Canine Itching Remedy In Your Own Medicine Chest
Just like us, sometimes dogs get a nasty itch that keeps them scratching. A short-term treatment can be Benadryl (diphenhydramine), which you may have on hand for when you yourself feel itchy. But proper dosing is critical. The wrong amount can cause everything in a dog from drowsiness and urine retention to hypersalivation and increased heart rate. The standard dose for Benadryl taken orally is 1 milligram per pound of body weight, three times daily. As the standard tablet in many pharmacies is 25 milligrams, that makes it just right for a 25-pound dog. A 50-pound dog will need two pills at a time, a 12.5-pound dog, half a pill.
Another tool in your medicine chest that can temporarily stop a dog’s itching is hydrocortisone cream. Applied topically (but not where you dog can lick it), it reduces itching caused by insect bites as well as allergies. But it’s more relief than cure, good for one or two applications. If the itching continues, either with the cream or Benadryl, take your dog to the doctor to get to the root of the problem rather than keep trying what amounts to a temporary fix.
Dogs’ Level of Stress in Shelters, Quantified
n A dog’s stress level in a shelter is about 33 percent higher than it is when the dog lives in someone’s home as part of a family, new research suggests. Investigators at Utrecht University in the Netherlands made the finding when they looked at the concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol in the hair of 52 dogs relinquished to a shelter. After just 6 weeks in the place, a state-of-the-art facility designed to help dogs feel as calm as possible in an institutionalized setting, their cortisol levels shot up even though they had been the same as the levels in pet dogs in people’s homes at the time of entry. Higher cortisol levels do not just correlate with emotional stress; over time they can increase the risk for medical problems.
The good news: Just 6 weeks after adoption, the dogs’ cortisol levels began to come down, almost to where they had been originally. The same was true 6 months later, showing that for dogs just as for people, security in a loving home provides long-term peace of mind.
World’s Longest-Lived Dog
n TobyKeith, a little cream-colored Chihuahua, has been through five presidential elections and has seen it all: the invention of the iPhone; the start of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; Hurricane Katrina; Queen Elizabeth celebrating 70 years on the throne; and so much more. At 21 years old, the Greenacres, Florida, resident has been cited by the Guiness World Book of Records as the oldest living dog.
The little guy was adopted from a shelter after his first adoptive family relinquished him. (See story above on lowered stress hormones in dogs adopted from shelters.)
