scratching

Question
I have a yorkie that is a year and a half old. She scratches and chews at her skin ALL the time. It drives me crazy. Sometimes shell have cuts from it. I've changed shampoos and she's had medicsted shampoos. Nothing helps its. Why does she do this?

Answer

My Connor Stephanie -

Assuming your dog does not have fleas, the most common cause of this kind of itching is allergies... and most commonly food allergies.

I would encourage you to switch to a kibble that contains no corn, no wheat, no soy and no by-products.  Now, that means you can;t buy her food at the grocery store and it's going to cost more. However, you usually feed less of the good foods sicne they're not full of all those useless ingredients.  I figure I spent about 10% more a month for really good food than for grocery store food. PLUS, a yorkie doesn't eat much in the first place !

Secondly, please don't shampoo her since that will dry her skin out and just make it worse most of the time.  I recommend using the routine described at this link until she gets feeling better.

http://cairnrescue.com/docs/SkinCareRegime.htm

Notice that it recommends using a baby "onesie" to help keep her from scratching herself raw.

If these things do not help in 3 weeks or so, you need to take her to a vet to make sure she doesn't have something more serious going on.

Please let me know how you make out.

-Beth