Skin issues can be so frustrating! If he’s chewing the skin, it’s most likely itchy. Causes for itchy skin can include: inahalant or food allergy, food sensitivity, gastrointestinal imbalance, external parasites, or less commonly autoimmune disease, liver disease, etc.
Skin problems are one of the most common presenting complaints in the patients I see. I’ve had some good success with concentrating on optimizing gi function, feeding whole foods, using acupuncture and herbs. Avoid strong meds unless it is a real emergency. Steroids and antibiotics may suppress symptoms for a while, but the problem is still there! Symptoms are the body’s way of telling us there is a problem and we want to address the problem, not just suppress the symptom.
Hope that makes sense… I have some articles on my blog about food, allergies, and skin if you’d like to check it out: http://naturalalternativesvet.com/category/blog
I’m a holistic veterinarian in Bloomington, IN and food/skin issues are one of my obsessions! Best of luck to you.
Tabitha
