Itchy Paw

In the last post, I mentioned that Duncan spends 10-15 minutes in the morning scratching (interspersed with jumping on the bed) before he goes to work dealing with intruders. He really is an itchy little guy. He does all the standard doggy scratches (hind paw-ear, front paw-nose) but he has a few of his own. Like this one. Sometimes he chews at his front paws, but there are times when chewing just isn't quite the thing. So he sits there, often staring thoughtfully into the distance, while he does the paw-paw scratch.

We're puzzled by all his scratching. His vet says it looks like environmental allergies. We've tried three different antihistamines, which he loved.** But they didn't make any difference to the itchiness. Once he's a bit older and off the puppy food, we're going to try a special food for sensitive skin. If that doesn't help, we'll start the allergy testing process once he's a year old. 

** All the tramadols and metacam when he broke his leg created a little druggie; he'll do tricks for anything in a pill pocket. But then, as Erin discovered recently, he'll do tricks for a blade of grass – while he's standing in the middle of the lawn!! Maybe he just likes showing off his tricks?