My 5-month-old puppy bites a lot and has itchy ears. What's wrong?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Female | spayed | 4 months and 9 days old | 12 lbs
Chihuahua/Terrier female rescue puppy just turned 5 mo. old. Bites a lot, seem to itch inside right ear and sometimes left.
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on April 29th, 2018
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 her 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 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!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on December 24th, 2017
Poor girl. It looks like she has an ear infection and possible allergies. She could have allergies to fleas, something in the environment or a food allergy. This doesn’t appear to be contagious because I don’t see any hair loss areas and the lesions look more like secondary bacterial infections due to intense itching. Take Coco to your vet for an ear exam and testing to determine what kind of ear infection is present so that the appropriate prescription ear medicine is recommended for her. She will also need allergy medication,m. Ask about Apoquel which helps treat for both environmental and food allergies. Here is also a website link that talks about pet allergies more in detail. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2604 In the meantime you can go to your local pet store and purchase a regular ear cleaner, which can help remove some of the debris and stop it from at least getting worse, and an aloe based or oatmeal based shampoo to help alleviate some of the itching. Benadryl can also be given to help with some itching in pets, although it won’t cure it by any means. Once at the vet ask about purchasing a high quality flea preventative as well, if she isn’t currently on one. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/ Best of luck with your pet Coco and her allergies. I hope she feels better soon.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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