My dog is chewing her arm off!?

I noticed halfway through the day that my dog has licked a huge patch of hair off of her arm, about 4"x 1". From my research I have found that it might be a nervous reaction or allergies. My girlfriend who co-owns the dog is out of town for a few weeks and the dog does have allergies...so it seems like both can be contributing factors. I am just wondering what some remedies might be and how to prevent her from chewing on her arm some more. I wrapped some gauze around it, but I don't think that will stay on long.
The dog is an almost 3 year old Lab/newfie mix.

 

Put a cone on her.

 

put sum hot sauce on it and I bit she'll stop....lol.....

 

yea what he said x2

 

hot spot

http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesh/a/hotspots.htm

 

The cone is a great idea but you probably want to get to the bottom of what's causing it.

Could be separation anxiety (the GF is out of town), something on the paw (flea/tick), allergy.

If the dog has an allergy, you could try benadryl. As your vet for the dosing info.

Good luck!

 

Have you recently changed food or environments?

Fish oil is great. My 11 year old Shiba Enu/Samoyed mix tends to lick and bite at her paws alot, put some fish oil on and it seems to get her to stop. Oatmeal baths are great too.

 

These were my thoughts, did it start when she left? If so, upon her return it'll go back to normal.

 

Like shit! My dogs do the same when ever I leave to go to work out of town. It's stress due to separation anxiety. Your Vet is onlt going to charge you big $ for "tests" . Try taking him or her to the park and chuck a ball for your pup before you pay some vet's mortgage.

 

X2

 

You have to look at this stuff in the context of the question. If it just started happening, there are only a few things that could cause it. If you notice it starting then getting worse, I'd probably still look at all the things that might have changed in the last month or so--food, environment and so on.

Changing foods takes about a month or two to know the effect--so you need some strategy for mitigating the problem--like the Benadryl or other med.

It could also be something as simple as to be fixed by bathing the dog in a medicated shampoo too.

I guess my point is that the vet isn't the same thing anymore. All they're really interested in (seemingly) is making more money. Like sending your dog to an allergy specialist after you've spent bank with them.

How do I know this? I went down that path only to find another vet who was more interested in solving the problem by listening to what'd been done and going down a path that didn't include a $90 bag of dog food every few weeks and meds that would leave Riley loopy for the rest of his life (oh yeah; $200 month for meds that would mitigate but not cure, his 'condition').

 

I've never seen a dog with arms before. I'd be calling the Enquirer.


Sorry to be the a-hole, couldn't help myself tonight

 

Benedryl is your friend, just the cheap stuff over the counter. It will make your dog drowsy, but will help with the allergies.

 

The arm is probably itchy and has bacteria in it because of the licking and biting. When that happens to my dog I simply use rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and scrub it clean. Not only does it sooth the itch but it kills the germs and keeps them from multiplying. After it dries put on some neosporin with antibacterial to help with the healing. I do that twice a day and he healed up pretty quick in three days.

As for the stress factor, I agree that perhaps a day out at the park with a tennis ball would be beneficial.

 

the same thing happened to my cat.

the first thing to do is rule out food alergies. first, stop giving the dog any table scraps and treats. next, go to the vet (you may need a perscription) and get a premium dog food that does not have any fillers and crap in it. royal canin is a good example (they make dry and moist food): http://www.royalcanin.us/
its expensive food, but it is really good for the animal. feed the dog only the premium food for about 4 weeks. if you see an improvement, then the dog was alergic to something in the food that you used to give him. you can then test the other main stream dog foods that you used to give him. if the dog starts digging up his leg again, then you found the food.

if the dog is still digging up its leg after 4 weeks on the premium food, then its probably an environmental allergen. maybe its grasses or trees, maybe its something in your house, maybe dust, who knows. to find out for sure, you can take the dog to a animal allergy specialist. yes, they have allergy specialists (i took my cat to one and they are expensive). the specialist can then test for specific allergens and create a serum for the specific allergen. the test runs over $300, but the serums are cheap.

i went through all this with my cat and my wife and i decided on a cheaper solution. we opted to give our cat Atopica (cyclosorin) pills. we give her 1 pill every 2-3 days and it suppresses the allergic reaction. when the animal is on this medication, it can piss of their liver. so you have to do a blood test once a year to make sure its ok.

good luck.

 

This is exactly the reason to avoid this type of medication if you can. Although it takes time for any appreciable damage to occur, it can (and usually does) occur over time so you end up trading one thing for another (kidney or liver failure and possibly more infections for less scratchy skin).

Cyclosporine suppresses the immune system to do it's thing and because of that, it can make your dog (or cat (or human )) more susceptible to infection.

 

yes, but you have to weigh both options (and it was more than just "scratchy skin" for my cat). it would be either consant, open and bleeding sores VS being susceptible to infection and possible liver issues.

the medication is the lesser of 2 evils and i rather that the animal live a happy and comfortable life. you should have seen how miserable my cat was when she was bleeding all over the place. it wasnt pretty.

 

JK