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So there's honestly a lot of reasons why your dog could scratch, lick or chew their skin. A lot of times what we think of is there's usually three primary concerns that can cause itchy skin, and then from there there's a whole host of secondary concerns.

Hi, I'm Dr. Hill. I'm an associate veterinarian at Advanced Animal Care in Berea. And today we are going to be talking about why pets itch so much.

 

What is causing my dog to scratch, lick or chew his or her skin?

 

So there's honestly a lot of reasons why your dog could scratch, lick or chew their skin. A lot of times what we think of is there's usually three primary concerns that can cause itchy skin, and then from there there's a whole host of secondary concerns.

 

But the three primary concerns that we worry about are things like external parasites. So fleas, ticks, or mites can all cause itchy skin. We think about things like food allergies. So if your dog has a sensitivity to a protein in its diet, that can relate out as itchy skin. And the last one is environmental allergies or what we like to call atopy - where your dog has allergic reactions to things that might be going on in the environment.

 

And to speak of that myself, I've got a little stinker here who suffers from atopy. He has allergies to things that go on in the outdoors during the warmer months. So he's on special medications from about March to October to combat that. But those are usually where it starts.

 

And then from there we can get things like secondary bacterial infections, secondary fungal infections, a whole host of different things that can even add and/or compound the itch factor in your pet.

 

My dog has scabs on her neck or at the base of her tail. What is causing this?

 

So a lot of times the first thing that we think of when we're getting really itchy bums and scabs around our bum and around the base of our neck, we're always looking for fleas because that's the first place that fleas like to go to, to try to bite your pet. And some pets even have an allergic sensitivity to the saliva that the flea produces, which we call flea allergy dermatitis. So some pets react more strongly to flea bites than others and it can create a pretty severe allergic reaction that can make your pet extremely itchy.

 

So what are the complications of itchy skin?

 

Yeah, so one of the complications that can occur when your pet is chewing or scratching a lot is they can actually cause breaks in the skin. And the way I like to describe skin is like a brick wall with mortar.

 

And so when they're chewing and scratching, we get cracks between those bricks and that mortar. And there's bacteria that naturally live on the skin surface that once they get into those cracks they can cause a lot of inflammation and cause a secondary infection. So a lot of itching and scratching, chewing, things like that, can cause a lot of surface abrasion and inflammation, but also allow the set up for secondary infection, which will need treatment usually.

 

Can anxiety or stress contribute to my dog's itchiness?

 

So that's not something uncommon that we see. We can see a lot of dogs that have separation anxiety. They have just general anxiety, storm anxiety, noise anxiety, things like that. Sometimes they project that anxiety as a chewing or scratching behavior or sometimes acting like they are itchy. So it really takes a good trip to your vet to make sure that we're not seeing evidence of any of those primary issues. So like fleas, ticks, mites, or food allergy, or environmental allergy that we're not seeing any signs of secondary infection. And then to really talk about the anxiety part of it, because we actually do have some pets that we see here at the clinic that we were able to put them on medication for their anxiety and it completely alleviated their chewing, itching and scratching.

 

How can I help soothe my dog's itchy skin?

 

So for at home care there are some things that you can always try. The safest one to give a shot, if you feel like your dog's really itchy or scratching before you take it to the vet would be maybe trying some Benadryl, which we always recommend Benadryl at one milligram per pound. But if you're concerned or you have any questions, feel free to call your vet first to get a more appropriate dosage.

 

The other thing that I always recommend for owners to try is getting a pet-safe oatmeal-based shampoo, because the colloids in the oatmeal can be really helpful to help repair that brick and mortar that is the skin. But if you're really worried about it or if the oatmeal shampoo or a little bit of Benadryl doesn't seem to get your pet any relief, then I definitely recommend making an appointment with your vet to have your pet's skin checked out.

 

So if you have any questions about your pet's skin or you're worried that there might be something going on, feel free to give us a call to ask us about it. Or you can schedule an appointment. Our phone number is area code (859) 985-5678.

So it's really important for all animals to have at least an annual physical exam by a veterinarian.

Hello everyone. My name is Dr. Victoria Crabtree. I'm here at Advanced Animal Care today in Richmond. And we're just going to talk a little bit about exotic pet annual wellness exams. So I graduated from Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine earlier this year. I did a four week internship at Omaha zoo and aquarium and this is Roswell Berry. This is our bearded dragon, just one of the many pets that you'll see here at Advanced Animal Care. We also see other reptiles, amphibians, birds, . I also see small mammals like Guinea pigs, ferrets, etc. So let's just talk more about why they need an annual wellness exam.

Do exotic pets need routine wellness exams?

So it's really important for all animals to have at least an annual physical exam by a veterinarian. But for exotic pets it's really important as well. They may not get routine vaccines like some of our dogs and cats, but they do have husbandry issues that we would need to talk about when you get a new pet. Husbandry really just means how we take care of them at home, what kind of habitat they're in, what they're being fed, and what kind of enrichment they need at home. With Roswell Berry here, this is a desert dwelling animal, so they need to have a hot environment, a human environment. So that would be the sort of thing that we would talk about when you bring your new pet in.

What happens during the wellness exam?

So during the wellness exam, I'm going to have you bring in pictures of whatever habitat they have at home, whether it be a big aquarium or a multilevel cage. That way we can discuss what all is in the cage. If things need to be taken out that are dangerous for your animal, or things need to be added for enrichment and things like that. And then we'll do our physical exam from head to tail or head to toe. Make sure that everything's looking okay, they're growing the way that they're supposed to and that there's not any issues that we need to discuss.

Explain the basic environmental and nutritional requirements for exotic pets.

So this is a difficult question because things like Roswell Berry are a lot different than ferrets and Guinea pigs and things like that. They all need different environments. They all have different nutritional needs. Some of them are herbivores, so they only need veggies and fruits and things like that. Roswell Berry is an omnivore, so she actually needs crickets and mealworms and veggies and things like that. So she doesn't just need one thing, she needs multiple things. So that's sort of the thing that we would discuss as well. There's a lot of misconceptions when you bring home a new exotic pet. Some people think they need to be fed once a day or every other day. So we need to talk about that so that we get proper nutrition.

What can you expect during a physical exam?

So during the physical exam, we're going to basically look at things without handling them. I want to see them in their cage when you first bring them in, how they interact with their toys and their food. I also want to see how they walk to make sure that there's no nutritional abnormalities. So if, as you see Roswell Berry here is kind of standing and not doing a whole lot of walking, but we're pretty healthy right now. After that I'll do a hands on approach where I just kind of go from head to toe like I would any other animal. With reptiles, it's kind of difficult to open their mouth and see inside their mouth, like small mammals.

So we do have to approach that differently. I'll also look at all of their scales, like with Roswell here, or their fur and then just see how they interact with their environment. Some animals have to use different methods to do their physical exams. So most animals, I would use my stethoscope to listen to their heart. But with Roswell we actually have to use a special product to listen to their heart.

If you already have an exotic pet at home, what are some concerns that you might look for before you bring them in?

So if we've had an exotic pet for quite a while, you already know their habits, you know what they do normally. So I like to ask the owners like, is this something new? Is this something that they've never done before? Are they still playing with their enrichment and eating in the way that they usually do? If you're seeing that your exotic pet is not enjoying food the way they used to, if they're not walking the way they used to, or if you're seeing different consistencies of their feces or their urine, or you're just noticing like with Roswell, sometimes they can get egg bound. Females have eggs, they get stuck. Even if they don't have a male partner. If you see that they're straining, you want to bring them in so that we can discuss this issue and how we need to treat it.