Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pin Down The Reason For Your Scratching House Dog

By Tracy Navo

It's annoying when our dogs scratch and their hairs fly everywhere. Here are a few things that could be causing the irritation.

The first one is those irritating mites all pet lovers are aware of; the flea. You dog may have an infestation or have an allergy to flea bites. See if there are any fleas visible on your pets coat its an infestation.

Once you have established whether you pet is infested or not, a good flea control method should be used. It will kill fleas if they are present, but should also take care of a flea bite allergy.

Dogs can suffer from many different kinds of skin ailments. The common symptoms are red moist skin or maybe an odor. These can be caused by fungi, bacteria and even bites from other bugs. A special shampoo may do the trick, if it doesn't you may need an antibacterial medicine from your vet.

Another possible cause is Mange. If your dog loses fur when he scratches this is more than likely the cause.

The only way to diagnose Mange is for a vet to take scrapings of skin and for them to be checked in a laboratory to see if the mite is present. The vet will then prescribe medication.

When you have dismissed all these possibilities it's time to look a little closer to home. Your dog may have a common allergy to plants, pollen, dust or even certain types of food.

If there is a pattern to his scratching and it worsens during the warm weather it many be an allergy to pollen or grass.

It can take a long time to pin down the cause of your pets itching, but is well worth it as you will have a healthy and much happier dog who is free of that irritating itch.

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