo to ease itching. Which helps minimally. We went to the vet he gave her a steroid shot which did nothing.
I’m at my wits end and my poor girl is tearing herself up. I thought maybe chiggers.
Answer:
If there were chiggers in your yard, believe me, you would be feeling them too. Chiggers are tiny little harvest mites that don’t discriminate on whom, or what, they choose to bite. Chiggers are usually found in the highest numbers during the spring and fall in grassy areas, particularly in chalky soils. In my own experience, the worst chigger infestation I ever encountered was in a cow pasture of tall, grass.
This is a video showing what they look like on your dog. Your vet should be able to perform a skin scraping and a look under the microscope to determine if chiggers are the problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-ua7mScdg
Here’s another video that explains how to find the eggs and how to treat for chiggers.
It seems like you are doing all that you can to help your dog. If none of your at home treatments are working, you should take your pet to your vet. The veterinarian clinic can administer two pyrethrin-based dips that are two weeks apart, or apply a topical anti-parasite cream. But I would first make sure that chiggers are the proper diagnosis.
You might want to try an all-natural, colloidal oatmeal-based shampoo to help with the itching. Oatmeal helps with dry, itchy skin and has been used in human medicine for years. Comfy Dog is a such a shampoo, highly recommended!
The other thing you can try is a directed, organic, anti-itch, anti-inflammatory spray that will help with those areas where she itches the most. Try Itchin’ For Relief.
The other thing I can suggest is that you get your vet to recommend you to a good veterinary dermatologist. The dermatologist can perform a series of skin tests to make a final determination of what it is in your yard that is so irritating to your pup. Then, when the allergies are at their worst, you can be given a daily injectable serum (and your vet will show you how to do this) to alleviate the symptoms. The serums are made from your dog’s own natural anti-bodies and are not steroidal or chemical in nature.