My Cairn will not stop chewing on himself - please help!

[Guest]

MY Cairn is approx. 11 years old. I have always had a problem during spring and fall with him chewing on his feet and hind-quarters. I have morked with my vet during those times as we both felt it was due to seasonal allergies. This summer he chewed a large patch of fur off his right rump and side while I was at work. Again I did the usuall things through my vet, prednisone, antihistamines, and a dog collar/cone. We have now gone through two rounds of the medication and he is still in his cone/collar. I don't know what to do next if I take him out of the collar he will resume biting immediatly, but I can also tell he is miserable in the collar. Has anyone had a similar experiance with their Cairn. Can you give me any insight into treatment or any other reasons he could be acting this way. At this point it seems more like a compulsive behavior than just his allergies. Please Help!

[bradl]

Have you tried changing the diet for extended period? Many dogs appear to have reactions to things like corn, brewers yeast, chicken, etc. Maybe try discussing food as a possible source with your vet and doing some web searching on itchy dogs and diet. Also, there are a number of health-related contacts who are good with resources and ideas in the Contacts section of the Health Related concerns page of the CTCA home page, or access the page directly by clicking here.

[Guest]

Greetings, I don't raise Cairns but I've determined that I will have one as soon as I can find one locally.

Your question about your dog chewing himself. I have a pet that was doing the exact same thing. She was diagnosed to have arthritis. As long as I keep her on the medication she no longer chews herself. The Vet said it's a dog's natural reaction to arthritis pain.

I hope this helps.

Murchadk

[kidmd]

I have a 2 year old cairn (Scruffy). He recently began the same behaviour this past march. I had his anal glands cleaned out (uuugh!) and it seemed to stop the behaviour then. However, he has recently begun to do it again, just as his coat was beginning to recover (these lil guys coats seem to take forever to grow back). I had his glands cleaned about 2 weeks ago and this time it does not seem to have helped. I really hate the strong antihistamines the vet puts him on, it really causes him to "veg" out ( it sedates the heck out of him!). The diet thing seems interesting. I normally feed him lamb and rice meal based food but will occasionally vary this with chicken and rice meal. I believe this last bout may have begun after I varied to the chicken and rice diet. I am tossing the rest of this food and will go back to his usual lamb and rice meal based food! Maybe the old addage of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" will work here. I will keep ya posted on the progress. BTW i feel for you as this is a terrible thing. Our beautifull lil cairn now has lil bald spots on his rear end again!

IS THIS A COMMON THING AMONG LIL CAIRNS? :?

Also keep me posted if you have any other suggestions!

I think I am going to pull my hair out soon as well! :silly:

[Guest]

Thank goodness is isn't just my dog. I have battled this problem for years and years to no avail. We have tried the medications, special shampoos, allergy shots, special conditioners, restricted access of outdoors, frequent bathes, change of diets...and all I can see is status quo...no improvements. My dog now has bald patches on both sides of her back (near the tail) and the chewing of that area along with the constant licking of her feet continues.

Someone, somewhere must have found a solution or at least a means to deal with this sort of problem.

I'm about at wits end. Anyone that can lend some insight to this and help relieve some of the discomfort my dogs has...I'm all ears. Thanks.

[raidercte]

Our dog has been pulling out the hair on his tail. He has done this over a somewhat long period of time (month). I thought he was just playing chase the tail but since it has been over a long period of time I did not realize what was really going on. I have never seen any ticks or fleas, and is on the monthly preventive drops for them. Does anyone know how I can try and diagnose what the problem is? He only pulls the over coat not the under coat.

[Guest]

Two things seem to have helped when my 3 yr old Cairn started chewing his hair off. I gave him a food that is all natural chicken and rice with no preservatives ( can be found at higher end food stores) and now have discovered "Pro Plan" has a new food for sensitive skin and sensitive stomach. It seems to be working well too. BUt that's all he gets. No table scraps or treats. They defeat the purpose.

We also have periodically tried steroids, benadryl and oatmeal shampoo. They all work for short periods of time.

I also bought a shampoo with tea tree oil for itcy skin which he loves. He literally runs to the tub to get in.

Good luck!

[Guest]

My guess would be it's a food allergy. My cairn does this whenever he gets into cat food or cat litter.

[Mary42]

Hi

Well, this may sound odd but, I have given my dog the 50 mg of over the counter benedryl and then put her in a "onesie". If youdon't know what that is, it is a little all in one garment for infant babies. You cut a hole in it for the tail then snap up like it is on a baby. I am not sure if it is accumulation of body heat or what but, she stops scratching and gets some relief.

This really works....besides, what have you got to lose?