The next step to look at is environment.
Think pollens and dustmites.
Dust Mites are a very common allergen - funnily enough the Eezapet mascot Coco who is allergic to MANY things was not allergic to Dustmites which even had the vets surprised! Dust Mites like to live in warm, moist areas and feed off dust.
Key points for dustmites:
Use a hepa filter when vacuuming. Wash bedding to hot water - Dry in hot dryer - or hang in sunnshine - 6-8 hours is ideal.
Put bedding in sun as often as possible to dry out the moisture.
Keep your house dust free.
Then there are contact allergens
Think grasses, plants, soaps, cleaners, detergents, perfumes, dyes, shampoos
What do you wash your dog with?
human shampoos are a no go - never use a shampoo with sodium lauryl sulphate (the foaming agent) as this causes reactions (in people and pets)
Use a gentle natural soap or shampoo - if you notice itching then change to a different brand.
Cleaners and detergents - how can this affect my dog?
You’ll be surprised - detergents can stay in the fibres of their bedding causing irritations. Use a liquid detergent to eliminate this. Personally I use only natural cleaners but these are not always equal - both me and my girl came up allergic to a certain natural brand - so if you are constantly battling then change brands and see if it makes a difference.
Perfumes
One Pawrent contacted us with an extremely itchy dog whose bed was under one of those perfume intermittent spray things - poor thing was getting covered in this every time it went off. Moving of the bed - or even better removing of the.... spray unit - was enough to stop the reaction.