Itchy Skin - Editor's Choice

Over the years, Earth Clinic readers have sent us many reports about their treatments for Itchy Skin. The editors at Earth Clinic consider the below posts to be some of the most helpful and informative and have named them 'Editor's Choice'. We hope that you will find this useful.

Lugol's Iodine

Posted by Arpad Schummer (Oh) on 12/15/2018
★★★★★

In response to this post:

Posted by Heather (Georgetown, Ontario Canada) on 04/13/2015

Hi There,

I have an 18 yr old Tabby. He isn't eating much and has arthritis in his back legs. We just had him to the Vet and his blood tests were largely inconclusive. The Vet advised that he was slightly anemic which according to the Vet is not uncommon in senior cats. I am a big fan of DMSO. Is it possible to give DMSO to cats? And if the answer is "yes" could you recommend a dosage.

Many Thank, Heather

This isn't exactly in regards to cancer, but! A few years ago my feline "Baby", started losing her fur and was itching terribly. The vet ran tests and had us try various diets using very expensive foods etc., then he tried drugs like prednisone, ointments applied topically etc.. All to no avail. The poor girl never slept and cried all the time. I had recently discovered, iodine I filled a one ounce spray bottle halfway with Betadine iodine and the rest of the way with distilled water, and sprayed her all over. I didn't rub it in because her skin was raw and the poor thing cried because I'm sure it burned.

After a few minutes she calmed down and went to sleep. I got scared & thought she'd died but she was sound asleep. The next day her skin was drying up & covered with scabs. I was afraid she'd start licking herself as the Betadine contains caustic soda. so I dumped it out and made a new batch using "Lugol's" 2%" Iodine/potassium iodide in the same ratio and sprayed her lightly all over again. After a few days her fur began growing back and her problems disappeared.

I've read that when cells replicate they can become cancerous cells if there isn't any iodine within the cell. I've read that we're likely all deficient in iodine due to the toxic halogens like chlorine, bromine and fluoride which is referred to by scientists as "The Most Violent Protoplasmic poison Known To Science"! Iodine is also a halogen. The only good halogen. It's stored in the thyroid and hypothalamus glands. In the absence of dietary iodine they'll fill up with the toxic ones.

Many books on the subject are available at low cost from Amazon. Just download the free Kindle app and you can purchase & download books at low cost, many books are free. I've used a product in the past called "Soothanol" which is DMSO and it worked very well on my torn rotator cuff and my worn out knees.

I wish you luck in your quest.


Turmeric, Probiotics

Posted by Kasra (Tehran) on 05/16/2017
★★★★★

Hi,

My dog started having

-Ear infections ( which resolved with applying zinc oxide ointment in his ears )

-Biting scratching his feet and his whole body which then developed to deep bloody sores .

- He couldn't stop licking himself, the whole 24/7 he licked his sores ( which he caused himself by obsessively biting himself ) and other parts of his body

-he developed ( from long time before other symptoms appear ) ocular melanosis ( colorful patches ( similar to color of cornea ) in white part of eye

-some sores on his soft palate
all indicators of a weak/malfunctioning immune system, that's what I guess .

-He developed many rigid, nailing-like furs

-Many yellowish spots beside many red inflamed spots on his skin

things didn't help :

- dietary changes ( eliminating gluten, sugars ... no dry food, no canned food, no sweets, no sugar, he has always been on a healthy diet but sometimes we gave him dry food or cookies which we even stopped it immediately)

-apple cider vinegar ( both spraying on him and adding to his food )

which helped :
TURMERIC + Probiotic pills ( by boosting immune system ) but " just after some days we stopped probiotics " so I think which really helped was TURMERIC .

+ Stopped biting himself gradually and just after some days he completely has stopped licking and biting himself

+ all Sores started healing and resolved after few days

-Melanosis is still there in his eye ( not sure if contributed to immune system or food allergies, maybe it's normal! )

-sores on his soft palate are still there, I'll keep monitoring and we'll update the post if anything changed

+his fur became softer

+spots are all wiped out

i think it's useful to add that, we used to boil his food in water containing turmeric but " it never helped ", but " adding one teaspoon of turmeric every day directly to his food " helped, if you mix it with the food ( not dry food ) the dog wont notice it and will eat it, but the ratio of food to turmeric is important .
He is sleeping deeply now, started playing again and feeling better.


Unpasteurized Sauerkraut

Posted by Lisa (Mn) on 05/12/2015
★★★★★

My Doberman is currently 5 years old and has suffered full body yeast infections and allergies since he was two. For about 2/3 years we had been bringing him to the vet once a month for antibiotics to stop the constant itching. He was itching till he was bloody. We tried: the antibiotics, coconut oil, tea tree oil, tea tree spray, changing his food, bathing in oatmeal, bathing in Apple cider vinegar, and several other things. Everything would sort of help and for a very short periods of time.

I'm not a vet but what I knew about my dogs was around 3/4 years ago both of our dogs ended up with a bug that made them vomit for a few days. They were both given a strong dose of antibiotics. After the bug went away, they both had these spots of flakey skin. In the one dog it went away and in the Doberman that was the beginning to a 3 year battle of bumps, itching, yeastie ears/body, flaky skin, and massive hair loss....

What we FINALLY found that worked is, unpasteurized sauerkraut. Giving the dogs extra probiotics, replacing the good bacteria that was killed off with the massive dose of antibiotics. Now, the dogs don't like the taste of the kraut, so, for an extra bonus to promote healthy skin oils.... I melt some coconut oil and pour it over the kraut and they both go crazy to eat it.

This is was a great combo for them. The Doberman's skin has clear up.... It's not perfect but 98% better and I'm so happy with the results!!!!

It might be worth a try for someone out there. It HAS to be unpasteurized sauerkraut or it won't do anything. You can NOT cook it or you would kill the probiotics off...

I hope this helps someone who is devastated by watching their dog suffer!!!!!


Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Elyask (Sydney Australia ) on 01/25/2014
★★★★★

Thanks a million to the bloggers on this site and of course to the site itself. My 2 year old beagle, Ruby, suddenly started scratching herself 2 days ago. At first I didn't think anything of it, but on the same night she was scratching and biting herself so much that her skin became red and inflamed and little sores with blood were appearing. I was beside myself and was ready to rush her to a vet but she fell asleep after a little while. She woke two or three times and started violently scratching herself. I left my mum to watch her until the afternoon of day 2 when I finished work. Upon returning home I found my dear Ruby still scratching and there were more sores appearing. I was welling up and felt so bad because in the few seconds that she would pause the scratching she would look up at me with the saddest eyes... begging me to help her. I decided against going to a vet because I have used the internet for holistic remedies before and after about an hour of reading and noting things, I applied apple cider vinegar 1 part to three parts water ....dabbled a gauze unit and applied it gently on her. To my horror the scratching and biting became worse. I then fed her a fish oil tablet in a treat and gave her a antihistamine tablet in (had no benedryl but essentially the same thing). Within half an hour the antihistamine obviously took effect and put her to sleep. I didn't sleep much as I was too upset. When I did wake I went to see how Ruby was. My little dog was wagging her tail... the redness had settled and even the sores weren't really obvious. I couldn't believe it and to see her not so stressed was fantastic. Today is day three and she is scratching every now and then but another application of acv and the same routine should see her back to normal soon hopefully. Oh, and I am putting her on a raw meat and some regimes diet.