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Serious skin issues

Kujo

Well-Known Member
My suggestion is...you should share some pictures of your fury family :p with 5 of them running around I bet you have some good ones!
 
First pic is the culprit in question, Remi. Second is Remi & Gator (the Golden-doodle also know as "Fraggle" as in Fraggle Rock). Third is Alli, the baby girl's pup. Last is Remi & Carley (one of the Bostons). The second Boston is MIA at the moment.
 
That's awesome! You are living my dream! I hope you have a nice big yard ;)

Big enough yard with designated dog run and LOTS of.... and I mean LOTS of doodie!!!!
5 dogs, 2 kids, 2 hamsters & a fish.... Anybody gotta an extra room I can move into?!?
 

Kujo

Well-Known Member
Big enough yard with designated dog run and LOTS of.... and I mean LOTS of doodie!!!!
5 dogs, 2 kids, 2 hamsters & a fish.... Anybody gotta an extra room I can move into?!?

doodie happnes.

You can have the basement...always good to have a zombie killer around :D

images
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Sweet looking family! That's a FULL HOUSE! :)

As for food... the first thing I'd do - after taking up Smart_Family's food recommendations - is start adding a good fish oil supplment to help with the skin issues. I probably would start right off, adding it today, along with the new food (but if you wanted to wait, I wouldn't argue). We give Denna 2-4 capsules of Alaskan Fish Oil (human grade from Costco). Depending on time of year and if she gets "itchy". It has helped her out bunches.
 

Rogue

Well-Known Member
Just a thought, did you get her anal glands checked? My bullmastiff Rogue has a similiar problem. She used to lick and chew around her bum and the top of her tail. We discovered it was her anal glands, when we got them expressed the licking and chewing stopped immediately. Rogue has to have her anal glands expressed every 6 to 8 weeks otherwise she'll get very uncomfortable and start licking and chewing again. We have also changed Rogue's food to grain and chicken free as she has a lot of allergies and it seems to be helping her.
 

mx5055

Well-Known Member
Rogue;137907[U said:
]Just a thought, did you get her anal glands checked?[/U] My bullmastiff Rogue has a similiar problem. She used to lick and chew around her bum and the top of her tail. We discovered it was her anal glands, when we got them expressed the licking and chewing stopped immediately. Rogue has to have her anal glands expressed every 6 to 8 weeks otherwise she'll get very uncomfortable and start licking and chewing again. We have also changed Rogue's food to grain and chicken free as she has a lot of allergies and it seems to be helping her.


This was my first thought last night when I read this thread. I use to have a beagle that had the same exact symptoms you talked about, and it was her anal glands. I just thought you would all laugh at me if I said it.
 

ruby55

Well-Known Member
Big enough yard with designated dog run and LOTS of.... and I mean LOTS of doodie!!!!
5 dogs, 2 kids, 2 hamsters & a fish.... Anybody gotta an extra room I can move into?!?
When you stop feeding her a kibble with grain, and start feeding her a more digestible food, you will probably see a reduction in the poop too.
 

bullyhillmama

Well-Known Member
hi, just wanted to chime in with my 2 cents :) i understand what it is to need to feed foods like ol roy and purina dog chow, since we have always had many rescued pets of all kinds, around 4 dogs at all times, and arent exactly millionaires ;) but since i am very concious of how i feed my human family, i also became concerned with grain and fillers in our pet food. i stumbled upon 4 health food at tractor supply store, and looked into it. the ingredient list is good, and it gets really good ratings on the dog food advisor site. not quite taste of the wild or blue buffalo, but with our menagerie, we buy dog food, cat food, duck feed, and supplies for the bunny and turtle regularly.. we couldnt afford TOTW or BB for 4 dogs, sadly, but 4health has been amazing for us. i see a great difference in all od our pets.. our recently rescued sheltie/cocker has developed an amazing coat, my 10 yr old pit mix has put on much needed weight, and i have seen great improvement in 2 of my cats who had terrible crusty/scabby skin and hair loss on purina cat chow. i recommend trying 4health if you have a tractor supply nearby. the standard formulas are all corn/soy/wheat free, and they also make a totally grain free version as well. as for poop, the dogs stool is less, firmer and easier to rake up. not "ploppy", like it used to be. the kids appreciate this since the yard is a nicer place to play now :)
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
I have an older dog that gets very stinky and her skin gets really greasy under her neck. I used Malaseb pet shampoo on her and it takes her stink and itchiness away. I've tried many shampoos: ones with oatmeal, natural deodorizing, etc. We've been to the vet multiple times, but all they do is put her on steriods and give her an antifungal ear flush. This did not help very much. Finally,I did some research on my own and read about this shampoo and decided to give it a try and this was the only shampoo that has ever worked. She has to be bathed with this shampoo about every 2 weeks otherwise the yeast and fungal stuff will have returned and she will be one smelly dog! Stinky, greasy coat is mostly likely due to fungal and yeast infections/growth. I don't know if this is true, but I heard food/treats that has wheat and shampoo that has oatmeal usually makes the condition worse. I have noticed that she gets really itchy and then smelly a few days later if i feed her treats with wheat flour ingredient. Also, switching her to fromm large breed dog food has also helped her condition.

I also agree with the anal gland thing. When I first got my 4 month old puppy, he had diarrhea for about a week and during that time he chewed at his butt quite a bit and a fishy sauce odor came from his rear end. But when his diarrhea went away, he was fine and the smell went away. Normally when a dog makes solid poops, the anal glands will secrete the stuff in the anal glands for lubrication purposes. I hope I helped some.
 
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ShellNZ

Well-Known Member
Ottis erupted in hive-like sores all over his body which burst and bled. His came about after having a stay at boarding kennels. I had always previously provided our own food for him but this time I mistakenly didn't as they assured me they fed quality kibble.NEVER AGAIN. My poor boy broke the skin on his next with just a simple pull on lead at vet surgery when he lunged to greet the vet. He is a real toughy, often crashes into coffee table but never yelps, but he was so very sore and cried when you touched him. Was so horrible to watch. After skin scrapings to check for lice etc and a thorough examination, the vet said I had one very sick sore boy but without knocking him out and taking biopsies he wouldn't know what was wrong with him. I couldn't bare leaving Ottis there so we opted for the strongest antibiotics he could prescribe plus prednisone and medicated shampoo. It did the trick. Ottis showed huge improvement, his skin healed quickly and his heavily molting hair stopped falling out. He had been so sick that the vet was worried it may have been an auto-immune disease. If treatment hadn't worked we would have done the biopsies of course.The shampoo worked amazingly- it is antibacterial, antifungal, anti-itch plus a descaler. We had to bath him every second day for a month but luckily he loves water.
Anyway he is perfect again now so I put the whole thing down to an severe allergy which then created a massive infection.
Have you tried prednisone and a vet prescription shampoo? I agree you will have to find a food that your dog tolerates but you may also need to try settle the whole immune system down first.
The shampoo was MALASEB which contains: Chlorhexidine and Miconazole. Might be worth a shot.
Good luck with finding a solution:)
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
I hope the OP has resolved this issue, but I do want to chime in here and am in agreement with the food being the culprit. All of our BMs have had dietary sensitivities, and fortunately now there are quite a few options. We stick to grain-free, and as long as we do that we do great.

That said, one thing we have always had luck with in treating hotspots is Bactine spray. It is antiseptic and dries out the wound, and it also numbs the area so the dog is more comfortable. I tried a million other things before that, and will always have some on hand. However, since we've been using grain-free food we have not had any skin issues whatsoever.