Quote:
If the scratching is severe, you should ask the vet to give a steroid injection. Even though he's on antibiotics to clear up the infection, if he keeps damaging the skin by scratching, the infection might come back.
Oatmeal or soap-free shampoo is safe to use several times per week. You can buy these by the gallon for much cheaper than the store online through mail order places like petedge.com.
If this is a recurring problem, you should talk to your vet to identify the cause: flea allergy, food allergy (most common is beef), or environmental allergy. If the skin infections recur, treatment will get expensive.
The first thing to do, because it is the most likely is using a very good flea control to rule out flea allergy. The dog should be on Comfortis, as this product has the fastest kill time for fleas (30min) which is absolutely essential for flea allergic dogs. This could be the problem even if you never see a flea. It only take ONE flea bite for a flea allergic dog to chew himself raw (I have one myself).
If this does not help, the next step should be to suspect a food allergy and try an elimination diet. I would start by removing beef from the diet. Try a novel protein food such as salmon and potato, venison and potato, chicken and rice, etc. Check the label for any beef product. You must not give any treats, or rawhides derived from beef. This needs to be done for 2-3 months to see a difference. If the dog still has problems, there may be a food allergy to a less common ingredient in which case you would need to try a hydrolyzed protein diet (Hill's z/d, Purina sells one as well) which is expensive (why I would try this last). With this diet, the dog absolutely cannot eat anything else except the kibble and it must be tested for several months as well to see a difference.
The last thing to consider is environmental allergy. Dogs can have allergies to pollen, mold, grass, laundry detergent, etc just like humans. PLAIN Benadryl tablets are safe to give. They MUST be plain Benadryl (diphenhydramine), nothing else added. Decongestants and other cold medicines can be toxic. They are usually 25mg tablets, so one tablet twice per day for a 25lb dog, but it is very safe and you can give more if needed. The only side effect is drowsiness.
