Itchy pup

Hello vets We have just got a lovely staff x Rottweiler puppy who is 11 weeks old. She was defleaed and de wormed before coming home to us over a week ago. When going to pick her up we didn’t notice her scratching or itching at all. As soon as she got home and sat on the sofa she started scratching. We have combed her to check for fleas and can see nothing not even eggs or poop. We have 2 cats who are dr fleaed on time. Just to make sure it wasn’t fleas that was bothering pup today we have de cleaned the whole house. She is still scratching and biting. Maybe even more than she was in the first place. We are feeding her the same food her breeder was giving her. What can we do, it’s really bothering her! Thanks!

Oh no!   I think the first thing to do is to double-check that fleas and mites can't be involved.  It sounds as though you and your dogs live in a flea-free house, but can you be 100% sure that your pup was properly de-flead before coming to you?  Fleas are notoriously hard to spot on a pup and it's an absolute classic for an itchy dog to be de-flead and get better, without ever a flea having been noticed.   Most vets will happily see a new pup for a quick check-up.

To be honest, I always hope that the outcome is fleas because they are so easy to treat;  other causes of itchiness, such as allergy (even allergy to fleas!) tend to be present for life.  It seems possible that your pup is allergic to something in the new home that wasn't in the old one, but to be honest if your pup is 12 weeks old (classic leaving-Mum time), this is a very young age for an allergy to develop.  Most vets - including myself - won't entertain that idea until a flea-treatment is being applied on the dot every month (or two months, or 6 weeks, depending on the product)  to everyone in house - and much of the time, this does the trick.  At least, it is well worth ruling out.  Always use a product recommended for the patient by your vet, so that they don't insist that you change products and do it all over again, if an unreliable shop product is used.  Please do keep us posted.