German Shepherd dog

 i'll try to make this as short as possible...i would appreciate any advice or opinions.  i have a 15 month old male, i feed him an all raw diet and supplements, he is in good shape except for a few things that i've noticed.  he's a house dog, no outside kennel.  i'm going to try to take him to the vet in a few days, but would like some input from you guys first.

1.  he's been itching like crazy lately, i noticed it a little into winter.  i'm trying to do an elimination diet because i think it may have something to do with too much chicken or beef.  i took him to the dermatologist, big waste of time and money.  did not get a skin allergy test, but the vet said he may have scabies...didn't find anything from the skin scrape, but told me to put him on revolution.  i do not want to put him on a chemical cocktail.  background info:  the fur on the outside perimeters of his ears looks a little thin, was red before, now just dry and fur seems to be coming in again.  2 or 3 tiny spots with no fur on the edges.  also has a bare spot on the outside corner of one eye.

2.  he had a dark scab on his head (between eye and ear), i though he may have gotten scratched when playing with the puppy.  i tried peroxide, neosporine, otomax, and biocane...scab was there for a while, but i just noticed that it's not really there anymore.  instead, where the scab was, there is now a black patch of skin.  it seems a little thicker or raised, but i can't tell.  really small spot, and he can't sit still.

3.  i noticed he has a black patch of skin on his ...ehhem...family jewels, i don't want to embarrass him too much.   i remember he had it a while ago, but then it almost disappeared, and now it's back.  the skin seems to be thicker there, black and a little wrinkly.  

sorry for the long post.  i would greatly appreciate any advice.  i was trying to do some research, but it seems like every damn disease has the same set of symptoms.  so i don't know if any of this is normal, or will go away on it's own, or if it's something i should start worrying about, or if i'm just a hypochondriac now.

thanks again 

 thank you hodie, i appreciate your post.  i guess i just want to be sure before i start pouring pesticides all over my dog.  scabies is supposed to be highly contagious, correct?  no one else in the house is itching, and the other dog is totally fine.  i also have doubts because this woman was trying to sell me everything she had in her office, all types of shampoos, pills, creams, etc.  she would sell her mother for a dollar if given the chance.

would scabies cause the dark spots on the skin?

 uvw,

Canine scabies is highly contagious and can affect humans as well as dogs. Since your other dog seems fine, I would wonder about that as well. But there are other kinds of mites and perhaps you misunderstood her or she called it that when she meant another type of mite might be present.

It sounds as if you have no faith in this vet. My suggestion would be to find one in whom you do have some faith. Skin problems are very difficult to solve. On this board, normally someone will jump in and suggest it is an allergen in the kibble being fed and try to convince one to feed raw. I am not one of those people. But since you are already feeding raw, then people will have to come up with something else. What are the supplements you give, for example? 

In the meantime, you could try giving the dog some sort of allergy medicine like benadryl, but that will make the dog sleepy initially and usually people and dogs get used to one dose so one must use higher doses. You seem opposed to medicines but I might even try a course of antibiotics and some anti-inflammatory over a short period if it is really bad.

Again, there is really not enough information here to help you. We don't know where you live. Carpet and laundry soaps can cause itching. The black patches could be important, maybe not. How often do you bathe the dog? Does he ever get wet? What type of coat does he have?

Other inhalants in the house could be the culprit.  He may be getting to warm, sweating and that provides an optimum breeding ground for the wrong bacteria which results in itching and perhaps a skin infection etc. etc. etc.

Without looking at the dog, there is not much any of us can do. What I can tell you is that if you start changing things, do so one at a time and let that change stay for at least 3-4 weeks. Generally people start changing things and many things at a time and next thing one knows, it can be almost impossible to figure out what the real problem is.

 thanks guys for your posts.  just to answer a few of your questions hodie...we are in northern nj.  he has a crate with no bedding, just a plastic pan that i've always rubbed down with alcohol every few days.  he's on carpet, which i vacuum about twice a week.  there's a forced hot air vent on the ceiling not too far from him, but we usually keep the room a little cool (65ish).  he has a regular coat with longer hair on his belly.  i haven't given him a bath in a while because he was supposed to be dirty going to the dermatologist.  i washed him 4 or 5 times last year, usually when he gets muddy or starts to stink.

as for supplements, he takes digestive enzymes, cranberry powder, salmon oil, cod liver oil, and a garlic/kelp/alfalfa/etc mix (herbal tick repelent).  and i just started him on colostrum.  these are not all given at the same time...i rotate the supplements.

i'm going to take him to our regular vet this coming week, but i find your guys' input very helpful.

thanks again

 he's been itchy for a few months now, before i started him on the colostrum.  he's been shedding like crazy.  i'm going to try to give him a bath and some benadryl, maybe it will work a little. 

has anyone heard of neem oil, almond oil, or tea tree oil treating scabies? 

When I first put my girl on RAW she detoxed and itched for a couple months (I just about gave up), I used the tea tree oil diluted as a rinse on her and it helped her itching.

Hi, My 3 year old male GSD is having the same issues as you listed above.  Have you found anything that helps?   We've been to derms and regular vets but nothing seems to 'cure' his  itching.  The vets still cannot figure out if it is allergy related, parasitic or fungi (yeast).  We’ve had him on a chemical cocktail (antibiotics, revolution once a week and a bath once a week with an anti-fungi shampoo ) for about three months now and the only thing that seems to work  (so he’s not scratching his skin off) is washing him once a week with an anti-yeast shampoo.  His skin clears up on the antibotics but as soon as he is off - the itching starts again.  The derm vet said this would happen b/c the meds only clear up the secondary infection (sores caused by the scratching) not the ichy skin.  We took him off of the revolution once a week & the antibotics (advice from the vet) and are still trying to figure out what the cause is and how to help.  

Thank you in advance if you have any advice.

-Lisa   

i just realized this was my post from a while back so i figured i'd give you guys an update.  it didn't clear up with revolution, and i still don't think it's scabies.  i did a few different things out of desperation, and i know it makes it harder for me to pin point the problem, but we're getting closer.  he stopped itching for a while, but then started up again, and now it's more of a ring around his neck...weird. 

here's what i did:  1. I switched the food up, he seems to itch more on chicken and turkey (and sometimes beef...yeah, i know, doesn't leave much to feed that's cheap).  i then learned that many gsd's have problems with chicken or beef, but i don't know why yet.  2. tea tree oil seems to help clear the bare spots up.  3. I wipe him down with a water/vinegar solution, seems to help as well.  and i add apple cider vinegar to his food.  4. i've been coating his ears with vaseline, vitamin e oil, and olive oil...the hair on the tips of his ears looks like it's growing back, keep your fingers crossed for us.

Lisa, what are you feeding?  antibiotics actually just treat the symptoms in most cases, and they just weaken your dog's immune system.  it usually does have something to do with food, like hodie mentioned.  i know, i have proof.  my pup had hot spots and ear infections when he was little, and i compromised his health by giving him antibiotics (as per my vet), when all i had to do was switch food, and it cleared everything up (and i was feeding top of the line dog food too).

beepy is right, get him off of all yeast, grain, carbs, veggies, etc., if you can order some bragg's apple cider vinegar, put a teaspoon in his food once a day, you can also pat some of it on his sores.  add some salmon oil/fish oil to his food once a day.

I know of many dogs treated initialy for upto 6mths for mites after having negative skin scrapes but positive blood tests both in the UK and Europe,  when later it as turned out to be multiple allergies. most of these dogs have had a combination of meat protien and enviromental allergies.