Itchy Ollie

[daniellerose]

Hi guys, I have inherited a 6 year old Cairn named Ollie and he has never been stripped in his life, he seems to be itchy all the time and I cant find any fleas on him, could this be because of poor grooming? I know he's been shaved before and his coat looks nothing like pictures I've seen of Cairns, he looks mostly fluffy with a few wiry parts around his front. I thought about stripping him myself but i wouldn't know where to start! His hair is probably too long and knotty to even try. Please help! It is driving me crazy thinking he could be so uncomfortable! Thanks

[Lynn in TN]

I would strip Ollie if I were you, and see if it helps. Kelly seems to itch more when it has been awhile since stripping her. When I strip Kelly I use the disposable rubber gloves on my hands, it helps grip the fur. You can also use finger cots. If you're not interested in a show coat you just pull the longest hairs out all over. They normally come out fairly easy when you can get a good grip on them

Food allergies can cause itching. Cairns tend to not do well with corn in their diets so check the food label and make sure it does not have corn in it.

They can also have other allergies too.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[MegsMom]

Well, he's been like this for a while, and a few more days or even 2 wks more won't make much difference. So get a wide steel comb (you know the standard type with close teeth on one end and wider teeth on the other) and start on him very slowly, in small sections. I'd recommend starting on his rear, it's usually a less sensitive area and if he has any dislike about grooming, with you working very small areas & very carefully, he will learn you intend no harm to him. Work your way forward, then you can do some brushing with the tangles removed. Following that, you can get a fine comb and do some more combing. In each of these steps you'll find you'll remove some hair--that'll be dead coat that does need to come out and it will build a grooming relationship between you.

Next, what's his food? It could be that's contributing to his itchies as well. Some cairns tend to have itchies with corn, wheat or soy in their food--and it could be he just needs a good combing, which will rid his coat & skin of some debris (including dead coat), which means his skin will get air to it. And then you can see about giving him a bath with some shampoo formulated for 'wire or hard coats'. Be absolutely sure you rinse him thoroughly, sometimes problems arise from shampoo residue.

Maybe Brad will move your post to one of your own, so we can welcome you to the world of cairns, as a new member. How about some pics, so we can see what his coat looks like? And don't think his coat is too long if you'll just go slowly with the combing; when I pulled my girl from a shelter, her outer coat looked OK, but it turned out her undercoat was terribly matted and she hated me trying to come at her with a comb--but I worked very slowly and got every inch of her combed out--it did take me 2 wks--and now she sees a brush or comb in my hand & she throws herself down in front of me for grooming.

Then we'll see what style of grooming you'd like to pursue, do you want to continue with clippering him; work with what's on him now and see if he'll grow out a harder coat; you can even do a combo of stripping mechanically with a Mars Coat King and thinning shears, or you can learn to fully handstrip him. You might have a look at these 2 pages to learn about cairn coats and skin health. http://jerrier.tripod.com/grooming1.html http://jerrier.tripod.com/grooming2.htm [And otherwise, I have to admit, I'd much rather work with 'cleaning up/neatening' an overgrown coat--there's more to work with, than to try to tidy up a partially grown coat; so I think you've hit the jackpot with a "too long coat"!]

[bradl]

Maybe Brad will move your post to one of your own, so we can welcome you to the world of cairns, as a new member.

Excellent idea. Done.

[daniellerose]

Wow, thank you so much for your responses, I really appreciate it!

Before seeing the responses here I spoke to the secretary at the Cairn Club of NSW (I live in Australia) and he said that giving him a clip for now should be okay, as there are no groomers in Sydney that do stripping. They will be having a grooming day next March where they can show me how to do it properly but until then I am still a bit nervous to try on my own.

Though I after reading your responses I do really want to strip him, however just getting a normal brush through his coat at the moment is very tricky as its so knotty around the back and legs, not too bad at the front. And he is very naughty and untrained (just another thing I am now working on) so getting him to sit still for long periods of time is impossible! So I'm thinking I should clip him so his coat is nice and neat and then start stripping as it grows out? I know you said its better to have it long though Megsmom, but just to make it less stressful on the both of us I think! - Or is this the wrong thing to do? Maybe I could speak to the groomer and just ask for him to be tidied up, not shaven?

To be honest I don't mind at all what Ollie looks like, he is cute no matter what! I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing by him as I really hate the thought of him being itchy because I could be doing the wrong thing.

As for his diet, a friend recommended Hills Science Diet biscuits for him so I bought a big bag, will check the ingredients when I get home. however as he has just started on this food I doubt it could contribute. Not too sure what he has been fed in the past, think a combination of brands , nothing specific so could be hard to tell. Though previous owner says he definitely has a flea allergy, though still no sign of fleas as far as I can tell. So maybe this means he could have sensitive skin as well.

I am trying to upload pictures but they are apparently too big, so now working on a way to make them smaller to upload.

But thanks again for your replies and I look forward to hearing all your thoughts - Danielle

Edited December 12, 2012 by daniellerose

[daniellerose]

P.s Woah, information overload. On second glance at your response I will definitely venture out and get the wide teeth comb once he has had a few knots trimmed out I think! Best to start us off slowly like you said Megsmom! So once I've done that, I should start pulling out the longer hairs? Is there a link on how to do this properly? That link you provided was very helpful and I would probably describe his coat as a stage four! I am now just worried that this is not redeemable, please tell me otherwise! Thank you

[bradl]

Coats are (or can be) living things and are almost always redeemable. Fear not; have patience; be persistent.

[MegsMom]

I don't think you're going to be very happy with the SD biscuits, sadly it's really not quality food--alot of filler stuff.

Before cutting any knots out unless they're totally horrid, try tiny little sections with the comb. Do it in the evening when he's a bit tired and you might be settled then. See if you can get him to just lay next to you and try to do a bit with the comb; he may find it nice for you to do some of 'itching' for him. I suspect you'll be filling up that comb alot, so you may find you feel like you're removing about half his coat, just with the comb, which is fine as that'll be dead coat that does need to come off/out. If you're not familiar with cairns, you simply need to be quite firm with them, they will test your authority. He's been to a groomer before, since you said he'd been clippered, so in 6 yrs he probably knows what's expected, just don't overdo it much unless he does cooperate & then work as long as either of you can stand it.

Just to be clear, I think by simply combing him, alot of his longer coat will collect in the comb, because it's ready to come out/off. Just work from the ends of his coat down towards the skin, just as you'd work out a snarl in your own hair. Get him combed out and we'll see what's left to tidy up. {I am suggesting the simplest step first }

A "flea lesson" that may help: fleas inject a saliva when they bite, that has an 'itchy/allergen' component in it. For dogs that are sensitive to flea bites, that saliva can itch up to 2 wks after a bite. When I've got an itchy dog with a suspected flea bite, I usually just smear on some over-the-counter cortisone cream in the area of their itching, to neutralize the itch factor. A couple of times per day, for a couple of days should do the trick.

You might try Canidae All Life Stages food, if you're surprised at the price, AUS $122 for the 20kg bag, do know you will feed less of this than the SD because it's a higher quality food, with less filler in it. I know it's available there, a friend moved to Hobart 2yrs ago, with eventually 4 cairns, and 'loaded up' with the food in Melbourne, before boarding the ferry. And you could also consider a small bag of a super premium food for treats, just choose a small kibble type--you'll be surprised at long your bag of "treats" lasts!

The alternate name of the type comb you're looking for is greyhound comb, should be easy to find in any pet supplies store.

[Lynn in TN]

A stray dog that ended up at our house had very bad matts and tangled fur, I used children's detangle spray, on it and patiently combed the fur. It worked great and it is inexpensive and you can get it almost anywhere in the hair care section.

I can't seem to get the link in here but if you put hand strip a cairn in the search bar there is a video with a man stripping a Cairn. It has actually been posted on this forum before.

[Lizzie&Addie]

Hey DanielleRose, it is very worthwhile hand-stripping them and worth getting to the Coat Care Day in Sydney, not sure if you are closer to Canberra though? The ladies there are very helpful and our little cairn looked beautiful after being hand stripped thanks to the lovely ladies who helped us on the day and yes you do have to be persistent, they can get very grumpy, you just have to be firm, it doesn't hurt them. When I first started hand stripping, I was worried I might hurt him, but you get used to it and so do they. Hopefully we will get to meet you and Ollie at Coat Care Day at Castle Hill this March.

[Lizzie&Addie]

Oh, just a tip on stripping, make sure that he hasn't been washed in the days or weeks (dare I say) leading up to stripping, much easier to do when they haven't been bathed for a while and yes bathing itself can cause itching and allergies, bathing too often that is, we wash our little fellas only once every few months but brush them every 2nd day or so.

[Rmh283]

I use oatmeal based shampoos for my itchy cairn.  I've also started adding just a small drizzle of olive oil to her food once or twice a week (Breeders reccomendation).  I also feed my dog the science diet so I hope it's really not that bad for her seeing as its expensive. 

[margaretmcdavid]

I'm very familiar with the itchy skin syndrome.  I've had terriers for years, and they all suffered from the same thing--I thought it was just something that came with all terriers.  Until now.  My vet told me to give my Cairn fish oil.  I get GNC triple strength fish oil 1500 and put one capsule on Fergus's food every morning.  His terrier mix pal Willy gets one too, and they both have had very little itching or dry skin.  I take it too.  I have other problems with Fergus's coat--I'm trying to do it myself, with a combination of combing & brushing, Mars King and thinning shears, along with stripping, but that's a topic for another post.  Try the fish oil.  It really helps.

[Hillscreek]

Angus had very dry skin (tho not itchy) when younger. Gave salmon oil. That cured the problem.