pug scratching

Question
Our almost four year old neutered male fawn pug has been scratching for a couple of months now. At first he had an ear infection, treated that and as soon as we were done, he started scratching again. He scratches his face, his ears his neck and licks the hair off his inner knees . He also licks his feet and seems to be chewing his toenails.

He is on amytriptyline now, but it doesn't seem to be helping, and only quit scratching while he was on prednisone. Benadryl didn't help either.  He seems to be quite obsessive about it and I am sure he must be in distress.

I have changed his food but he has had regular veterinary care, and has been on Science diet prescription food. He is now on Nutrisource but it has only been a couple of days.

Is there anything we can do to relieve his distress? The vet said the next step was to do expensive allergy testing and we can't afford it.

thanks

Answer
Karen,

Sounds like a yeast overgrowth from the antibiotics - like what people get when they are on antibiotics.

I would get him on some probiotics.  You could use the people kind or I'm sure there is some for pets.  Yogurt is a great source.

Then you could try some Monistat (tioconazole) on him.  Just be careful not to get it in his eyes.  If it is yeast, this should help right away.

Christine Puetz