I have a 6 year old Shepherd mix that is constantly scooting and licking her "nether regions". I have taken her to multiple vets and she doesn't have fleas, impacted anal glands, anal gland infections, UTIs or fecal problems. She is on antihistamines with a small dose of steroids to see if it's allergy related but so far the medication isn't helping. She's on a raw diet and we've even added green beans to see if it's a fiber issue. She also receives fish oil. We are at our wits end. She's energetic and active.

Has anyone skin scraped her for mites? Fungal infections can develop in those areas as well.

During this time, I would put a cone on her to prevent her from continuously irritating the area. She may have developed diaper rash. Applying diaper rash ointment to the area may help relieve the itching while the medications start to kick in.

Were her anal glands every expressed? Or are is the vet just assuming. Sometimes vets do not check, if they have, I apologize for asking the question.

Just because she is on a raw diet does not rule out food allergies. You might want to experiment with her food to see if the itching improves with different proteins and carbs

Thanks for your reply. Her anal glands were expressed a couple weeks ago and within about 2 days she was scooting again. We took her back to the vet because she was also constipated and they expressed them yet again and said there was only a little "liquid" in them and they weren't full. Also, during her exam he "rooted around in there" and didn't find any obstructions that may make her scoot. I'm sure there are technical terms for all of this but I have no idea. She does have food allergies which is why she's on the raw diet. She doesn't have any protein allergies but doesn't tolerate commercial food well, she would get terrible ear infections. I don't think she's been scraped for mites but I understand the treatment is the same for fleas. If she had mites, I'm under the impression the other dog would have them as well. Would mites show in her fecal exam? Just curious before I start something that isn't necessary. I will definitely try the diaper rash ointment. I have heard about using diluted apple cider vinegar for skin irritations, have you? She is a wreck.

You mentioned ear infections. Did the vet take ear swab samples and determine the cause?

To me this sounds like a possible yeast infection.

There are two different types of mites dogs can get. One is called Demodex and is not contagious to other dogs or humans. The other is sarcoptic which is contagious to other dogs and even people. Sarcoptic is harder to diagnose due to the mite colonies being smaller then demodex. The treatment for the mites do vary. Both mites are treated with ivermectin. Some vets will use a topical flea/tick product. The topical treatment is much slower and is used for smaller infections whereas the ivermectin treatment is used for heavy burdens of mites. The mites cannot be seen in the feces, just through a skin scraping.

She could just have a low grade skin infection.. either yeast, fungal or bacteria. Have the vets even put her on antibiotics for a couple weeks yet?

The mite test is pretty simple and usually not very expensive. You could ask to have her scraped to just make sure it isn't a bug.

This could also be a flare up of a food allergy. Since you already know she is allergic to different types of food, she may have changed her allergy to yet another source. That's the frustrating thing about allergies, they are constantly changing.

If this does not resolve soon, my suggestion would be to go to a specialist, probably skin over any other.

Good luck!