There are several problems Vita Canis products can help you solve: itchy skin, your dog’s stress, fear of fireworks, motion sickness, dry paws, ticks, dirty waxy ears, separation anxiety, just to name a few. We can also help you with dry skin, stress, grief, insect & ticks.
“If you are unable to understand the cause of a problem, it is impossible to solve it.” – Naoto Kan
Let’s have a look at itchy skin first. Itchy skin bothers so many dogs, and causing stress to so many dog parents.
Here are a few possible reasons why your dog could have itchy skin:
- External parasites – when your dog starts scratching, the first thing you should check for are external parasites. Especially fleas, because flea bites can make a dog uncomfortable and itchy, they can also bring about other problems.
Solution: check your dogs coat regularly for external parasites, and use natural repellents that are gentle to your dog and environment but intolerable to external parasites
- Food intolerance – food allergy is one of the most common allergies or hypersensitivities affecting dogs. The immune system overreacts and produces antibodies to substances it would usually tolerate. For example, my Tinker Bell is intolerant to dairy, beef, fructose; Richard to dairy, duck, and turkey, coconut, banana, walnut; Tank to chicken and duck, sweet potato and strawberries; and Martha to cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, fructose, chicken, duck & turkey.
Solution: Have your dog tested for food allergies by your vet or send a hair sample to Holistic Remedies UK, as I did. When you receive your results, eliminate the foods your dog is intolerant to, and see if it helps.
- Environmental allergies – dogs’ skin problems are commonly caused by allergic inhalant dermatitis (hay fever, atopy). While humans have mast cells in the respiratory passages that become inflamed and cause sneezing, dogs inhale the pollen but develop atopy in the skin. Dogs don’t usually sneeze with atopy; most just become itchy, which causes them to lick, chew and scratch.
Solution: again, I would recommend having your dog tested. Frequent washing in Skin Relief Shampoo helps remove allergens from the hair and skin. It combats itching, provides fast relief to allergic reactions, calms sensitive skin, helps shield skin & hair from damaging airborne pollutants. And as a bonus, the shampoo leaves the coat squeaky clean, and fresh smelling.
- Anal glands – if the anal glands don’t empty, they cause discomfort for the dog, so he will try to lick his back end, nibble the base of his tail, or scratch. Years ago, one of my dogs, Blondie, would scratch her ears when her anal glands were full. I have no idea why, but I believe everything is connected.
Solution: have your dog’s anal glands checked by your vet.
- Ear problems – Problems with ears can cause a lot of discomfort to our dogs, and once they start scratching, it causes a vicious cycle of scratching, skin irritation, and then scratching even more. Ear infections in dogs are most commonly caused by a range of factors, including bacteria, yeast, ear mites, excessive hair, moisture or wax, foreign bodies, and allergies. Because the ear canal in dogs is mostly vertical (unlike the human ear canal, which is horizontal), it’s easy for debris and moisture to retain in the ear canal itself, leading to problems.
Solution: If your dog shows sudden signs of ear pain, redness, ear odour, discharge, continual head shaking, or drooping of the ear, have your vet check it out. There may be an infection or it could even be that a foreign body is present causing the infection.
If there is no foreign body present in the ear and you wish to use a totally natural treatment, time to try our Ear Cleaner.
- Tight muscles – This is one I’ve observed in my dogs and other dogs in the salon. I’ve witnessed dogs scratching for no particular or visible reason. But when I’ve touched the area, the muscles underneath felt tight and the area warm. But why does this make them scratch? I think the reason is that the muscle tightness causes discomfort, and it’s the dog’s way of trying to soothe himself. Much like we touch our shoulder, or elbow, or another area when it hurts… a dog is trying to do the same.
Solution: In cases like this, I would gently massage this spot using a massage technique called effleurage. Or look for a canine massage therapist or physiotherapist to help your dog.
Does your dog have itchy skin? have you found the cause and solution?
Jitka xx