Re: Flea Bite Allergy/Hot Spots, low energy

[Lena]

Skin is one of the most difficult things to treat. I often joke that it is harder to treat then cancer and more frustrating. The other thing I have found is that it can take a long time and a lot of ups and downs in the difficult cases. If it is a long term issue I find it will often take a year of careful herbal adjustments to make things better.

If there is a severe flea allergy I turn to the western drugs such as Advantage. I just have found that the natural stuff doesn’t cut it in the dogs where one flea bite sends them over the edge.

Some things to talk to your vet about if you haven’t tried them yet.

-raw diets can sometimes help more than a cooked or canned meal

-Nettles at high dosages of alcohol based tincture can help both long term and in many dogs have an immediate reduction of itch. I dose my dogs on nettles at 0.4ml per 10lb per dose given four times a day, this is much higher than many vets use.

-There is a neat little formula called Qing Ying Tang that I almost always start with for dogs that are severely itchy. It has to fit the case so this would be something to ask your vet about. Usually there is a lot of heat in the pulse/tongue and the dogs that need this formula can not go more than a minute or less without itching.

-If these guys are severely itchy I often will put them on a low dose steroid while we are working with natural therapies and then wean them off as they become less itchy. There is not anything strong enough herbally to stop the itch and some of these guys really need that relief.

Jox sounds like he is a chronic damp heat dog with blood deficiency which has become more pronounced as he has aged, but hard to judge that from a distance.