Top 10 Tips for Itchy Dogs Before You Call the Vet Part 6/10:
If Your Dog Keeps Scratching the Most Effective Natural Product for Itch Now Comes With a Money-Back Guarantee – You Can’t Lose by Trying it…
This itchy dog article has been on my site for eight years now. All this time, I have only ever really recommended you actually go out and buy products to relieve your itchy dog (and only after you follow our diet and simple, home-made remedies previously mentioned in Parts 1-3). These are canine probiotics and colostrum, for reasons we go through below. While all dogs will benefit from their addition, I generally only recommend them if your dog keeps scratching and are clearly displaying a broad range of sensitivities, dogs that I suspect have leaky gut. There is a new product now that combines these products, along with a whole host of other bits AND it comes with a money-back guarantee, so you can’t lose. Thousands of reviews support the fact this product is getting the job done.
1. Probiotics. If your dog keeps scratching, you need to take better care of his gut microflora…
I am borderline obsessed with the life that exists in our guts, largely as I have a doctorate in behaviour and nutrition and they were central to my work. We are only now starting to realise how important the life in our guts actually is to us and our skin. We have a staggering 1.5kg of life in our guts and treating them right is central to our health. While it is a fascinating and far-reaching subject, we are only now scratching the surface as to the importance of these little guys in our guts. This means that the field is positively in its infancy. The article below will tell you where we are currently. You will need a cup of tea before tucking in, it’s a long one, but if you’re into this sort of thing, I think well worth it!
Everything you need to know about Canine Probiotics
In very short, dogs today tend to live on a highly processed food substrate, one that is so heavily preserved with chemicals that even mould won’t grow on it after a year. Their treats too. Not a single bit of fresh food. All food preserved with chemicals meant to destroy life. And all these chemicals wash over your dogs delicate microflora each and every meal. Do you think that’s going to have a positive effect on them? Or a deeply negative one. We already know the very obvious answer to that from studies of the effects of processed and preserved foods on the gut flora of humans.
As you kill off a certain amount of their gut flora, more space is available for the wrong types of gut flora to bloom (or yeast, even worse, as Part 8 will show) leading to a truly dizzying range of diseases, both physical and mental, most of which you would never think, when viewing them from the surface, that an upset gut flora is at play. When things go wrong in there, you can get inflammation of the gut, the net effect of which can be your dog keeps scratching his inflamed skin. Studies show that raw fed dogs have a more balanced and diverse range of gut flora than dry fed dogs. Thus moving dogs to raw will certainly help. However, that’s not to say it will fix the issue. Once in dissaray, the garden can be hard to get back to the original format. This is where canine probiotics come in. As the article above will highlight, at a very minimum, I would recommend picking up a decent quality canine probiotic (find on Amazon), or any type specifically designed for dogs (they are meat eaters, their gut flora is very different to ours). These probiotics are designed to make it past the dog’s digestive juices, to kick start gut normality has been effective at treating itchy dogs (check out the reviews in the link, many specifically mention they have helped with itch).
2. Colostrum. Dogs who keep scratching often exhibit a whole list of sensitivities. These dogs are likely exhibiting a very damaged, “leaky” gut. Colostrum works to repair the holes…
The second product I always recommend for bad cases, Colostrum is another fascinating product. It’s the yellowy, fatty liquid that comes out of mammals before breast milk is produced. It has more than 7000 peer-reviewed studies that support its use in a great range of maladies, largely of the gut although “allergies and auto-immune issues” is a close second. It’s very effective and would certainly be something I’d recommend in chronically itchy dogs along with the probiotics above. If you like, you can learn more about colostrum below…
Colostrum for dogs, a serious immune booster and gut healer
However, before you go out and buy probiotics or colostrum separately, I very strongly recommend you consider Zesty Paws Allergy & Immune Bites for itchy dogs…
For dogs that keep scratching, Allergy Bites has a frankly staggering collection of positive reviews on Amazon, and most of these would be dog owners that are unlikely to have jumped from dry feeding, which makes it all the more impressive. The reason I love this product is two-fold. First off, it’s ingredients are perfect. They include canine pre and probiotics (probiotics are the actual organisms, prebiotics are probiotic food) as well as colostrum, so two birds with one stone there, but they also contain a whole raft of bit and pieces that will help a struggling immune system, including EpiCor (a mix of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) which is clinically proven to bolster and balance the dog’s immune system as well as Alaskan salmon oil which will give your dog that boost of omega 3 fatty acids we were talking about earlier. They have essentially put everything that might be useful in a single, peanut butter or lamb flavoured ball of goodness (keep in mind these two proteins when doing your exclusion diet).
But best of all, these guys offer a money-back guarantee on their product. I have never heard of such a thing for an issue as broad as itch and it’s a testament to their confidence. If it doesn’t work you get your money back. In my eyes, a total no-brainer.
3. CBD oil
Check out how many studies I found that clinically prove CBD is effective for a great range of neurological conditions, alleviating the many symptoms of the likes of Epilepsy, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, MS, stress, anxiety and even joint swelling and repair. It’s incredible, with none of the side effects of conventional drug therapies. And no, it doesn’t contain THC so your dog won’t get stoned. I recommend this product a lot for canine epilepsy, it’s extremely effective there, but also stress / hyperactivity and any neurological conditions I come across. It has amazing results. Studies show CBD is even effective in bone healing and fracture repair. I don’t normally recommend it for itch as it is so expensive when all the aforementioned additions are so much cheaper but I have heard this helping with itch. I did find this study that found it alleviated itch in humans and anecdotally you will find online many testimonials verifying this but I can find little studies to back that particular issue up. At around €55 ($65) for good stuff such as CBDPure (find their pet version here) one little bottle, perhaps put this down the list of what you should try but DO keep it on the list.
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More from the Itchy Dog series…
Itchy dogs part 1: Why is my dog itching?
Itchy dogs part 2: The best diet for itchy dogs.
Itchy dogs part 3: Is it parasites? Here’s how to check.
Itchy dogs part 4: Best home remedies for itchy dogs.
Itchy dogs part 5: Homemade spray to relieve their itch.
Itchy dogs part 6: If you have to buy products, I strongly recommend these…
Itchy dogs part 7: Best shampoo ideas for itchy dogs
Itchy dogs part 8: Try some salt therapy!
Itchy dogs part 9: Might this be a yeast infection?
Itchy dogs part 10: Is your dog stressed?!
