Save Your Dog Before He Scratches Himself to Death!
What Causes Dog Scratching
There are many reasons why your dog would scratch. Instead of fixing the fruit on the trees, fix the root of the problem. Before you can stop that stubborn itch, you got to figure out what’s causing the itch.
Neurogenic – This is caused by licking excessively and chewing. This is usually caused when your pet doesn’t have enough exercise or mental stimulation. This can also be due to separation anxiety.
Infections – This is one of the most common reasons for dog scratching and it is usually caused by yeast, bacteria, or fungi. What you need to do is look for greasy sores, patches that are hairless or red swelling.
Allergenic – Many types of allergies can make your dog scratch too much such as food allergies, flea allergies, plant and dust allergies, and other types of allergies that can cause skin problems.
Nutritional – When your pet doesn’t have the right nutrients in their body, they can get dry skin, develop eczema, and sores, or can have dry hair that can lead to scratching.
Environmental – did you know that too much water, like from swimming, digging, or playing outside can cause scratching as well?
Parasites – Parasites can cause itching as well and that includes ticks, fleas, gnats, and mites. There are medications though that can stop parasites.
As the example given above, you need to first determine why these dogs scratch in the first place before you can make your dog stop scratching.
Visiting Your Veterinarian
If you want to know where the scratching behavior came from then you need to visit your vet and have your dog checked. If it is then you need to treat it with antihistamines and change your dog’s diet. Parasites can be treated by giving your dog flea baths and medication.
How to Deal with Neurogenic Scratching
When you are training your dog to stop scratching, it would be hard to do especially if it is caused by neurogenic. The other issues that have been shown can be treated if you have shifts in diet, medication or you can change your exercise routines. If your dog is scratching because of this, you need to know why your dog has the urge to continuously scratch his skin.
The first thing that you can do is to make sure your dog has enough exercise. Most of the time your pet is just bored and has developed a neurotic tick to scratch himself. You can stop your dog’s boredom by averting the behavior. What you can do is apply bitter apple spray or cayenne pepper spray on the spot where your dog loves to lick or scratch.
A cone is also helpful and you can get one from your vet. It won’t allow your dog to reach those itching spots. When your dog has stopped trying to scratch himself and has a more active exercise routine, you can make them return to their activities and have the cone removed.
You should visit the vet when your dog continues to scratch to make sure that it can rule out any other types of physical ailments. You may not know but infections can grow and thrive in your dog.
