Scratch That!

No we aren’t talking about “striking out” an error in the text of this post!  I wish it were that easy to fix.  We are puppy parents to two VERY itchy Ciao Hounds!

(Scratch, Scratch, Scratch)  “Jersey!!!” I beg.  “Please stop!!” 

(Chomp, Chomp, Chomp)  “Jazz!!!!!” I plead with every ounce of empathy I can muster…..”Stop digging”!  These are the constant cries in our house lately!  So who is more irritated?   As parents we are watching our pups dig and scratch with every ounce of their being! Our poor pups are dealing with this mystery condition the only way they know how….bite, lick, chomp, scratch and swipe their face on the sofa or carpet!  They roll in the grass with a seemingly grin on their face as the rough ground grinds at whatever is causing this uncomfortable condition.  Relief, no matter how temporary, has been found.  Oh but within minutes we are back to begging them to stop biting and gnawing at themselves again!  So, with the swift search of the internet we start the process of elimination to relieve these poor creatures of this problem….and restore some sense of peace to our normally calm environment!

FLEAS: The obvious culprit right?   No of course not!  Not a single sign of evidence of an infestation on the pooch’s or in the yard!  And they are both protected by flea treatments on a regular basis so no self respecting flea would want Jersey or Jazz as a host. This brings us to the next possible cause;

FLEA ALLEGIES:  I know….we thought the same thing!  Of course every living warm blooded beast is allergic to fleas….humans included!  But we learned that it’s not the flea itself that causes the allergy. It’s the saliva from the flea after being bitten which causes the itching response. Now we evaluate the environment. We have a yard that is overflowing with a supply of bunny rabbits! Next to squirrels, bunnies just happen to be Jersey’s favorite chase target! Both species also are the perfect host for a flea circus!  Now we are wondering….is it possible that these wild fleas could hop on our pups for a bite and decide they don’t like the flavor….only just long enough to deposit enough irritating saliva to get our poor pooches scratching? Well, it’s a bit far fetched but we haven’t ruled out the possibility just yet.

SEASONAL ALLERGIES:  There’s no common denominator here either!  Jazz tends to do this type of scratching about the same time each year.  However, Jersey usually gets itchy in the heart of winter, which I contribute to the dry, stale air forced through the house by the dusty furnace.  With each having different seasonal conditions, we are still at a loss!  Jazz could be allergic to pollen where scratching is the equivalent to sneezing and watery eyes. Jersey could be allergic to dust which would explain the winter time reaction. But wait, we are still dealing with both at the same time right now!

MIMIC BEHAVIOR:  We have noticed that Jersey scratches less when she isn’t in the company of Jazz.  Could it be that she is just mimicking his behavior?  After all, he does get attention when he’s scratching and biting. Although not necessarily positive attention, our pups don’t seem to mind so long as you make eye contact and identify them by name. They seem to look at each other as if to say “See….I told you so!!   Mom likes me best!”

FOOD ALLERGIES:  Yes it is very possible that our pups are reacting to a change in environment, food and even schedule.  We noticed above that Jersey is less active when away from Jazz.  But what we also remembered is that they each eat a different brand of food. We used to keep a separate feeding station for each but Jazz….being the piggy that he is…..would just go eat Jersey’s food. Although Jersey preferred her own, she would nibble at his food bowl occasionally. With this behavior becoming more and more frequent we opted to just have one feeding area and chose Jazz’s brand for both. This is also about the same time we noticed an increase in itching and biting by Jersey. 

COURSE OF ACTION:  Being that we have so many possible contributors, we decided to start with the most obvious. The food!  This week we chose to replace Jazz’s brand with Jersey’s. We are only about 48 hours into the test but I think I see an improvement in Jersey. At least we were able to sleep last night without the constant “jingle” of her collar! Jazz’s condition remains unchanged but he thinks he’s getting a treat in the change of flavor!

We started this experiment with the best possible skin condition and treated each pooch to a nice oatmeal bath.  Just like most pups, Jersey and Jazz do not appreciate the benefits of a nice long bath until after they are released. They did settle down for a few hours but an oatmeal bath only provides temporary relief. Hopefully the food change will do the trick!