Katy - we've got the same thing going on in our house. We are switching to a new food put out by Wellness that only has 5 ingredients to make sure it isn't a food allergy. We also switched to "Free & Clear" laundry soap and fabric softner on everything we wash.
Our vet said we could give 1/3 to 1/2 a Benadryl every 8 hours to our 8 lb mini poodle. She made some sort of calculation based on his weight. Benadryl doesn't work for us because he quits eating and then starts throwing up the Benadryl because it's the only thing in his stomach.
What our vet has recommended is to rinse the dog off once a day at the same time of day. No soap because it dries out their skin. We put our pup in the sink and hose him down with warm water every night right before bed and then a quick blowdry to get him sorta dry. This has helped immensely. It gets all the allergens off his body and he sleeps better. We also got him shaved yesterday since his hair was so long and we're going to keep him clipped fairly short most of the time so there is less hair for the allergens to get caught in.
You might want to have the vet take a look at his ears. Keegan's allergies manifest in part as an increase in yeast in his ear canal. We give him drops twice a day and that has made a BIG decrease in the amount of scratching.
I know it sounds like our pup is high maintainence, but we adopted him at the beginning of the summer so we've been dealing with allergy season ever since we got him. Our vet is hoping that once the weather cools down and we get a good hard frost it will clear a lot of things up.
Married 2002 Adopted pup 2005 TTC since 02/06 "Roo" lost 05/09 at 5 weeks DS arrived 3/3/10
Believe it or not, one thing that works for my basset's itchy pits (which the vet told us to try), is sprinkle a little Gold Bond powder on the itchy area. It does wonders when his little armpits are bothering him! I don't think this can be used in the ear or tail area though.
For ears, I clean my basset's ears with Epi-Otic ear cleanser , which I purchase online. It is very mild, and doesn't cause irritation and MORE itching like other brands we've tried. Good luck!!
Okay, I just got back from Sav-On and picked up some store brand Benedryl tablets. I didn't get the children's ones, but only because they were flavored and quick dissolve and all that extra stuff. I figured if it was half the adult strength (and I checked this) then half an adult would be fine (and nearly half the price!) I'll let you guys know how it goes...
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself. - Thoreau
I followed y'alls advice regarding the Benadryl and it has made an AMAZING difference. We can all sleep through the night as there's no more itching and scratching. And I can tell he feels a lot better as well.
Thank you all SO much for the advice...
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself. - Thoreau
Yay! I'm glad such a simple (and cheap!) solution is working for your baby!
(For the record, according to my vet, you can also give dramamine for car sickness, a whole adult dose - Maggie used to have a terrible urpy in the car problem......)
That's wonderful you had such a good response to the benadryl. I would keep using it then as often as you need. I second the recommendation to bathe often using a gentle oatmeal shampoo in order to remove allergens. If the problem persists, talk to your vet- allergies can be a pain to manage.
Jes, thanks for piping in. As for the bathing....well, he can't STAND water and even thinking about bathing him is tons of work. Boyo can that little guy hide when he hears the bathwater. But I'll work on trying to bathe him more. And I'll just tell him it was all YOUR idea!
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself. - Thoreau
Well, it's *that* of the year again. Griffin is driving us crazy with his itching. The good thing, he usually asks for his meds by going into the kitchen and looking up at where I kee them (either Benedryl or the chlor-thingie) and he's taking them well. But...they still don't completely work for him.
On accident, my FIL gave him half an OTC Claritin and it totally stopped the itching, but it also knocked him out so we're leary of going that route. FWIW, I know it's not a food allergy since I tried to change his diet last time around and there's NO difference and it's not fleas since I'm not finding fleas or flea bites, or any sort of rash. I also notice that he seems to be most itchy when my own allergies (and the cat's eye weeping) are acting up, so I'm confident that it's seasonal allergies.
Is there anything else I might be missing to try?
There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself. - Thoreau
Ollie has terrible allergies this year- there's something in our new place that's getting him because it just started this spring. He's chewed up his paws.
He responds pretty well to Benadryl. What I also do is spray his paws with an anti-itch spray when he comes in from outside, which helps, too. The vet also recommended soaking his feet in epsom salt to help relieve the itchies, too. I'm going to do that tonight.
I had him on prednisone for the past week and a half, but as soon as we took the last pill, he started biting at his paws again. Because of the potty problems (waking up after an incontinent episode on the bed is NOT FUN), I don't want to keep him on it all the time!
Adopted pup 2005 
"Roo" lost 05/09 at 5 weeks 
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