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To make a long story short, I purchased Vitamin E Oil to put on a scar on my boy to see if it will help him with not itching it and maybe keeping it moist. He's had this scar since I adopted him (3 yrs ago) and have tried, oh probably dozens of lotions/shampoos and medicines through my vet and 2 dermatologists. The directions for the Vitamin E says to apply generously and massage in, but it does not say how often to do this. Has anyone used this before, and if so how often do you use it? Thanks in advance for any replies!
I've not used a vitamin E oil, just straight vitamin E (cut open a capsule). Twice a day was what I was told - it's brilliant for cut, bruised, or sore gums, helps it heal up in no time. Mind this was for humans, not for canines. What sort of oil is it in?
Have you tried neem oil? Pure, straight aloe vera? Tea tree? Lavender? I've had success with all for different skin issues on different animals. Neem is usually sold already diluted but I had great success with it. I'm thinking tea tree should be diluted in a carrier oil (but that needs checking) but pure lavender oil can be used straight.
It says pure vitamin e oil. I did try neem spray with no results. If the vitamin e doesn't work I will try your other suggestions with aloe, tea tree and lavendar. Thanks for your help! It's pretty frustrating not only for him, but for me not being able to figure it out, especially with 3 different doctors.
On the aloe - read the labels, there a quite a few that have added ingredients. Personally, I bought my own plant and just grew it indoors - brilliant stuff (although how anyone drinks the juice .....)
Lavender - pure lavender oil - can be used straight. It's one of the few things that works on our "I'm allergic to everything in the world" dog and one of the few essential oils that can be used straight. The upside is a rather flowery smelling doggie .
My all time favourite bar none is a "soothing gel" that's tea tree oil in an aloe vera base with marigold and arnica and some other stuff. I've never found anything to beat it - it's made by Jason Natural Cosmetics. I've had difficulty locating it at times, but a lot of health food store type places stock the Jason range, or you might have better luck online. It is made for humans, but I use it on anything or anyone that needs it.
Good luck.
By the way - is it only the scar that itches/bothers him and he has no other skin issues or is it more general? What's the scar from (if you know)?
The scar is the only thing that itches him. He has nothing else on his body anywhere that bothers him. I don't know what the scar is from as he was a stray that we adopted from a rescue. The biopsy and skin scrapings he's had done, with results of a yeast infection and even ringworm. He was treated with meds for both, and at the end he still itches. It will itch him anytime of the day/night, 365. Thanks again for your suggestions. I will definitely try them next! Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hmm.... Interesting. A bit like a piece of a puzzle that doesn't quite fit.
Is the skin dry and flaky or otherwise noticeably different? Have any of the docs suggested excising it - seems a bit drastic I know, but I'm just curious. One of ours does get chronic skin yeast infections but they don't itch - she's a pink skinned dog and the pink turns black which is how I know its back. (Tea tree is very effective against fungal infections, I'd have to check on lavender.)
There is one option that the medicos might not have suggested to you.. if there's no medical reason he's scratching that spot and that spot only, could it be that over the years it's become an emotional response along the lines of habitual/chronic licking of one spot? If whatever trauma caused the scar affected the dog on an emotional or mental plane, and back when it was a fresh wound/scar the scratching made it feel better, then the scratching = feel better is easily linked in the dogs mind. A bit like "self medicating" if you will with a self-soothing, repetitive action. His brain will have been "trained" to release endorphines when he scratches that spot - but that spot only. So the scratching = feels good = dog scratches that spot.
Growing up we had a dog that did this - he had a spot on a front leg he licked chronically. Every solution under the sun was tried and no solution or conclusion was ever reached other than the guess, such as it was at the time, that it was some sort of a self-soothing action. (Canine psychology has come a long way since then fortunately.)
With my luck it probably is psychological. I'm one of those owners that has the word "sucker" tattooed on my forehead when I walk into the vets office. It says please charge me whatever you want as I will pay it to help my dog/cat. :-)
The last dermatologist I went to suggested to do another biopsy, but instead of a punch he would take the entire scar area out. My problem with even doing another biopsy let alone taking the entire scar out is that the first biopsy made the scar area larger. And my thing is if they still can't find out what it is and even if it can be treated that it will only make the area larger yet, since the first biopsy did that. The scar area is about an inch long and about his lip on the side of his snout. The area is definitely different. It's blackish and a little puffy. It does turn a little lighter color when it gets dry, so I try to keep it moist. I've even thought about laser surgery on it as to hope it wouldn't leave such a scar when done, but they wouldn't be able to do a biopsy when lasering. I've given up on doctors for awhile, at least on this problem. I've been trying different things here and there. That's why I'm trying the vitmin e now. Below is a picture of his scar. I wish I had taken a before the biopsy picture but I didn't.
I guess some of the difficulty is knowing the difference between what's being caused by the scratching in the first place (like the puffiness, poor pet) and what's being caused by the mystery mite. (I only said mite because I liked the alliteration. )
I had a thought looking at it... have the docs ruled out something "wart-ish"?
There are all sorts of warts and what's interesting is that the biopsy made it larger which reminded me of a particular kind of wart my son has - it grows in, not out, and is flat and looks calloused/scar-like if you should just look at it without knowing what it was (but seeing as it's on the bottom of his foot, not too many folks have to look at it. ) His first dermatologist cut it out - which his second dermatologist said is exactly what shouldn't be done because it increased the periphery of the wart - i.e it spread to the edges of where it'd been excised. Dermatologist 2 gave him a cream - the name escapes me but the active ingredient is the same as is used in a type of chemo. (It also cost $250 for a rather small tube..... He went through two tubes and it's still there although initially it did shrink.)
Sorry - I can't help but find this all rather interesting.
Have you tried Colloidal Silver??? I use it religously for any type of itching or pain (sore throat, scratches, insect bite, etc). It's an antibiotic for both fungal, viral and bacterial issues, in fact, they use it for burn victims. You can find it at your local health store. I have an 8 ounce bottle that I fill up 2 ounces with C.S. and the other 6 ounces with drinking water (not tap).
FiveHorses
I don't recall any of them saying anything about warts. The last tube of cream I bought was called ProTopic. That cost about $100 a tube, which of course did nothing. The ringworm treatment alone cost $1000 for meds. Hence the "sucker" tattoo on my forehead. I keep thinking I'll pay anything to get rid of it, but nothing ever works. I find it interesting too especially since 3 different doctors can't relieve him, but then again that's my luck. Hey, if you can figure it out I'd be willing to pay :-) Thanks again!
KanoasDestiny
I've tried several antibiotics. Haven't tried Colloidal Silver. I'll keep that one in mind too, as long as it is safe for dogs. Thanks for your reply!
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A bit like a piece of a puzzle that doesn't quite fit.
) His first dermatologist cut it out - which his second dermatologist said is exactly what shouldn't be done because it increased the periphery of the wart - i.e it spread to the edges of where it'd been excised. Dermatologist 2 gave him a cream - the name escapes me but the active ingredient is the same as is used in a type of chemo. (It also cost $250 for a rather small tube....
