Our girl is so itchy!

[smt]

Don't know exactly where to post this, so landed here.  Our new girl (she came from the track 4.5 weeks ago) is quite itchy.  She bites at herself and scratches with her paws at random places all over her body.  We don't see any pronounced redness anywhere, and our group rep says that if it's a food allergy it would likely show up as diarrhea, which we do not see.  She is flaking quite a bit.  I am guessing it is just the dry winter air/gas heat.  She has an appointment tomorrow to establish her with her new vet.  We will discuss this there, too.  Here is what we are doing to try to deal with this:

• run humidifiers in LR and BR, where she spends the bulk of her time.
• Brush her with a zoom 3-4 times a week to exfoliate the dry skin.
• 1000mg of fish oil 2x a day, with meals.
• Transitioning her from the kibble (Natures Select Cold Water Recipe) the group uses to Kirklands Lamb and Rice.  We are on day 2 of cutting her over.

Anything else we should be doing?  

[sportingnews]

Dino had the same exact problem when he came to us. In addition to putting him on better food and giving fish oil and regular grooming (which you're already doing) we also rubbed some food-grade coconut oil onto the worst spots. He had a lot of flaking under his arms, for example, and around his rump. If you can identify specific areas of her skin that are the flakiest, it might help alleviate the symptoms a bit applied topically. I just put a dime sized amount in my palm to warm it up and then rub it into the skin of the worst areas. You can get a can of it at most grocery stores. We got the stuff for cooking just in case he licked himself.

[greysmom]

That all sounds good to continue doing.  It's going to take a while for the new skin to replace the old - probably a couple months, though it should start getting better soon!

[HeyRunDog]

Try ExmaRid Deep Cleansing Dog Shampoo. It worked for Grace and I only had to use it a couple of times.

[smt]

Thanks everyone.  We will keep with the program and I will investigate the shampoo mentioned.   I feel like the consistent brushing helps a lot.  She loves it too.