We have a 4 year old German Shepherd who continually scratches and chews on himself. Shepherds are known for having sensitive skin and our dog is a bigger wuss than most. It gets so bad that his entire belly will get infected and you can actually see the bruising on his legs. Now this has been going on the last three winters. We have been to the vet several times. It isn’t mange, mites, fleas, or anything like that. We have pretty much tried every food brand out there because the vet says it could be allergies. Doesn’t help. They of course want us to spend a lot of money to do allergy testing. I personally don’t think he has allergies. He is pretty much an indoor dog, so it isn’t because all of a sudden he is in the house all winter after he was outside all summer. He spends some time outside during the summer and winter, but he doesn’t chew on himself in the summer. It seems like it happens literally once the heat get turned on. I’ve tried to find some info out there but it is very conflicting. You don’t bathe your dog enough. Then another person says you bathe him too much in the next post.
I’m starting to wonder if it could be as simple as our house is too dry and he has dry skin? I’m thinking my humidifier on the furnace stopped working sometime last winter and I haven’t gotten it fixed yet, so maybe that is what is causing the issue since the last two winters the scratching has been worse than the others? I would rather not pay the vet for flippin allergy testing (I can get past the fact he doesn’t have a problem in the summer) and fixing the humidifier really isn’t on my list of things to spend money on right now. But if it helps the dog, then it would be worth it. I’m getting a little tired of yelling at him and putting a cone on him, although that does lead to some comedy. Just wondering if anybody else has dealt with anything like this?
He’s got little pus bubbles all over his snout. It doesn’t really seem to bother him much, but it’s a bit nasty and unsightly.
