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Scratch my belly, please
Unfortunately, Chihiro’s health saga has continued. At least nothing is so wrong with her that we need to take her to the vet or spend a lot of money, but it’s annoying that we have to keep treating her for various maladies. At least I can blog about her troubles to share tips with you should any of your dogs ever have similar problems.
Chihiro’s always been an itchy dog. Early this year the vet confirmed that she has an inverted vulva, a disorder that’s apparently somewhat common with mixed breed dogs. That means she has some of the parts on the outside that ought to be on the inside, and moisture will build up in them leaving her feeling itchy and wanting to lick herself a lot.
There’s no preventative treatment for the inversion. Sometimes if the dog is allowed to go into heat the problem fixes itself. If it doesn’t, or if the dog is spayed before she goes into heat, nothing can be done. All we can do is apply a prescription cream we obtain from the vet to temporarily alleviate the itching. We apply the cream about once a week, sometimes more if it really bothers her.
But we’ve known about that problem since February. In September we noticed Chihiro scratching and licking herself much more than ever before; she scratched or licked all over her body, not just her bottom.
She did a bit of paw-licking before, something the vet said was likely a symptom of the frequent allergies to grass dogs experience. That can be treated with Benadryl or by wiping off the dog’s paws after it comes inside. But she’d never licked her paws to the degree she was doing it now.
After ruling out the possibility of fleas, we spoke to lifelong dog-owning relatives who suggested Chihiro might have a yeast problem. That seemed likely after the infection in her ears this summer. We did some internet research, and decided to purchase products that might help Chihiro should she have a yeast issue. They wouldn’t hurt her if we were wrong, but if we were right they would really help.
If we’ve guessed correctly, then the problem likely stems from the August infection on her nose. Although she needed strong antibiotics to prevent any major health problems coming from the infection, it turns out that the downside is those same antibiotics wiped her body clean of all good bacteria as well.
Just like with humans, dogs have good bacteria in their bodies that help them fight off the bad. Because Chihiro now has none left, it seems she has nothing to help her fight a yeast buildup that’s causing all the itchiness.
So we bought Chihiro probiotic treats and probiotic powder. She gets one treat before a meal once a day, and then for her weight class we give her a quarter teaspoon of the powder with her food. These help reintroduce good bacteria into her system.
Chihiro scratches herself a lot less, so it seems that the probiotics are a success. We want to wait for longer, however, to see if the problem really goes away. We also bought two special shampoos we’re currently testing to further help her foot itching. Stay tuned in the future for a final report on the probiotics, and our conclusion about which shampoo helped Chihiro, thus aiding us in a further diagnosis.
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