i'm the one who had the dog with some scabby, manky thing near her ear for those who remember me and i also talked about her 'itching' a lot but we said we'd save that for another time.
mankiness has been successfully dealt with 
itching:
over the last week or so the dog has developed dandruff like flakes around the base of her back. it may have been connected to applying frontline but no similar reaction on the back of her neck where the other half of it went. mind you she wouldn't be able to itch that as much i guess.
simultaneously she became very smelly. again. could be coincidental through having rolled in something.
i've just given her a bath, only used infacare in the water and applied a small amount of a very low percentage antifungal type shampoo (prescribed for a baby so i'm fairly confident ok for a year old lab) to her back and left it on for a couple of minutes before thoroughly rinsing it all off.
oh also to add (for those who remember my last thread) that she has come out of season fine and the incontinence disappeared so was definitely that - thanks be!).
not sure what i'm asking.
i'm going to take her to the vets in january. it will be a year since she had her shots so she'll be due a booster and i'm going to ask the vet to have a look at her and ask questions of course about the scratching etc.
have established there is no irritants in her food (autarky-salmon) and have stopped giving her treats other than rawhide chews in case they had anything nasty in them.
any advice? sorry if this is all a bit incoherent.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
me and my lab again!
SantaIsAnAnagramOfSatan · 27/12/2011 10:16
Obviously as the other sensible posters have not turned up.......
You are asking questions about the health of your dog (again) and an ongoing problem on a forum where non of use can see or smell the dog and you are surprised to be advised to see a vet
.
How on earth can we diagnose over the internet - you have health concerns - see a vet.
Skin complaints can be from numerous causes, as can a smelly dog - it may be nothing, but the only people that can advise are vets.
smell + bath = non smelly dog
actually there are posters on here with a wealth of experience on what can cause allergies, scratching etc in an animal and practical ways of working things out.
the again snipe seems to imply i am neglectful of my dog - my dog had a cut of some kind, people were able to advise on here very helpfully and a phonecall to the vets assured me the advice was good and i could take care of things at home the way i was doing.
as for allergies well much as with humans there don't tend to be magic answers that a vet can conjur simply for being an expert. and i'm willing to bet the vet will say much the same. i perhaps should have worded my OP better so as to get advise from those who are experienced in dealing with dogs that scratch.
what 'we' you are on about i don't know - only you here and actually last time the people i spoke with were extremely helpful whereas you seem to just wish to imply i'm a neglectful owner for not rushing my dog to the vets for being a bit itchy do you have children?
No where at all have I said you are a neglectful owner - you are definitely jumping to conclusions.
I have 5 children
I have 5 dogs + 3 foster dogs not sure of the relevance though
I did not suggest rushing your dog to the vet BUT as this is the second scratchy query you have posted thought it would be a good idea to get a professional opinion.
You have made a few assumptions that show you do not understand allergies in dogs however no big deal to me.....
No definitely not 
God do I sound like ???.......really sorry that was not my intention and I do not usually make things kick off.
Ok lets start again.
If the smell went with a bath fantastic - I missed that bit. A dog changing its odour can be indicative of some medical conditions eg infected anal glands or an infection etc, hence my caution.
If your dog is very itchy - the only way to find if it is an allergy would be tests (which cost a fortune and are not always reliable)
I would be careful about putting anything on the skin until you had worked out if it were an allergy.
Re food dogs can find anything an irritant so it could still be the food even if there are no obvious allergic ingredients.
However once all of the above is ruled out then she may just need more oil in her diet or a good brush or she could have lost a bit of condition due to her season etc
Where is she scratching? Is it all over, or in a particular place? Ears for example?
And has the bath cured the smell?
Has she always been a smelly girl?
At the moment, if the scurfiness is confined to just the back of her neck, I'd ignore it.
What do you wash her bed in?
The food she's currently on does have prairie meal in it which is a maize by product - gluten in other words which is a common allergen. But it's not in fish4dogs so could well not be the problem.
What is her normal poo routine? Form and frequency?!
Minimu's advice is always fabulous! She 'knows' dogs and has been helping people on here for quite a while with no agenda.
Have just noticed OP says she's hidden the thread. 
hope not.
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