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Scratching and Bare Skin

Basenji Health Issues & Questions
  • etzbsederE

    Medjai always scratches all the time. I don't give him any treatments for fleas or ticks, but I don't think he has any parasites, he just scratches a lot. My question regarding this is How would I know if he had a parasite causeing him to scratch?

    I have also realized that all four of his knees/elbows have lost of layers of dead skin and when I help with the flaking skin, he ends up having small bald patches and I wasn't sure if it's just part of him becoming an adult or if there is some other reason.

    Any Ideas?

    Michael Feldman
    Mesa, AZ

    Chaverim Basenjis

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  • lvossL

    Itchy, flaky skin is not normal. What are you feeding Medjai?

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  • etzbsederE

    Right now, I just ran out of Royal Canin, so he's on Iams.

    Michael Feldman
    Mesa, AZ

    Chaverim Basenjis

    0
  • DukeD

    @etzbseder:

    Medjai always scratches all the time. I don't give him any treatments for fleas or ticks, but I don't think he has any parasites, he just scratches a lot. My question regarding this is How would I know if he had a parasite causeing him to scratch?

    I have also realized that all four of his knees/elbows have lost of layers of dead skin and when I help with the flaking skin, he ends up having small bald patches and I wasn't sure if it's just part of him becoming an adult or if there is some other reason.

    Any Ideas?

    You should take Medjai to the vet. They can take a do a scraping to determine if he has mites. Your description sounds exactly what Duke had last year - on his elbow, knees and ears and he scratched alot. It was a mange mite. If not treated, dogs can lose all their fur. They gave him a shot, Ivermectin. Is Medjai on heart worm prevention?

    Jill

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  • luzmery928L

    Yes I agree that you should take your B to the vet. It can also be severe allergies which my B had.

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  • MantisM

    if you see baldness on pressure points on the legs and arms it is probably from sitting on a floor vs. a padded bed. When we adopted our rescue, she had lots of bald spots from her cage.

    You may also want to switch to a non soap dog shampoo to help with the skin.

    I have also found that fish oil on the food can help with flakey skin as well.

    A vet can steer you in the right direction.

    Caesar and Cairo….the boys

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  • MaxBooBooBearM

    A visit to the vet will be worthwhile. Skin problems can be difficult to resolve. My two actually have a dermatologist now that my vet referred me to to try to figure out why their skin isn't clearing up after two months of treatment. My regular vet did skin scrapings to check for things like mites (which they don't have). Mine are getting more skin scrapings next week to be cultured to see what exact bacteria is there and check for something like ringworm.

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