May 20, 2003
Tuesday

Hello everybody - thank you for your patience, waiting for me to return. Due to some family problems, I've had my hands too full to keep up with the Website. But Dick has been kind enough to save my spot, and you have been such an appreciative audience, I just had to

Willa Bea Three-Paws photo by MC Kauffman

come back.

Most of what I've written about thus far has been behavioral stuff, teaching a puppy how to live with you, how to acclimate a kitten more quickly. There are still the preventative topics to cover, but as the weather warms, you may be having a more pressing problem that needs addressing. So let's address it.

Is your pet itching?

My bet is that quite a few of you just answered with a slightly desperate "Yes! What is it, and what do I do about it?'

I wish there was a simple answer to that question, but there isn't. Finding out what's causing your pet to itch takes a logical progression of ruling out all the things that cause pruritus - itching, in vet speak - one by one, There are a few, and the ruling out process is not always simple.

But there are three causes of itching that are by far the most common, so we'll deal with those, and how to sort through them

Before I get to any specifics here, I want to stress that the most important thing that you can do, as an owner, is to pay very careful attention to your pet, where he's scratching, how frequently, how intensely. Keeping a diary is not a bad idea, as it will help your veterinarian to sort through this with you, especially once steps start being taken to rule out each cause of itching, one at a time. The next thing of importance for you to do, is to get to your vet as soon as you start seeing loss of hair, redness and irritation of the skin, any signs of bumps or breaks in the skin.

Healthy skin has a nice balance of bacteria and yeast that live in harmony, causing not a lick of trouble, no pun intended. But as soon as your pet starts licking, chewing, biting or scratching their environment, the picture changes. Once there's a disruption of the skin, the normal flora becomes pathological, causing a skin infection that muddies the diagnostic waters, makes the itching worse, and that needs to be cleared up before the actual cause can be determined.

Next week: how to sort out the potential causes.

Oh, and it's nice to be back. I hope life has been treating you all very well. Feel free to post your thoughts or questions in the Chat Room, and I'll make sure they get addressed, either in a column or directly, via email.

franimaldoc@sitnews.org E-mail your comments & questions to Dr. Good

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