Itchy Cairn

[mayos]

We have 2 terrific little Cairns a little over 1 year old. Our male has developed quite a problem with itchy skin. When looking through his coat, the skin seems to be a little more "pink" than usual. The problem seems to be all over his body, but more pronounced on his sides and where his tail joins his body. We've been giving him benedryl and we have some hydrocortisone spray to apply topically. Is there anything else we can do for him? Any ideas as to what may cause his problem?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Milopup]

My pup sometimes chews his feet when he wakes up in the morning. It is the cutest thing, but I am worried that he might have an allergy. He doesn't chew to the point of losing fur or causing bleeding or bald patches (thank goodness), but it still worries me. The vet said don't worry until there is bald patches, or until his paws turn red from excessive saliva.

[newcairn]

I wanna say someone told me Yogurt would help skin irritations. I might be wrong but I think my breeder told me all natural yogurt mixed with food can be helpful for that problem. Also, Linoleic acid is proven to help this too, this is essentially Omega 6 or 3 which I believe is a fatty acid for skin and coat.

[mayos]

In my "travels" around the net, I've stumbled onto a solution for our Cairn's itchy skin....and it really seems to work. First we shampooed with Gold Bond Shampoo and left it on for about 10 minutes. Rinsed it off and then repeated. Then, after he was dry, we applied a light application of Gold Bond powder. It has sure seemed to help him a lot. Have not tried the yogurt approach yet, but have bought some "sensitive skin" food from our vet for him.

[mayos]

My wife corrected me on the brand of shampoo, it was Denorex shampoo. My vet also said to make absolutely sure all the shampoo was rinsed out of the coat and off the skin. We were also told that an application of Lanacaine would be appropriate if there were areas of the skin that were inflamed or open wounds. Also putting a baby's "onesey" on to protect from scratching helped in extreme cases.

[fancypants]

Someone once told me the golden rule re: bathing and it's this ~ lots of water and little soap and so far (thank God) it's working!

[Guest Ashley]

My 4 month old Cairn, Baxter, also has ichy skin. I know he had flees when I first got him, but now his fleas are gone and he's still scratching all the time. The vet said he has dry skin and that I should pop open a Fish Oil vitamin (any type, found in the grocery store) and pour over his food daily. I've been doing this for 2 weeks so far and have not seen results, but maybe soon! FYI: the first supper with vitamin included made Baxter throwup, so start it gradually.

Hope this helps! If you find a great solution, please share it with me.

[kayharley]

I started using this product called the Missing Link. It's a supplement powder that has the essential fatty acids, fiber and plant nutrients that might be missing in their diet.

It comes in a powder form, easy to add to food. It was recommended to me by a very reputable breeder and so far my girls are doing great with it.

[chichi3]

Here's another site that promises results with that problem.

http://www.dinovite.com/products/html/results.html

And another:

http://www.allergicpet.com/

I tried the skin-eze on my Amos. While there has been some benefits I feel we could do better .I'm still searching. Next I'm trying the Dinovite.

Hope they help. I've got that "missing link " bookmarked to try also, thanks for the tip kayharley !