Dog allergies/washing the dog

[rozillla]

So at the beginning of the year I took my dog to the vet after she started getting an extremely terrible rash (her skin literally turned to mush). The doctor told me it was hot spots and gave me some antibiotics for her

Comments

[nakedneurosis]

have you tried fish oil or cod liver oil poured over her food? my dog had very dry skin as a puppy and that helped his skin a lot. don't know what else to tell you other than i hope your furry friend feels better soon.

[rozillla]

She's feeling fine now, I was just thinking that it was definitely time to give her a bath! She's definitely earned the nickname "Stinker". I just don't have enough time to give her a bath once every few weeks, nor would she like me very much. :-P

I have not tried your first suggestion, also I don't have such things. I have fish oil supplements - would feeding her it in pill form suffice?

[eneyo]

flaxseed oil can also help with dry skin. poor pup!

[conscience]

Not a vet, but a vet tech x13yrs now...sounds like she gets staph infections (which tend to smell like old dirty socks or old Doritos, creates skin lesions and flaky skin or peeling skin in reddened areas) and has allergies - which a huge tip off is the extra oily skin. May want to speak to your vet about having her allergy tested or maybe a food trial done for food allergies (even lamb and rice or all natural foods can create problems, unfortunately, until the culprit is found). Soaps can help the skin short term, but if it's an internal response that she is having due to food or contact allergies, she will always have the problem if not treated internally.

Best of luck!

[conscience]

PS...dogs can develope allergies at any point. Many have seasonal allergies, depending on pollens or climate changes which bring out the pollens. If your dog also gets chronic ear infections, it may very well be diet related...heck, we had a cocker span. in a while back that we found was allergic to HUMAN DANDER, poor thing. Was an allergen she picked up when she was about 5urs old, not a problem before then - just her immune system said, "Naw, uh uh" all of a sudden :(

[rozillla]

Yeah I assumed her body decided it was time for her to be allergic to something, she was fit as a fiddle before that! Luckily no ear infections at this point in time *phew*.

[conscience]

Yay to no ear infections!

[itsjustsomegirl]

What are you feeding your dog

[itsjustsomegirl]

PS: You might find this helpful.
http://www.thewholedog.org/ArtYeast.html

Candidiasis is another issue that can cause the symptoms you've described your dog having. It is often caused by harmful food being fed to the dog (ie: highly processed, unnatural, high glycemic/grain food). Just a thought!

[_kommando_]

i second this. i had my cat on an expensive vet food that she turned out to be allergic to (most likely because it was a crappy food- the first ingredient was potato meal, and there was almost no meat in it!) and she was having horrible skin issues. i switched her food to a slightly cheaper, but higher quality brand (first six ingredients were fish!) and her skin issues have improved hugely. she still has dandruff, but no longer scratches and bites herself raw.

[rozillla]

I've been using Nutro Max, I usually switch up the flavors she gets (though I usually go more toward the smaller pellets of food so it's easier for her to eat) depending on what the store has in stock.

I try to give her a bath more seasonally than any other time, this time around I just used the water on her and she didn't break out - but it also resulted in her having more of an oily coat.

[idess]

Have you tried bathing with baking soda? I went to dog grooming school and we were taught that no matter what skin issues a dog had that came into the salon, you can't go wrong with baking soda!
They also sell dog shampoos with chlorhexidine in them which is great for skin issues in dogs, the one I know of is by 'natures specialties' and we call it 'soothe' (not sure what the official name is called!)

Sounds like you may have it covered but I figured I would throw in my two cents as well! :)