Why is my dog so itchy?!

My name is Clare and I have an itchy dog. 

Having an allergy dog and being on the internet is like joining a support group. Unfortunately the support group has thousands of members who are all talking over the top of each other, and it's run by a brain surgeon, a yoga teacher or a shady salesman, depending on which day you attend. And each one runs the group for a different issue, with a different solution.  

My point - delivered by way of esoteric metaphor, as usual - is that there is no one size fits all approach to allergies, because there are infinite combinations of environmental, genetic, geographical, economic, nutritional and personal factors that inform the suitable diagnostic and treatment pathway for your dog (and you). 

When you've been battling an itchy dog for years, who starts to get better but then seemingly out of nowhere gets worse again; when you think you've finally pinpointed the trigger, and they flare up without being exposed to it - it is incredibly frustrating. You feel like you're failing your dog and it's so easy to reach for the Cytopoint. 

And you know what? You do you. There's no one right way or wrong way to approach this, and whatever you do it should be under the guidance of a supportive vet. So while I certainly don't endorse the "medicate and forget" approach to dog allergy symptoms, the first thing I will say is that I have given my itchy dog two Cytopoint injections. And I have zero regrets, because without them I'm not sure I would ever have gotten her to the point she is at today - which is comfortable. 

What I wouldn't do is give them to her forever, without addressing the underlying cause of her itchiness and repairing her skin barrier. But pharmaceutical intervention can be diagnostic, and it can give your dog an opportunity to heal. In Pip's case, it did exactly this, in that order. 

Pip started getting itchy a few years ago, around the time my human child started eating (and dropping) solid food. She was itchy, red and, after a while, yeasty. Sunny ate a lot of toast and pasta, neither of which Pip had ever eaten with any sort of regularity before, so yeast seemed like an obvious possible culprit. We followed this path for so long that ultimately we decided (briefly) that she had developed a hypersensitivity to yeast, including the natural yeast her own body produces. This was, frankly, kind of a nightmare diagnosis. My dog is allergic to her own skin? Beam me up, Scotty. 

It was proving so difficult to find her any relief and she was so inflamed that we weren't even able to give her the medicated baths we were supposed to give her periodically because they hurt too much. Her diet had been stripped back to a single protein, we'd tried so many supplements, worked on her gut - you name it, we tried it. We are maybe a year in at this point when my (very holistically minded) vet suggested we give her a shot so she can have a break from it, and I reluctantly obliged. 

It was fantastic. Almost overnight her symptoms completely vanished, and she was her old self again. We got 6 good months out of one hit and I thought she was fixed forever. Alas, she wasn't. As quickly as it had resolved, one day without warning her itching returned with a vengeance. It caught me off guard and I guess in that time I'd gotten pretty lazy with the management of her symptoms (because she didn't have any!), on account of chasing a now bipedal toddler 24/7. 

Back to the vet - and this part is why I don't regret giving her a short term fix. You see the thing about Cytopoint is that it doesn't work on ALL causes of itching - and one thing it won't fix is yeast sensitivities. The fact that Pip responded so well to the medication meant that this was not the underlying cause of her symptoms. She had most likely developed a secondary yeast issue due to her impaired skin barrier, which was then very difficult to resolve for the same reason.

We had already ruled out contact dermatitis due to the spread of her redness and itching ie. it wasn't in the usual places you would see contact allergies (it was bloody everywhere!). And we'd ruled out food by way of an elimination diet - as well as the fact that food is what I know best, and it just really didn't seem to be triggered by food. Vibes, basically. 

That left one culprit; the allergy final boss. Atopic dermatitis. Essentially dog hayfever. 

In my vet's defence, she did suggest this as a possibility from the beginning, but atopic dermatitis is something you can really only diagnose through elimination, and I am the kind of person that needs answers, so it's very difficult for me to treat something unless I know for certain I am treating the actual problem. As a result, I sort of half treated a bunch of different problems in an effort to work it out. And that's my bad, but I think testament to the fact that this shit is really difficult to work out, even if you work in the natural pet space. 

Because we had gotten slack on the preventative care while she was medicated, she relapsed badly and after a while of trying to get it under control naturally, we opted for another round of medication. Again, no regrets. We did this specifically so we could repair her skin barrier over winter, so she was in the best possible shape for Spring and Summer when possible allergens would be prolific. We did all the things we were supposed to do the first time around, and I'm so glad we did, because this shot lasted a fraction of the length of the first one. 

And it worked. She still gets itchy - she always will be to an extent because she's probably a bit inbred, she probably has a bit of a dodgy immune system from bad breeding, and she's ginger - but she's nowhere NEAR as itchy as she was, she's not red and scabby, her fur has grown back, she hasn't had a hotspot in months, she's not shedding constantly, she doesn't smell like corn chips and she doesn't leave a waxy residue on your hands when you pat her anymore.    

If you were hoping this article would be a guide for how to diagnose your itchy dog, sorry to disappoint. I can't tell you what will work for you because every dog and every environment is different, and I don't want to add to the noise of everyone shouting over the top of each other. The point of this is more to express my solidarity, and validate how challenging this experience is. But you can do it, it just takes time and patience.

One thing I do swear by for Pip is our Heavy Metal Duo, which adds lots of anti-inflammatory EPA/DHA omega-3 fatty acids and supports the immune system with herbs that have anti-histamine properties. Regardless of the source of their itching, supporting your itchy dog's overall health by removing things from their life that don't help - like low quality food and exposure to environmental triggers - is the best thing you can do for them. Support their gut health and work to heal their skin barrier to prevent secondary infections and lessen the impact of flare ups.

It's a long road and it's a lot of work, but it pays off and it does get easier with consistency.