The most common reason for a pet’s to visit VetMed are for skin problems. The 2 most common skin problems is lumps (see Cancer diagnosis section) or itchy skin.

Unfortunately flea , air borne, food, and contact allergies as well as mites can all make pets itchy. To diagnose the cause of your pets itchiness Vet Med vets need to take a step by step approach.

First, rule out flea allergy

This done by spraying with Frontline every 2 weeks for a month then monthly or spraying with Permoxin (dogs only) daily for 2 weeks then every week. If cats won't tolerate sprays then advantage spot on every 2 weeks for 1 month then monthly. As well as treating the environment with Program tablets(dogs) Program injection (cats) or flea bombs and cleaning bedding.

Vet Med Vets routinely recheck your pet’s in 2 weeks after the initial flea spray.

Second, rule out mites

Demodex Mite	Sarcoptes Mite

Your Vet Med vet may want to rule out sarcoptes and demodex mites by skin scrapings and trial treatment by weekly injections of ivomec weekly for 4 weeks

Vet Med vets recheck weekly for each injection

Third, treat secondary bacterial and yeast infections

Malessezia under a microscope	Bacteria under a microscope

Your Vet Med Vet may prescribe antibiotics and anti fungal tablets for 3 to 4 weeks to treat secondary infections. Shampooing twice weekly and leaving the shampoo on for 10 minutes is also an excellent way of treating bacterial and fungal diseases.

Lastly, rule out food allergies

If the above allergies have been ruled out (or in conjunction with the above treatments) we next need to rule out food allergy as a cause of your pet’s itchiness. Food allergy can occur even if your pet has been on the same diet for all of their life. To rule out food allergy we need to feed a protein they have never had before or Hills ultra z/d diet for a minimum of 6-8 weeks. This means only feeding the diet prescribed by your Vet Med Vet and water. No treats or bones.

Treating Airborn Allergies

Air borne allergies (Atopy) is diagnosed by ruling out all the above causes of allergies. Atopy usually starts between 1 and 3 years of age in Spring or Summer time and can become non seasonal as our pets get older.

Dust Mite	Pollens	Wander Jew

1. Prednisolone - works in (100%) cases but has long term side effects includeing drinking and eating more, becoming fat and losing muscle tone.
2. Combination of washing in aloveen conditioner (leave on), Omega 3 fatty acids daily with food and antihistamines (as prescribed by Vet Med) works in (40%) cases.
3. Atopica capsules daily for 1 month then trial every 2nd day for the next month then trial every 3 rd day(70% effective).
4. Allergy Testing via intradermal skin testing or blood testing then desensitise (works in 70% of cases) by injections

As you can appreciate diagnosising why pets get itchy skin can be a difficult task. For further information contact your local Vet Med Vet