My dogs are scratching a lot even though both have flea/tick collar? Will an oatmeal bath help?

Question

I reside in Michigan and both dogs are overall healthy. I looked at their skin, no rashes, inflamed areas or redness....bugs..etc..

Answer 1

They could just have dry skin. If its the dry skin, oatmeal baths will help (we use the dog shampoo w/ oatmeal in it)
Also for dry skin putting a little pure olive oil in their food (just a little) will help.

Also, for the flea and tick collar, I know that my dogs skin got a little irritated when we used them. So we started using Sentinal which is a monthly heart guard that also kills flea eggs.. So its a preventative measure. It wont kill adult fleas but it will make it so they cant reproduce.

Answer 2

The flea collar is not good for the dog nor for you. It has poison that all of you come into contact with. Try Advantage. Works better, probably safer.
Could be your food. Try a good quality dog food from a pet shop rather than the grocery store. A lot of scratching is due to allergies or poor nutrition. Some, most, pet foods have a lot of ingredients that aren't good for the dog and are used to fill up the food and the dog, not to provide good nutrition. Canadae or Innova are great. Can make a big difference. It's more economical in the long run altho it looks more expensive when you first buy it. Dogs will eat less, poop less and have fewer vet issues.
Could be dry skin. Do you give a lot of baths? Frequent bathing will dry out the skin because it strips out the natural oils. Oatmeal soap is good. Maybe add a little oil to the food. Use just 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon full at first, gradually can increase it so it doesn't upset their digestion. Cold pressed flax oil is good, fish oil OK.

Answer 3

Flea collars work great.... only around the neck. Other than that they are useless. The vast majority of dogs are allergic to flea saliva, and once they are bitten they errupt in an overall itchiness that they can't scratch away. They don't usually show a redness or a rash, they just itch. Go to your vet and purchase either Frontline TopSpot or Advantix. You can also give your dogs over the counter Benedryl. The dosage of diphenhydramine is 1 mg per pound, so make sure you buy the tablets. If your dog weighs 25lbs, the tabs of Benedryl come in 25mg. If you can't handle basic math, ask your vet about it and they will issue you some benedryl at double the cost.

Answer 4

Have you had your dog tested for allergies? Dry skin patches and constant scratching could be caused by food allergies. It also could be fleas, your vet should be able to recommend a good flea preventative treatment if he's not already on one. Your dog may also have hot spots which are only treatable with medications. If your dog has a long thick coat (you didn't say what breed), a hot spot won't be so noticeable, check the dogs skin closely for any type of rash that may be irritating the dog.

Answer 5

Try not to do a flea collar. Go with Actual flea drops from the vet. Also try getting a spray/dust for the carpet.
An oatmeal bath can help, but make sure you wash your dog off compleatly - otherwise any left over soap residue will make him itch even more.
If that doesnt work, try taking him to the vet - maybe he as an allergy?

Answer 6

No it won't - but proper flea treatment will!

Get that collar off your dogs. They're the most useless things in the world - very likely your dogs have fleas. Can you see little black specks in their fur (flea dirts)? It's the flea dirts you want to look for, they're far easier to find than the actual fleas.

Get some proper flea treatment, like Frontline or Advantage, from a vets please.

Chalice

Answer 7

Well my dog used to have mites. Eveyone has a mites in their skin which is normal, but they get the skin problem when the mites overbreed and they start to infest the skin. We took my dog to the vet and they diagnosed the problem. She's better now. You should see the vet because if that's what it is you want to catch it soon or else at a certain point it's uncurable. A flea collar wouldn't help.

Answer 8

Flea collars are bad.... they make alot of pets sick, if you haven't seen any signs of fleas, they might have an allergy.... Both of my dogs got an allergic reaction from pet fresh carpet cleaner.... benadryl was what we started with, and then the vet prescribed a steriod for a few weeks.... both are better now... and I'll never use pet fresh again :-)

Answer 9

i agree with poster #1 flea collars do not work and they can sometimes be unhealthy for the dog. you should look into topical flea medication like frontline or advantage. you can get them otc without a prescription.

Answer 10

Flea collars do not work. If they dogs have fleas, get Advantage or Frontline to get rid of the lfeas.