Hi Raquel. I think the main message from the article is to remember that skin disease would account for 50% of this behaviour, so we always need to look beyond the anal glands for the cause. That’s especially true in your case when the Vet visit doesn’t last the expected time. Regarding your question, I have never seen a response to adding fibre to the diet.

Skin allergies in dogs like yours are probably environmental, especially if you have done reasonable flea control as you have. Treating the house won’t have any great benefit, but your dog may need other therapies in time. There are plenty of good options these days.

Thanks for replying Andrew, so very kind of you. His paw licking seems to be getting worse and they do look mildly irritated. I live in the UK and we had snow and ice a couple of months back and feel this could have had something to do with it. I kept his walks to 30 mins or less when the weather was very bad.
From reading some of your articles, I’m starting to think these issues are all connected, the scooting, licking/biting paws etc.
I did notice last Summer he seemed to be getting very red eyes after a walk, but were managed by gentle cleaning when we got home. I thought he probably had allergies but assumed he may be more sensitive as he was young at the time. He is currently 16 months old. Do you think it’s more likely to be environmental allergens causing him to itch? I noticed that you didn’t usually think food was a major player. He is flea treated with Advocate from the Vet every month. Should I be doing the house at the same time, or more regularly?
I’ve tried putting balm on his paws to ease and protect them, but not sure if that’s made it worse. Is there anything I should try? He has no noticeable skin issues apart from slightly irritated paws, they look a little pink with some hair loss, but not red or angry looking, and no sores or wounds. I want to help him but don’t want to make anything worse! I’m sorry to ask so many questions, I don’t know what to do for the best, and hate watching him licking and biting at his paws.
Thank you so much,
Marsha,
London UK

Hi Marsha. I think you’ll find in the article I give skin allergies as one of the possible causes of scooting. However, once to twice a week is no concern most of the time.

Thank you Andrew, l have made another appointment for tomorrow, but l can’t keep paying for consultations when she can’t come up with what’s wrong with her, so hopefully she can at least come up with something.

Hi Margaret. If a dog is having trouble jumping up then it’s usually caused by pain, and therefore I would assume this is also why dragging the bottom is occurring. The diarrhoea sounds like it could’ve been secondary to the meloxicam being used, but I probably would’ve tried the same treatment if I had seen your dog given the symptoms. I would suggest going back again to look further for what might be causing discomfort around the backend – I am suspecting it’s not a common reason.