Allergies?

Hi everyone,

We have a 7 year old male basset.

About a year and a half ago, he got these flare ups where his chest and ‘armpits’ turn red and he keeps scratching and licking it.

We went to the vet and we gave him something to cool off his immune response for two weeks. Afterwards, if it did not return, great, if it did, we were looking at either a whole regiment of changing specific things to see what was causing it, like his food for a month, etc

Or, because the vet basically suggested that it would be quite cumbersome, a monthly injection lf €75 for the rest of his life.

So here’s the weird thing. These flare ups come and go and are of varying length.

But due to unforseen circumstances, we moved a while back and not deliberately, it meant everything changed: his food, his dog bed, our couch changed, our laundry detergent, we got a new rug.

Sort of like anything that could have set it off changed.

But it still comes back from time to time.

One recent thing is, I got a sports injury and my wife had a very busy month at work, so he’s been on less walks, although we have a garden he can access anytime, so he is not locked inside or anything like that. But it made me wonder if the flares are caused by scratching instead of the other way around, like due to something psychological like boredom because of the less frequent walks.

Has anyone had similar experiences?