[Cocomartinez]

So it´s been a month since Breogán joined us.  We are tired, but thrilled he´s here.  But we still have issues with him scratching.  He´s completed 2 sets of antibiotics, 1 for an infected toe and 1 for a problematic ear.  Both are now fine according to the Vet.  He´s had 3 medicated baths, but is still shedding a lot.  Much softer coat, though and less than when he arrived.  He´s had 3 weeks of Prednisone for the itching, tapering off gradually.  But he´s still giving himself welts scratching his legs and hindquarters.  He had some flaky dandruff a few days ago, but that seems to have cleared up. I´ve eliminated rice and chicken from his diet for the last week but it´s made no difference at all.  Recently it´s mostly pork, liver, kidney, heart, steamed veg and beef bones.  He´s now taking a couple of amino acid/ Evening Primrose capsules every day.  I also give him yoghurt, brewer´s yeast and sunflower oil a couple of times a week.  I have some coconut oil - would that help? He is obsessed with food and can hear the refrigerator door open a mile away from a dead sleep.  The vet recommends something stronger than the prednisone, when we take him for his second vaccination next week, but I´d like to identify what´s making him itch.  He did spent 3 solid hours chewing a beef bone down to the nubbins yesterday without scratching once.  Could it be boredom or a nervous habit or something? 

[Cocomartinez]

Oh, and thank you for the Millies Wolfheart recommendation - I´ve tracked down a supplier for tracheas here in Spain and will order.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

[ladyK]

Have you tried fish oil? This often helps improving skin & coat condition.

When I got my boy from the shelter (now over 5 years ago) he had quite a few issues too, digestion issues, hotspots and obsessive itching/licking to the point of bald raw broken patches. I put the itching down to nervous/stress behaviour as there was no evidence of parasites, or any change of symptoms by tweaking his diet to indicate an allergy. A raw diet, supplements, topical use of cardiospermum tincture ('nature's cortisone') and a stable loving environment sorted him out eventually, but it was a long, slow process, it took 6 months or so.
If he's only been with you a few weeks I would allow more time for him to settle down into his new routine and good food regime, and maybe try a few different things before resorting to long term use of strong drugs.
Good luck!