I have a wonderful rescue dog, a cairn/jack russell/schnauzer mix. He's a real sweetie who rarely leaves my side, (this does of course, mean that he gets to lie on my bed or sit in my recliner with me). The last few weeks he has been constantly scratching himself, biting at his skin, and licking. I know his flea treatment is up to date, and I have even gone through his fur carefully looking for any survivors, and haven't found anything. Could he be having allergies?

Yes, I'd try a grain free food for a while and see if it improves.

This one is excellent. We use it for our cats too. This product also helps keep the weight down.


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There are other grain free products available, but I don't have a
dog so I don't know their names. You'd have to check out the pet store. As a rule, grocery stores don't carry the grain free products.
You'd have to investigate Petco or Pet Supplies Plus. They are also online too.

A friend's dog seems to be allergic to their wool carpet which is a huge problem. Once the itching starts it looks really painful for the poor doggie. I'd try the grain free feed first as a trial. It can be difficult tracking down the reason a dog will have these problems. Maybe also look into the ingredients in the shampoo you're using on him. Good luck.

Thanks for caring about my doggie! Zed develops bladder stones, so he has been on a special renal diet for 3 years now, science diet. We dare not risk changing it, if they reoccure, we agreed not to put him through surgery again. We would have to let him go. We do not have wool carpets in our house, either. I use a handmade soap, doggie zum bar on him, it's organic. To be truthful, it's been a while since he was bathed. He's probably due. He has never had a doggie odor, and lately I have not been up to it.

He could be having allergies, but you don't know that he is allergic to grain. Most food allergies are related to the protein not the carbohydrate. There are many skin diseases that affect animals and a true food allergic pet is not first on the list. Flea allergic pets only need to be bitten once and be irritated for days. The dog grooms the flea out and you never see it, but the dog continues to scratch. Maybe it's an inhalant allergy like pollens or mold. Removing grain from the diet will have no effect if it's a pollen allergy. Best of luck to you and your dog.

Here is a link about food and dogs/ allergic reactions:


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We had a cat who turned out to be very allergic to corn.

So out went the Hills Science diet! Back then corn was the first ingredient they had, as well as many others, like Purina.

But times are changing. Read the labels.... see your Vet.

Back when our cat was suffering all the vets would offer was prednisone. So I found another food, and she never had the eczema again! And lived to be over 20 yrs old to boot!

when my dog had allergies our vet had us give her half of a 25mg benadryl and presto it relieved her symptoms, we never knew what was causing the allergy but the benadryl really helped her. good luck ...aveeno really works wonders to relieve itchy skin too.

Allergies is what I'd think of. Most dogs have mite allergies and they're not easy to deal with. The reason is, is that the mites are pretty much invisible and are in most carpets, even dust particles. And worse, they are in most dry foods - that is the mite excrement and sometimes the eggs.

There are several other symptoms that may or may not be shown including genital licking, swollen genitals, red inflamed ears with or without moisture in them.

We went through a desensitization program with our dog which lasts several weeks and includes injections. It's a process that's never finished, now she only gets one injection a month. We also individually pack her food in air-tght tuperware so that the dog food bag is only only to fill these and is hermetically sealed between openings - this cuts down the probability that our household mites get into the bag.

Having your vet do some allergy tests would be a good idea.

I have a jack russell that has allergic skin rash that she will rub, lick, and scratch until she makes scabs. I had tried everything from home remedies to vet visits and nothing worked. Finally I bought some T-gel soap for humans, it has tar in it, lather, leave in 5 min., rinse, repeat 1x week......amazing, no more rash! Just be carefull not to get it in dogs eyes.

Dogs can have both food and environmental allergies. My pit bull has both. He is now raw fed and has been for years. The raw diet boosts the immune system and helps with environmental allergies.

The spring and summer the last couple years have been particularly bad. Dogs that have not had issues before have been having problems.

There are so many things that you can try. I would lean more towards environmental factors than food allergies as they are more common. You can give benadryl 1 mg per lb. I'd start with 2x a day.

Licking can cause bigger issues starting with yeast infections up to bacterial infections.

I'd start with a vet visit to make sure it is allergy problems only.