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Why is my dog foaming, scratching nose, and has puffy red eyes?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Male | neutered

Can you help me? This is not my dog but I know something more is wrong than what his "owner" thinks. He is foaming at the mouth a little, puffy red eyes and has been scratching his nose nonstop. His owner put a cone on him so as to keep him from scratching too bad. It started about 3 days ago. His owner doesn't trust the vets by us so he wants to "give it time" and wait. What can we do to help him?

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

Published on August 3rd, 2019

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed.  There are medications such as Apoquel or prednisone which may help with the itch. 

There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. 

Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). 

If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests.

 Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

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