hello, my dog won't stop itching her neck it's that bad she scratches till it bleeds there's no lumps, redness to the skin or fleas any idea what it could be
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Hi and thanks for using PetCoach! Sorry to hear about Bex. Itching can be caused by many things and the first things we as vets think about is external parasites including fleas, ticks, mites, others, etc. Even though you may not see any parasites at home your vet may be able to find them hiding somewhere on the body or they have bitten the pet and aren't on them currently. Other reasons include a bacterial infection which can be spontaneous or caused by a lot of things, an acute hot spot which is an area of intense itching that becomes infected since the pet won't stop scratching a particular area on the body, allergies can cause intense itching, ear infections are a big cause of itching at the neck area on dogs or even just an allergic ear canal that hasn't developed at infection yet, insect stings from ants, bees, spiders, among other things. The best thing to do is to get to your vet so they can examine Bex and see what they think the problem is otherwise if she continues to itch that area she will develop an infected area described above as a hot spot. They can examine her neck and ears especially to determine a probable cause. You could try one thing at home and that is bathing that area or the entire dog in a hypoallergenic oatmeal shampoo and leave the lather on for 10 mins at least. Then rinse thoroughly and dry to see if the oatmeal as helped with the itch. You can try antihistamines also but you would need to call your veterinarian for the dose and type. Good luck with Bex. I hope the itch goes away soon.
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Scratching can be caused by various reasons such as fleas, mites ,fungal infection, bacterial infection and allergies. the first 4 needs to be ruled out before we start treating for allergies. in order to do that first de-flea her with a high quality flea treatment such as advantage spot on, if it doesn't help - take her to the vet in order to check for/treat the other possibilities.
If everything is ruled out, then an allergy treatment can be started. Usually an hypoallergenic food is a good way to start together with anti histamines. if it doesn't help - the best solution is a medication called Apoquel which treats allergies with great success and without side effects.
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