Excessive licking

lordmountararat

My 6 year old spayed !!!!!! Schnauzer cross is licking her private parts excessively. The vet can find no sign of an infection, no blood or discharge and a urine sample came back negative. I don't think it is boredom as my wife and I are retired and only leave the dog alone once a week for an hour or so when we go shopping. Also, she will constantly stop abruptly on her walks and do this even if she is in the throes of sniffing out something interesting. The vet is at a loss, so I was wondering whether anyone here has come across this behaviour and has any ideas about how I can stop her doing it.

lordmountararat

I can't believe the site does not allow the correct term for a female dog on a site dedicated to pet care!

sheramber

have her anal glands been checked/emptied?

lordmountararat

have her anal glands been checked/emptied?

Yes, that's the first thing that the vet did.

HampshireH

Could be allergies causing irritation. Has the vets given an antihistamine to see if it reduces it/rule it out?

lordmountararat

Could be allergies causing irritation. Has the vets given an antihistamine to see if it reduces it/rule it out?

I wondered about that, but the vet ruled it out as the dog is six years old and been fine up to now. Steroid injections have been suggested, but I think the vet is clutching at straws. When I take her back I'll suggest antihistamine.

sheramber

Sensitivity to something builds up over time. It will not necessarily  show up immediately. The effect builds up in teh system until it reaches a level when it produces symptoms.

The easy way to check is to only feed what the dog has not had before. So check ingredients and only buy food/trest that do not contain these ingredients.

Avoid anything with additives or colouring.

My vet told me a food allergy was unlikely with my dog who was scratching constantly.  i stopped what I was feeding her and only gave her boiled fish and rice. 

the itching stopped in three days butt he damage to her skin took longer to heal.

I eventually pinned the sensitivity  down to wheat glute. At that time there was nott eh variety of foods and all , except vegetarian food, contained wheat.

lordmountararat

Thank you sheramber. She has always been on a wheat free diet. I will follow up on your suggestions, though I must say she hasn't done it for the last day or so. Perhaps whatever was the matter has cleared up by itself.

sheramber

Sensitivity can be to anything.  My Dalmatian reacted to lamb in anything. Even a lamb one caused a reaction. That was found out by accident as I was feeding him lamb and rice food but ran out on holiday so fed him my other dog’s  tinned Chappie. Next morning his skin was not worse as it usually was. Over the next few days his skin looked better and that was when I realised it was lamb that was the problem. Many dogs react to chicken or rice. It is a minefield.