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Why is my dog still scratching after flea treatment and baths?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Pembroke Welsh Corgi | Male | unneutered | 22 lbs

My dog keeps scratching himself even though I applied flea medication 2 days ago and a little flea spray. I bathe him in Dawn soap already twice. He usually isn't one to scratch so crazy even after applying medication, but this time it's been going on for days. It started last Friday, and since then he's had to baths, and I applied frontline flea drop medication, and flea spray. What else can I do?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on August 24th, 2017

Scratching can be caused by various reasons such as fleas, mites ,fungal infection, bacterial infection and allergies. the first 4 needs to be ruled out before we start treating for allergies. in order to do that first de-flea Leo with a high quality flea treatment such as advantage spot on, if it doesn't help - take him to the vet in order to check for/treat the other possibilities. If everything is ruled out, then an allergy treatment can be started. Usually an hypoallergenic food is a good way to start together with anti histamines. if it doesn't help - the best solution is a medication called Apoquel which treats allergies with great success and without side effects.

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on July 29th, 2019

    Hi there. There are lots of different things that could cause excessive itching in dogs, including allergies (food allergies, or an allergy to something in the environment), a bacterial or fungal skin infection, or skin mites (mange). Treatment will depend on what the underlying problem is. For this reason, I would recommend taking him to the vet for an exam when you're able to. Your veterinarian can do some simple skin tests if needed to help diagnose the problem and get him started on appropriate treatment depending on what is found.

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