A friend's dog has been scratching more than usual, but there is no evidence that he might have fleas. What could be causing him to scratch so much?

It could be several things. I will list a few: needs a bath, or if it was bathed recently could be lack of rinsing out all of the shampoo, could be allergic reaction to shampoo or some other item coming into contact with the dog.

SpoiledAngel Wrote: It could be several things. I will list a few: needs a bath, or if it was bathed recently could be lack of rinsing out all of the shampoo, could be allergic reaction to shampoo or some other item coming into contact with the dog.

Thanks for your reply!

I hope this scratching is due to one of these minor issues you have mentioned. The first think that I thought of was a skin disease!

They can get psoriasis and other skin diseases, but it might be his skin's just dry. It's how I feel in the winter when the furnace is on all the time! Dogs need a little oil in their skin, it could be the dog is being bathed too often. Tell your friend to try rubbing oatmeal on the dog. There are actual doggie conditioners and shampoos that contain it. Worth a try!

A lot of people tend to overlook the fact that baths can cause some extremely dry skin which in turn leads to some other skin irritations, so, I was glad to see that it had already been mentioned. My dog suffered from a severe case of dry skin due to bathing too often and it took forever it seemed to get it under control.

Don't bath a dog more then twice a month, it's even better not to wash it with shampoo at all (unless ofcourse they have rolled around in some cowpoop)
It could be dry skin, allergic reaction, mites, or even if you don't see them, it could be flees.