William, who's castrated and 4 years old, is very itchy at the moment and his coat is dry. He scratches behind his elbows, nibbles at his sides and scratches his ears as well. He doesn't have fleas and I know that his ears are fine as he was at the vet yesterday for plaque removal and they checked and cleaned his ears at the same time, commenting afterwards that his ears were pretty clean anyway. I forgot to ask them about his itchiness when I collected him!
He's groomed frequently and his coat isn't matted or especially dirty. I clean his ears once a week, check his mouth folds regularly (they're a little bit smelly at the moment and I'm using hibiscrub). He's show bred and I keep him in fairly full coat but with his face, throat, insides of ears, insides of elbows, under his tail and round his boy bits (such as they are) clipped short.
He's fed on Burns and I've heard that can cause dry skin and coat, but I don't want to change him to anything else. He likes it, it's easy for me to keep his weight stable with it and, best of all, since changing to it he no longer throws up small quantities of yellow bile first thing in the morning. He used to do that about once a week when he was on Arden Grange and to a lesser extent when he was on James Wellbeloved.
I've just started him on Yumega Oil so I'm hoping that will improve things, but would also like to try a shampoo that will be soothing. Has anyone any suggestions please?
I haven't changed anything at home in the way of cleaning or washing his bedding etc. so I don't think that's the cause.
His walks are nearly all in the New Forest, so tend to be on short grass. I know that mud and dirty water irritate his skin, but luckily for me he doesn't like swimming!
Any suggestions welcome please.
