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Why is my puppy scratching her hips, has red spots, Benadryl failed?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed

My 9 month old puppy is always scratching and nawing on her hips. I gave her Benadryl and it didn’t seem to help. But now she is getting spots that are really red. I think she may be allergic to something

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on December 15th, 2018

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 her with a high quality flea treatment such as advantage spot on, if it doesn't help - take her 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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