I have an 8 year old black Labrador and we have noticed for a few years that she has crazy itching and scratching episodes that last a month or so at a time.. (It's not CONSTANT aggressive itching, but she always scratches quite a bit during the day and night outside of the periods too). We first thought she had a skin condition, sensitive skin etc, then we thought she was allergic to fleas as we have cats.. but now I've been looking into mange and then thing that worries me is she scratches (if we let her!) to the point she will make her skin raw or even bleed. I feel cruel watching her as my parents are hesitant about vets, is this mange? I'm pushing for my parents to take her to the vet and resorting to saving my money so I can take her as soon as possible! Any help or relief ideas for her would be greatly appreciated! Thank you x

With out being able to look at it, it would be really hard for us to tell whether it was mange or fleas or dry skin. There are several types of mange, so you really do need to talk to your parents about getting him to the vet for proper diagnosis. If you are able to get your hands on some Lemmongrass or Noaoli, either oil or pill form, those are safe to give to dogs and they will promote skin healing and it willsooth the irriated skin. Niaoli is a natural antiseptic. The most common areas for mange is itching and scratching on the ears, elbows, under the “arms,” on the back of the hind legs, on the hocks, chest and across the groin and belly area.

You can visibly see fleas. You cannot see mange and mange does not come and go. There is also excessive hairloss with mange.

Spread her hair and see if you can see any small bugs or any fleas dirt.

You can also purchase flea and tick shampoo to bath her to wait for results. If itching still occurs, then go to the vet. It could be allergies to food, environment, or cleaning supplies in the house.

You only give two choices, missing the most common one given your description of the problem. What if it's neither? As was said, mange doesn't just go away, fleas are nearly as persistent. But Allergies can disappear as the season, or other circumstances, change. Not likely to be allergic to only one thing, but the effect of allergies varies as the number that are present varies. There are 4 or 5 'seasons' of allergies. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and all of the above. They vary as the plants that cause them come and go. When an animal is allergic to springtime plants, it's problems are worse when all the plants are blooming, and so on for each season. Maybe Winter really belongs in the all of the above category, since winter allergies are usually to things found in the house, like dust mites, or other indoors allergens.

Usually, the 'treatment' for allergies is to treat the symptoms. Eliminating is another approach, but you can imagine how difficult that could be. Treating the effect the allergens have on the body (that causes the itching) is the only "cure" for them, but can be expensive and often is only able to greatly reduce the itching (which isn't a total failure of the process, just a failure to discover all the things causing allergies)

However, any 'treatment' program, whether it's symptomatic or therapeutic requires a veterinarian get involved, and usually not just any vet... you need one that is willing and able to treat allergies at the source: with the proper vaccines.