A dog's problem. please help!!?

Question

my friend's dog won't stop scratching his ears and eyes. and he also nibbles on his legs.he's really worried that his dog (Jack Russell) might be infected with something. (if you know what the problem is, please tell!!!) the dog scratched too much and his ear got reddish. and whenever he scratches his eyes or ears, he wines. my friend is really worried and so am i. i told him to take the dog to the vet but he can't for some reason. can anyone help??? he really wants to know if there's a treatment that sells in stores. if you know, please tell me what kind of treatment and what store it sells at. and please, DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING THAT WON'T HELP WITH THIS QUESTION!! NO USELESS ANSWERS!!!

Answer 1

I don't believe you can buy a drug that will help the dog anyway but a vet. This sounds like the dog is sick with something or has irritated skin? Ask him why he can't take the dog to the vet and if maybe he can't afford it hopefully you could help him. I feel bad for the dog. No animal should suffer because the owner can't afford it. Hopefully the dog gets the attention he NEEDS. Good Luck!!

Answer 2

You cannot treat it if you don't know what it is.  He really needs to see a vet.  It could be allergies, mange, mites, fungus. What works for one thing will be of no use to the others.  

I don't understand why your friend can't take him to the vet.

No the cone will not help to cure the problem.  It will only help keeping the dog from scratching it and making it worse.

Answer 3

I feel like I am an expert on this or something because I deal with it every day with my cockapoo, Pepper.  He has skin problems which causes him to itch constantly and to nibble at his leg.  It only makes it worse I'm afraid.  Sounds like a skin allergy to me.  I have found by watching at the vet's office and by watching Pep, that flea allergies tend to be solid areas of red irritated skin. More often than not, the fur begins to come out in those areas.  If that is what your friend's dog looks like, he will want to put him on a monthly flea preventative like comfortis.  It is an internal medicine that kills the fleas within 30 min and keeps killing fleas and eggs for 30 days.  Then he will want to consult a groomer, veteranarian, or his local pet store about ways to treat the skin to soothe it.

Pepper doesn't have flea allergies and his breakouts are little sores that come up under the skin.  They are very itchy and he is miserable with them.  He also rubs his eyes, and if he has breakouts inside his ears, he will rub them too.  He takes 5ml of Benedryl 3 times a day.  He weighs 16.6 lbs, if that helps at all with figuring the dosage.  We also changed his food.  We started by feeding him rice with hamburger (cheapest you can find because the grease is good for their skin)-no seasoning. We also added a spoonful of canned unseasoned pumpkin to his food (dogs love pumpkin).  It is a natural stomach soother for dogs. We fed him that for 2-3 weeks to see if there was an improvement (there was), then we switched the protien to chicken.  He had another small breakout, so we are off the chicken and are now trying ground turkey (again, the cheapest there is).  Other good protien sources are tuna in oil.  Other good carb sources are oatmeal and sweet potato.  

You might want to check his ears for infection.  If they have excess buildup in them, and if the ears have a sour smell, it might be an infection.  You would need to go to a vet for that.  

Most vet visits themselves are not horribly expensive.  Our vet specializes in large animals so they don't charge as much for the small ones.  We found that a small animal vet charged way more than the one we use now.  He is awesome with my animals and has even treated them free from time to time.  Also the good thing about vets are that most will tell you if there is an OTC med that you can buy at Walmart instead, and your medicines are given at the time of treatment so you don't have to pay for a visit and then a pharmacy bill too like with children.  

Places like Petco and Petsmart are very knowlegable in pet care and can tell you about many wonderful products that will help your dog be more comfortable.  

I hope this has helped some.

Answer 4

Sounds like allergies. Dogs suffer from them just like people. Itchy skin, runny nose, watery eyes, even ear infections. You can try benedryl, but you really should convince your friend to take the dog to the vet, especially if this just started out of the blue.

Good luck and I hope this helps.  

Answer 5

I wish I had a definitive answer for you, but it sounds like he may be having an allergic reaction to something.  I wonder if you could call a 24-hour pharmacy and ask if there are any safe allergy medications to give to dogs?  A lot of medications we humans use can be used for dogs as well.  I hope the poor thing gets better soon...

Answer 6

The dog is scratching...

Possibilities:

-Fleas

-Skin allergies (due to something in the house, the dogs food, etc)

-Yeast infection in the ears (check for a buildup of debris in the ears)

-Check for hair loss around the eyes and nose, could be (worst case scenario) an auto immune disease. But I doubt it!! Highly.

-Believe it or not, leg nibbling is also a nervous habit some dogs pick up.

But looking at all the other things I'd say first and foremost make sure it's not an allergy to something, be it food or something in the house.

If it persists when you know it's not an allergy and have checked or treated for fleas, go to the vet.

Answer 7

this dog needs a vet, to get tested:if there are no fleas on him, its likely allergies.when you go for a walk and come home, the dog needs to get washed down:the face, and feet.probably allergic to grass, weeds, or trees pollen?

When the itching is very bad, give him a half benadryl.Its people medication, but used for dogs too.

the dog needs to be looked at by a vet, in case it could have some unusual parasite?

Answer 8

No one can help a whole lot with this question since we're not vets and we can't see the dog. There are any number of things that could cause itching. The dog may have one or more of them, no one here can tell which. Some are very minor, some are serious. Some of the things that could cause itching could be treated without medicine, some need medicine only a vet can prescribe. Most any topical treatment you get from a store will treat the symptoms but not the cause of the itching so it might get better temporarily but will come back. The cone won't stop the itching, it will only prevent the dog from scratching. If you had a mosquito bite that itched and you couldn't reach it, would you feel better?

My advice is to take the dog to a vet. That's what I would do, and have done, with my own dog who was itchy.

You will probably consider this a useless answer, but if you want useful answers you must be prepared to ask questions that can be answered usefully, and perhaps take the advice even if it's what you didn't want to hear.

Answer 9

The dog might have allergies or a mite. If he has allergies, he should change the dogs food, and buy his food from the vet, and see if it improves. He might have mites, so your friend should at least call the vet, to find out what he can buy or do. There is no reason why your friend can't bring his dog to the vet, because it is his dog and his responsibilty. But he can try to change the food, if it doesnt work, he should call the vet. That's his last option.

Answer 10

Well my guess is he has flees and maybe in ear infection! I would think that would be it and if thats right then he whines when he scratches because he earittated because how scratchy he is! So just try to tell the vet this!

Answer 11

Well, without knowing what is causing the scratching and itching you can't treat him.  It sounds like it could be allergies, or he might have fleas, or any number of things.  Without knowing what is wrong with the dog, you can't do any OTC treatment.  Take the dog to the vet.