This dog is a 5 year old Bearded Collie. As a younger dog, he'd had a mild itch that worsened soon after a Rabies vaccine, also some bouts of colitis alt. w/ small bowel type soft stools. I'm not finding him in my patient list, but you had advised ZBDHW, after CHJLGMLT caused some nausea. Xiao yao san also caused him nausea. The ZB seemed to help w/ pruritus (fall of 2013) and PM insomnia, but his itch ramped up during the late summer/fall of that year. We then tried Qing ling tang (thinking he was yin deficient, but the ZB was not helping enuf and QYT seemed to fit his season of worsening) Itch seemed to improve, but then worsened again at the onset of winter, still taking QYT.
At my suggestion, he saw a local homeopath for a couple years, w/ mixed results. Some itch and some softer stools persisted thru a series of remedies.
I saw him back in April of 2016 for issues w/ his nails - they were typical SLO nails (the owner noticed some abnormal nails in January)- splitting, crumbly, some black - painful and falling off. The owners didn't want to remove a toe for the biopsy, so he has a tentative dx. At that April exam, his tongue was red and sl. wet, nails all very abnormal as above, painful, pulse middle - deep, not esp. fast, thinner w/ some tone. He is friendly, active, always slim to good weight . He has been on raw diet since puppyhood. He'd had fungal and bacterial cultures (negative) done. I sent him w/ Bu zhong yi qi tang.
Over time, his nails improved ~ 90%, so he has remained on the formula @ lower doses, along w/ high dose fish oil, liver support. His pulse remained thinner , so we added dang gui and then chai hu per your recc. Both single herbs helped some w/ his tendencies towards a thinner pulse, and his nails look great!
What I'm not affecting herbally is his itch; January of 2017 he was itchy enuf to need Apoquel off and on, better by May, then worse again in fall. I tried Xue fu zhu yu tang, and his behaviors changed - lunging at bikers on walks, generally obnoxious - normal off herb.
At last exam Nov. 2017, he had a thunder pulse, normal rate. Sl. yeasty ears, mod. seborrhea (BZYQT dampening?). A couple nails had small cracks, otherwise good.
Sl. underweight. Mild erythema and itch then.
Wondering about herbs for this itch - should I be looking at the triple burner herbs again? Other thoughts?
Thanks !!!
Cathy L.