My wife and I have had a bunch of dogs live with us for going on 50 years now, but have run into a problem we've never seen before.

Her little ten year old Toy Fox Terrier started licking her leg just above her paw a few weeks ago. We tried some over the counter bittering agents but she would just lick them off. The vet said it wasn't a hot spot but the licking is a result of OCD and gave us a steroid ointment, Simplera Otic Gel, and said she would have to wear the cone continuously. The gel seemed to be working so we took the cone off and she started licking right away.

Is there anything we can do to break this habit? The vet said the next step would be Prozac. We're hoping to avoid that, I know it can have unpleasant side effects on humans. Would she have to take it forever? Anyone ever had to go this route?

Any help on this would be appreciated by all of us!

How about a flavored toy she can divert her attention to?

That's worth a try, will give it a shot.

Steroid ointment under gauze then sprinkle a bunch of cayenne pepper on the outside of the gauze?

Former coworker had something similar with his dog. He would wrap the area with the bandage wrap that only sticks to itself and then put some souring spray on it. If thats not working I'd try hot sauce or cayenne on a wrap. He had to use the cone a lot as well.

Pouring spray? What is that?

Our 7 yo golden retriever started obsessively licking 4 months ago; licking to the point of creating sores. The vet finally decided to try Apoquel. After two weeks the obsession subsided and his normal behavior returned. Still not sure if the cause was allergies or mental, and we will likely need to continue the medication forever.

Souring auto corrected to pouring

Apoquel is what we use on our one dog that has really bad allergies and obsessive licking when it starts to wear off. It keeps it under control, but it's required daily.

I'd try one of Apoquel/Zenrelia/Numelvi and make sure any secondary infection (bacteria and/or yeast) is under control.

OK , are they over the counter? I wonder how her vet knew by just a visual inspection there was no infection?

Prozac

I had a dog with a flea allergy. He had no fur wherever he could reach with his mouth. We tried everything, but nothing really worked, other than keeping all fleas off of him 100%. This was 20-30 years ago. Medicine is much better now.

Anyone that came to the house, "What's wrong with your dog?"

bmfvet said:

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I'd try one of Apoquel/Zenrelia/Numelvi and make sure any secondary infection (bacteria and/or yeast) is under control.

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I'd like to get your opinion on those three medicines. We had our dog on Apoquel for over a year, but he started to develop some growths on his belly. We took him off of that and tried the injections (can't remember the name) but those didn't even last a month and were double the cost of the Apoquel. We put him on Numelvi recently. Supposedly it's a newer medicine of the same type that has fewer side effects.So far so good but I'm just curious what you're seeing in your practice Thanks!

Larry Mondello said:

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Our 7 yo golden retriever started obsessively licking 4 months ago; licking to the point of creating sores. The vet finally decided to try Apoquel. After two weeks the obsession subsided and his normal behavior returned. Still not sure if the cause was allergies or mental, and we will likely need to continue the medication forever.

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Apoquel works… the licking comes from stuff in the air, my jack Russel does it, give him apoquel and he stops but it takes a few days to get him to quit. I suggest backing off the apoquel after a few weeks and see if he stops licking.. if not keep going with it. I think the Jack Russel has periodic allergy fits so he doesn't need it all the time. A friends Jack Russel has the same licking issue, they give him apoquel during those episodes as well

Probably TMI

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