what are you feeding him?
At wit's end with dogs itching, sctratching, bleeding and stinking
I am in need of some advise. My dog is an 8 year old daghtson. He is the sweetest little thing. About 4 years ago he started licking and scratching all the time. It was so bad he would loose his hair and bleed. He would get these yellow crusty scabs all over, and his odor was horrible. He also burrows under blankets to keep warm and sweats and so his odor is twice as bad because of that. I took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a fungus. He also is allergic to Beef, fish mix, barley, wheat, rice, brown rice, and sweet potato. His thyroid was normal (at the time). He put the dog on Ketoconzole and orbox (ok I do not know the spelling), and I had to bath him every other day with a medicated shampoo. This was 4 years ago. The medicine would help for a while and then the dog would get bad again. For the past 4 years it is a vicious cycle of getting better, getting worse. Right now it is worse than it has ever been. He has the same symptoms as above but he also throws up alot, sleeps pretty much all day unless he is eating or going to the bathroom. Yesterday I noticed a huge clump of hair in a cloth chair where he had been laying. This is unusual because he does not have hair under his belly and chin and feet where he licks. This hair came from his back. I gently pulled on his hair on his back and it came out VERY easily. He looks terrible and completely miserable.
I keep telling my husband that I want to get rid of the dog and have him put out of his misery. He does not want to because it would devistate out children. We also live paycheck to paycheck and I cannot afford to pay tons of money to a vet. We moved last year and live to far away from the last vet, so I would have to take him to a new one. Anyway, the last test that were run on our dog was 2 years ago so a new vet will want to run new test. That will be hundreds of dollars.
Is there anything I can do for him naturally to get rid of this fungus? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Elizabeth
I keep telling my husband that I want to get rid of the dog and have him put out of his misery. He does not want to because it would devistate out children. We also live paycheck to paycheck and I cannot afford to pay tons of money to a vet. We moved last year and live to far away from the last vet, so I would have to take him to a new one. Anyway, the last test that were run on our dog was 2 years ago so a new vet will want to run new test. That will be hundreds of dollars.
Is there anything I can do for him naturally to get rid of this fungus? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Elizabeth
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I received a list a couple of years ago of recommended dry dog food from my vet, and there were about 50 choices on the list , but most everything had to be purchased through a vets office. Bil-jack select was on the list. Lucklily you can get that from Petsmart. I fed him Bil-jack for at least a year but recently switched to Natural Balance Duck and Potato after I realized I could buy it from a local pet store. It is suppose to be all natural ingredients. He seams to really like it better but probably because it is something different. He has been on that food for about a month. My dog has not shown an improvement from changing his food.
However, about 1 month ago, before I started him on the Natural Balance, I ran completely out of dog food and had to give him some cheap store dog food. It was beneful by purina. He is suppose to be allergic to some of the ingredients in there but he LOVED the food and he was very playful the week he was on the food. He still licked and scratched but at least he did not mope around and sleep all day. He followed me around the house all day and wanted me to play with him.
What is funny is my grandpa has owned dogs all of his life and they eat table scraps, 2 week old moldy food, catch rats and rabbits etc., and his dogs never got sick, in fact they were the most healthy dogs ever. Of course they were outside dogs and get lots of sunshine and vitimin d in their skin. My dog hates to go outside. He takes care of business and comes right on inside and straight to bed.
BTW:
The ingredients of Natural balance are:
Potatoes, duck meal, duck, canola oil, potato fiber, salmon oil, flaxeed, potassium chloride, choline chloride, taurine, l-lysine, l-carnitine, yucca, schidigera extract, vitimin e, iron proteinate,zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin b-1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin a supplement, biotin d-calcium panothenate, manganeze sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b-6), vitamin b-12 supplement, ribloflavin (vitamin b-12), vitamin d-3 supplement, and folic acid.
However, about 1 month ago, before I started him on the Natural Balance, I ran completely out of dog food and had to give him some cheap store dog food. It was beneful by purina. He is suppose to be allergic to some of the ingredients in there but he LOVED the food and he was very playful the week he was on the food. He still licked and scratched but at least he did not mope around and sleep all day. He followed me around the house all day and wanted me to play with him.
What is funny is my grandpa has owned dogs all of his life and they eat table scraps, 2 week old moldy food, catch rats and rabbits etc., and his dogs never got sick, in fact they were the most healthy dogs ever. Of course they were outside dogs and get lots of sunshine and vitimin d in their skin. My dog hates to go outside. He takes care of business and comes right on inside and straight to bed.
BTW:
The ingredients of Natural balance are:
Potatoes, duck meal, duck, canola oil, potato fiber, salmon oil, flaxeed, potassium chloride, choline chloride, taurine, l-lysine, l-carnitine, yucca, schidigera extract, vitimin e, iron proteinate,zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin b-1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin a supplement, biotin d-calcium panothenate, manganeze sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b-6), vitamin b-12 supplement, ribloflavin (vitamin b-12), vitamin d-3 supplement, and folic acid.
It can take up to three months to see a difference with a switch..
I have a dog with skin issues as well...I did the potatoe and duck from NB and found that the duck made the dog make excess oil in the skin...worsening the infection...
Can you get wellness or Taste of the wild where you are?
I have a dog with skin issues as well...I did the potatoe and duck from NB and found that the duck made the dog make excess oil in the skin...worsening the infection...
Can you get wellness or Taste of the wild where you are?
skin problems
I do not know, but I will do some research and find out. Thanks
Elizabeth
I do not know, but I will do some research and find out. Thanks
Elizabeth
Your poor dog! He really does need to go to a vet.
There are things that you can try. If he was my dog I would get Micro tek shampoo and the spray, it's made by Equess. When you bathe him with this shampoo, let it soak for at least 15 mins. then rinse him well. When he is dry, then use the spray on his whole body. Put some spray on your hand to spread it on his face staying away from his eyes and mouth.
Also I would give him 1 Program pill. This medication really works to get rid of fungal infections, like Ring worm. (If he had ring worm, you would also have it. so I doubt he has that.) It is a once a month pill for fleas, but they found out it works for fungal infections. I had to do this once when 4 of my dogs got ring worm from a kennel. The itching stopped over night and they were cured of the ring worm within 48 hours!
Give him 25 mgs of vit B complex 2 x's a day. Make sure he has food before you give him this vitamin as it can be rough on the stomach.
Your boy really needs a thyroid blood test. I bet his thyroid is very low. Thyroid is very very important for his whole body. And he sounds like a low thyroid dog. It's a very cheap medication to get for him.
Please get him to a vet for at least that one blood test. Don't let your vet vaccinate him. That will only add to the problems he already has.
Your dog seemed happy on the beniful because it's full of sugar and salt. In other words he got a sugar high! The diet you have him on now is much much better.
Good luck with him.
There are things that you can try. If he was my dog I would get Micro tek shampoo and the spray, it's made by Equess. When you bathe him with this shampoo, let it soak for at least 15 mins. then rinse him well. When he is dry, then use the spray on his whole body. Put some spray on your hand to spread it on his face staying away from his eyes and mouth.
Also I would give him 1 Program pill. This medication really works to get rid of fungal infections, like Ring worm. (If he had ring worm, you would also have it. so I doubt he has that.) It is a once a month pill for fleas, but they found out it works for fungal infections. I had to do this once when 4 of my dogs got ring worm from a kennel. The itching stopped over night and they were cured of the ring worm within 48 hours!
Give him 25 mgs of vit B complex 2 x's a day. Make sure he has food before you give him this vitamin as it can be rough on the stomach.
Your boy really needs a thyroid blood test. I bet his thyroid is very low. Thyroid is very very important for his whole body. And he sounds like a low thyroid dog. It's a very cheap medication to get for him.
Please get him to a vet for at least that one blood test. Don't let your vet vaccinate him. That will only add to the problems he already has.
Your dog seemed happy on the beniful because it's full of sugar and salt. In other words he got a sugar high! The diet you have him on now is much much better.
Good luck with him.
Ashleigh, yes your poor dog. My sister's dog was just diagnosed with the same symptoms. They scraped her skin and found mange. She is on predizone and some type of bathing antiboitic cream. I has helped greatly. Her dog wouldn't eat she was miserable. But since all her treatment she is great and she is 15 years old. Take him to vet.
Try some Colloidal Silver, You can buy it at health food stores. I put it in my dog/cat/horses water. I have seen it cure thrush in horses, a UTI in a cat, and cleared up heat spots/sores/ wounds on dogs. If I were you I'd dab the infected area with the silver then put some olive oil on there to sooth the itchy skin. Olive oil is a natural healing product we all keep in our kitchens. Good luck!
I would suggest a skin scrape for demodex mange if that is the case the vet can treat it effectively with small doses of ivermectin daily given over a period of 30 days. It does sound like there is more than one problem going on, I really feel sorry for the little guy it's got to be miserable. Demodectic Mange is hereditary, dogs can go almost their entire life and never show symptoms but if they get stressed or have another problem going on it can trigger an outbreak. We have a chihuahua and a corgi both that have it, scratching, itching, blisters, smell bad, lose hair the whole 9 yards however since treatment neither have had another outbreak.
Dog allergies
Sounds like he has allergies mixed in.
He needs to go see the vet, a GOOD vet. Poor thing might have ringworms, sarcoptic mange, and demodectic mange.
Orbax is antibiotic, so if he has allergies, it's not going to help.
There are quite a few herbal treatments available if you search online.
Also, are you sure your dog is allergic to all those foods? Maybe you can try to give him egg whites and rice plus a little olive oil for a few days and see if he scratches less?
Bathing him every other day may not be a good idea since that is known to dry out dog's skin and would make the matter worse.
Sounds like he has allergies mixed in.
He needs to go see the vet, a GOOD vet. Poor thing might have ringworms, sarcoptic mange, and demodectic mange.
Orbax is antibiotic, so if he has allergies, it's not going to help.
There are quite a few herbal treatments available if you search online.
Also, are you sure your dog is allergic to all those foods? Maybe you can try to give him egg whites and rice plus a little olive oil for a few days and see if he scratches less?
Bathing him every other day may not be a good idea since that is known to dry out dog's skin and would make the matter worse.
If it was my dog I would start cooking for him. I would cook human food for him. I would get him vitamins. I would research natural remedies for him. You can cook stews/soups for your family and he can eat them too. Just don't feed a lot of fat or salt. And don't feed him sugar or white flour. Sometimes commercial dog foods don't agree with some dogs. I buy heart , liver kidneys for my dogs. There is a lot of nutrition in organ meats for dogs. I have my dogs on raw foods but I also cook for them too. I know people that cook for their dogs that had a lot of medical problems/skin problems. The dogs are a lot better now. I use supplements and vitamins and they do too. There is kelp you can buy for dogs. It helps supplements nutrients that help the thyroid. I would check into natural remedies since the vet didn't seem to be able to help your dog's problems.
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