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Itching Basenji!

Basenji Health Issues & Questions
  • for the last 3 days my girl has been acting pretty strange… a little more wild than normal (but in spurts) and constantly nibbling and scratching herself on her tail,back, and neck.

    Ive looked for flees/bug bites/dandruff and cant find anything unusual. After one day i bathed her in oatmeal bath and conditioned her with the stuff ive used for 3years. that lasted for about one day(no itch) and AGAIN last night she was back to scratching.

    ALSO this may be unrelated but, it was raining when we went to work (5:15am)(pouring) and of course she would not pee..... after multiple (me getting soaked) attempts and bribes. we had to go to work. when i came home at 2:30pm she wouldnt go pee again and still would pee untill about 5pm and i couldnt find pee anywhere...no where (serached for hours and then reserched)

    kinda weird right? but she peed this morning but the itching was kinda bad again... i sprayed her with conditioner spray.....and came to work
    any ideas?

    why would she be scratching herself so much? she had her advantax both this and last month even though we live in non wooded area and it cold (maryland) ..... i cant find anything shes itching at!!!!

  • nobody? nothing? I went home last night ansd she was at it again…. i gave her bennadyl ..... i looked in all her fur again and again and no bites or bumps.

    Is dry skin common without dandruff? i hate that she is itchy :( i feel bad telling her to stop itching.

  • There has been a significant weather change inthe past week or two. When it gets cold like that everything dries out. She may have dry skin because of the weather without shedding skin. Do you feed a raw egg occasionally? This helps AJ when his skin gets a little dry.

  • I would see if adding some salmon oil or raw egg like AJsHuman wrote wouldn't help her dry skin. Otis is really itchy now as well and he is not flakey, so I guess itchy does'nt have to mean dandruffy..we have the heat on down here in Houston and it really dries our humid air out, so skins are bound to get dry..even dogs.
    Itching can also mean that she is allergic to something like her food or an ingerdient in her food, little things can be enough to wreck havoc on dogs systems..what does she eat? I know chicken is very commonly associated with itchy coats (if the dog has an allergy to it), as well as some if not all grains..in some dogs..others do great on grains. Even if she has been on the same food for long, sometimes it takes a long while for allergies to show up, it is cumulative in nature so it builds up slowly over time..

    I hope you find an answer to her problems..poor girl, keep us updated.

  • If it gets really bad, you might need a vet visit.

  • If it is dry skin from temp change maybe try a fish based food. I've been feeding mine fish based food for their winter rotation for 2 years now and my b kids rarely have dry skin in the winter now.

  • :( im taking kiro to the vet today… on saturday night she was acting erratic... she would lay down and then JUMP up and run up stairs and then back down... seriously scary! she very rarley leaves the room im in, but she would run around like we were playing but not in a "fun" way more like she haerd something scary!!! The she slept not in my bed, not in her bed, but in the closet all night long!!!!!
    she was acting scared and whimpering.... i did everything i could to make a calm enviroment and the next morning she was fine!

    last night i noticed weird bruise like marks in her ear.... but she has been itching alll over..so now im really upset! im waiting for the vet to call me this morning. In her right ear (left in picture) she has tiny purple marks that look like bruises.. no puss, no odor, very strange.. i have notice her scrathing that ear more than the other.

    any ideas? her health is always very important to me but with wedding planning and christmas i dont have extra money for random test at the vet!!!! I cant seem to find her symptoms anywhere.....

    we ate fish (talapia on monday and tuesday last week and i gave her some of that, i wonder if that was a problem? I have put olive oil in her food twice now.... man :(

  • trying to post pictures..takemn from phone kinda blurry
    attachment_p_96949_0_kiro-ear.jpg
    attachment_p_96949_1_kiro-head-shot.jpg

  • the more i look into this i think she has ear mites.. its said that they can go on skin and coat too.. and she would be itching her neck back and tail (which she is)

    I feel like a terrible mother! she has been shaking her head for month but it wasnt frequent enough to worry me…. I remeber when it became more frequent but i thought i needed to clean her ears... i had the pet smart people clean them but all they did was rub a cotton ball in them for 2 seconds... POOR baby.... no wonder shes erratic! If its not mite then im really lost

  • It could also be a skin fungus.

  • Let us know what the vet says.

  • Buddy is really itchy in the last week with a rash all over his stomach. He was up in the middle of the night licking and chewing. I gave him some COD liver oil in addition to the salmon oil in his dinner but it seemed worse last night. I think once that saliva gets on there the bacteria just gets worse and it's a battle of keeping it clean.

  • the vet ran a blood test… $137 later.... nothing... she has no idea why she has little bruise like marks in her ear or why she acted erratic or why shes biting at her tail!!!!!!

    i came home last night and she had hives and welts on her whole right side (side with the ear) She acted like it hurt her!!!! i gave her a benndryl and it cleared up immed...

    now i wonder do i take her in again for a couple hundred dollars more of test or just watch closley???

    so many strange symptoms... the ear is very weird looking.. she looked inside and said there was no mites.

  • Hives? And Benadryl cleared it up.? Sounds like she might be allergic to something. Look for anything that has been added to her environment recently…new laundry detergent, fabric softener, even the Christmas tree if you have one. (Not that your house isn't clean) but are there insects in the house that weren't there before? It's hard to nail down allergies because the hives can show up hours after exposure to the allergen.

    The bruising in the ear might be from aggressive scratching. It's difficult to tell in the photos. Hope your girl feels better soon...:(

  • It's most likely a yeast infection. They get it in the ears quite often. Buddy has a yeast infection right now on his stomach.

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