Hello and thank you for this great question - and for illustrating it. I can clearly see the swollen, red skin around your dogs' belly and inner hocks. Swollen red skin can have a range of causes, and the visual appearance can be very unhelpful in pinpointing the right one. Here are some possibilities:
- Fleas - these have a worse impact (a single flea can cause a problem) in dogs that happen to be allergic to them
- Mites - you can't always see mites; skin scrapes can help
- Allergies
- Pain - this is commonly overlooked and isn't always in the place where the itching is Eg abdominal pain from pancreatitis can show as biting at the leg joints and scratching the stomach, as can anal pain from worms or arthritic pain from the joints or tail.
If two dogs in a household have similar symptoms, it is easy to assume parasites; however be warned that dogs with a similar breed and lifestyle, are likely to show similar signs so this doesn't always follow.
However, once skin has been licked to the point of soreness, it is weakened and susceptible to secondary infection (most commonly by yeast).
Therefore, I would strongly recommend jumping on this early. Skin disease has a tendency to be chronic in nature ie to recurr at a low to modrrate level throughout a dogs' life.
It can therefore be very much worth 'getting to the bottom of' in the beginning. Wishing you and your girl the very best of luck.
Thank you Copyman for your kind words.