Does stress itch??

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Soooo.... yesterday I wake up to dog barf upstairs; a line of dog poo that starts in the kitchen and goes to the door; and a nice puddle of urine for good measure. Yeeesh. And a Cattle Dog (Jack) who is going crazy trying to scratch himself on anything available; but being an elderly fellow, he really can't reach much with his hind legs anymore; so he's just rubbing up against stuff. And pacing and panting and miserable.

My Vet squeezes us in between appointments - there's nothing obviously wrong with him - we decide the digestive upsets are due to his overall uncomfortable state; and she gives me prednisone to stop the itching. It works - he's now sleeping off all the frantic activity from yesterday.

An hour ago, my sister stops by - and half-jokingly, I said "You adore Jack - go ask him what his problem is". She comes back a few minutes later and says "He's stressed and probably has hives. He's scared you don't love him and he "saw" what happened to Ike and is afraid that's what will happen to him"

Well wow. I've always said my sister can get into an animal's head. I never realized JACK could get into my head - we've never "communicated" other than the obvious verbal stuff; quite frankly - I didn't think he cared one way or the other if there were other dogs in his life (he actually was "Ike's Pet"). So I will try to be more loving towards Jack and assure him that he's fine; and with MY luck, he'll live at least another decade.....

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? And why did this manifest 2 weeks AFTER Ike was put to sleep, if that indeed is what the stress is about? Nothing else in our lives has changed/same food, etc.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Thanks, Doug - and I should have clarified that by evening, we are restricting his access to water after 9:30 or so; so he's not up all night needing to go out. But he sat at the door to the bathroom (where the water fountain is) and banged on the door for an hour... and we've been locking him in his crate so he can't visit the "big white water bowl" upstairs....LOL!

Yes, he's on an oral dose, and as of today (one day early) I'm starting the 1/2 tab once a day routine (had been 1/2 tab twice a day).

I think part of the peeing indoors problem is that he's been showing a touch of doggie dementia this past year or so; he seems to forget to either ring the bell on the door - or, tell JIMMY to ring the bell. So I'm just treating him like a puppy - we go outside about every 2 hours....LOL!!

[dturm]

I wouldn't restrict water. How is (was) the pred being dosed? If oral medication has been continuing, it's time to reduce the dosage, call your vet. If it was given by a single injection, all you can do is ride it our until the signs disappear. Signs this severe are pretty uncommon, but do occur.

[Code2High]

Oh dear.... how long does the pred last? I don't know if you can restrict water... maybe Doug will chime in on that.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

OH MY GOSH - I'm assuming I can restrict Jack's water intake, and despite what he *thinks* - he will NOT die????? He's been guzzling water/falling asleep - then waking and not making it to the door to tell me he needs to pee....... my Vet warned me the heavy drinking would happen with the prednisone, but I expected my wonderfully-housebroken dog to not empty his bladder on the carpet.......

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

My sis has lived in the Granola State for a bit too long, IMO - but she DOES have amazing abilities with animals. I try to listen to her and not roll my eyes too much..... but in this case, she might have a point. I will try to say nice things to Jack. All his years with us - he's been the bulletproof dog. Never gets sick or mopey. Can digest tin cans...LOL! All he asks for is a pat on the head once in a while - so it was just startling to see him have this "trauma" (which fortunately has been relieved by the drugs although now he's getting Ike's oatmeal because his tummy is still upset)

[CA_POPPY]

With all due respect, your sis sounds waaaay annoying. :W

[Code2High]

Stress can definitely cause or aggravate allergic reactions and yes, that can result in itching.

After an OIS at work, I nearly lost my mind from the sudden exacerbation of allergies... on a level I'd never seen before. It started several days after the shooting. The worst of it... the symptom that made me talk about shooting myself in the ear.... was those God Awful ITCHING EARS. That went on for months and I was so nuts trying to get at that itch. Just miserable. Fortunately at about that time the "next generation" non-drowsy anti-histamines came out and I took those until I got help through NAET.

I didn't realize at the time but the stress/allergy connection is not new or unknown. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Allergies are the manifestation of the body's fear that it is being attacked. I mean that literally, not in an airy-fairy-Louise-Hay way. Your body thinks it's being attacked, so it goes into defense mode. When you're "stressed," you think you're under attack and your body goes into a defensive mode also. Some of the manifestations of that are different, others will naturally overlap. Stress has a lot of other really bad effects on the body as well.

As far as "why now?" it may simply be that it takes a little time for stress to take that toll, or it may be that the combo of stress and pollen is simply too much at its peak.

Give Jack some extra loving and exercise/play. Talk to him and tell him how much you value him. Intent matters. Massage sessions would also be good. And stop and think about what you said... "with my luck, he'll live another ten years!" If I were talking about a dog I loved, I wouldn't say that. I might say "If I'm very lucky, he'll live ten years." I realize it seems irrelevant and Jack doesn't read the message board, but check what you're really thinking and focusing on because it IS in your energy and he knows it. And I know that no matter what you say now, the day Jack dies you're going to be heartbroken, so I'm not saying you don't love him. It's just that sometimes we get into thought patterns or speech patterns that express things that aren't really true and aren't helpful.

Signed

"the woo-woo squad"

[raindove]

X2 on the seasonal stuff. I usually quit taking my allegra over the winter. It was time to break it back out a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully spring is here - even though the temps aren't all that warm yet.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Thanks, Doug! yes, I wondered about "seasonal stuff" (my black car is yellow with pollen right now...LOL!) and although Jack doesn't spend much time outdoors, who knows what could have stung/bitten him? I'll still lavish a little extra love on him 'cause that can never hurt 😉

[dturm]

I frequently see GI signs along with acute anaphylactic reactions. We've got many bees and other insects (finally warm enough) along with everything blooming and growing. I suspect this had nothing to do with behavior (especially since the pred worked), pure physiological reaction and the intense itching increased the stress level.

[raindove]

Put some Bach Rescue Remedy in the water bowl for a while. I swear by the stuff. If you have multiple dogs, it won't hurt anyone being in the water. Dogs have more feelings than a lot of ppl give them credit for.

Give him some extra loving and talk to him. I always talk to my dogs and picture in my head what I'm talking about.

The one thing that comes to mind, I had buff dogs that were all related and a couple of partis that were rescues who stayed. Buffy Love was the dam of my litter. The last two buffs left were her and her one son, Flash. I wondered how Flash would make out as the last buff, because they always liked laying together. The parti's really are more independent and won't lay snuggled together.

We got our RV and our first trip out, we went to visit friends who have cockers too. I will never forget - Our dogs were in their back yard and their dogs came out of the house - they have two buffs and a chocolate. When Flash saw Tizzy his head snapped around like someone had slapped him and the little old man took off at a run for Tizzy. I think at first glance he thought it was his mom. Once he got closer he realized it wasn't her, but he always hung with Tizzy when we got together.

[crimmps49]

Our DD and SIL's dog goes through these same symptoms when she is stressed from changes. They were getting things ready to move and Fury acted out; Mike was deployed and Fury acted out; they are now moving and vacationing along the way up and Fury acted out. I think they are stressed more than we understand. You are stressed at the loss of Ike, and I'm sure Jack feels that too. He will be fine once he understands how much he is loved.