Black Spaniels

Quote:

Originally Posted by srush1229

I have switched his food so he is now on a vegetarian diet that I get from the Vet, Royal Canin. He responds well to antibiotics and a strong steroid but then when he is off he goes right back to this condition. .

Omg, dogs are carnivores and a vegetarian diet is THE worst thing a dog, especially a Cocker with yeast issues can be on.

I am afraid this dog will not live if you continue down this path with this vet.

I actually wrote my last reply above before even reading your original question. The story with these Cockers and Vets is almost always the same...

Originally Posted by OwlKaMyst

That's rough! Poor pup- and poor you for all the frustration.
Get some apple cider vinegar, Braggs if you can find it, give him a bath with some oatmeal shampoo. Once he is clean, give him a vinegar rinse. Mix about a 1/2 cup to a gallon of water. If he will stand in a plastic tub, then you can just keep pouring the mix over him, get a soft towel and make sure it gets into any cracks or folds.
Be careful though, any open wounds (chewed spots) will sting from the vinegar.

He has a lot of open wounds right now so I have to be careful. He hates baths but will stand or do whatever. He is the most easy going animal I have ever seen. Probably because he has no energy to do otherwise. I was told about vinegar by a vet but she didn't say apple cider vinegar so I will go get that today. I used a spray bottle in the past and would spray him every morning. So you don't rinse the vinegar off?
I was also told to use head and shoulders mixed with iodine by a vet.

Please get your dog off the vegetarian diet. What the heck is wrong with these vets. It's killing the dog.

The smell, terrible ears, chewing at the feet is from yeast infection. Let me explain this.

Yeast thrives on sugar- it needs sugar to survive. Yeast does not exist in the absence of sugar.

Grains of any sort are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates when metabolized produce glucose. Glucose is sugar.
By feeding your dog a vegetarian diet, you're feeding your dog nothing but sugar/ yeast.

Put your dog on a totally grain free diet right away, including treats. . If he has a problem with chicken then try lamb, venison, rabbit, bison, etc. There are multiple sources of protein besides chicken.

Run another thyroid test-make sure the vet does a complete thyroid panel. The black skin on the stomach is a sign of thyroid problem. Spaniels need to be in the upper third of normal. Not low normal, not mid range. But strongly in the upper third. I suspect the dog is also not getting enough thyroid supplement.

The skin has broken down because of the all yeast and itching. What started out as a minimal skin infection has progressed to major. Bacterial infections have set in. The dog will need antibiotics for that.

You've already gotten good advice on how to soothe the skin and try to deal with the ears. Another good product for ears that works quick is Zymox. It's cheap and Amazon delivers fast.

The change of diet will take a while to see results- it's not going to happen overnight. While you're waiting for a non grain diet to work and waiting for the results of a thyroid panel, try to soothe the dog's skin as much as possible. And look for another vet- the ones you are using have not a clue. Poor dog. Good luck

1: step away from the "special vegetarian diet"
get him on a GRAIN FREE diet, preferably without poulty (for cockers corn is your ENEMY!) I cannot stress this enough, if you see corn ANYWHERE in the ingredient list toss it...
yeast is fed by sugar, grains turn into sugars (particulary high sugar grains like corn) so go GRAIN FREE completely and utterly 100% NO GRAINS! no corn, no soy, no wheet, no rice, no barley...

since corn is yeasts best frined you also need to find a protei source that wastn fed corn its entire life, LAMB, FISH, or a realy novel protein like rabbit, kangaroo, ect...

2: give him time to detox, this id going to get worse before it gets better, add a splash of Apple cider vinegar (ORGANIC WITH MOTHER) look for brags brand) in his water, AND use it to swab his ears gently every day, also use it to moisten a cloth to whipe the folds of skin under the chin and jowels and in the arm pits (all favorite places for yeast to hang out, in the meantime its going to take about a month on a COMPLETLY grain free diet, to see any real changes in condition...yeast (which is a fungus) is STRONG AND PERSISTENT...

3: have a groomer carefully shave the inside of the ear and pluck as much hair form the ear canal as possible, if you keep him long also have them shave under the chin/jowel area the armpits and tummy, yeast LOVES warm damp places!

the steroids and medicated baths are just stripping his immune system comined with a bad diet (MOST prescription diets are junk food) and you've got an ongoing issue...

REMEMBER, this is big pharm...and theres no money in a real cure...