I have a bitch with yeast troubles. Head to toe. Biting and scratching. Vet gave meds and shampoo to bathe. Said to give fish and potato diet.

Has anyone gone through this with their dog? I gave fish and potato before. Did not seem to help. I will feed anything. Will except raw. Can't handle the blood. So, no matter the expense. I just want to help her. Never had a bitch with this before. Wondering why this would happen? She has always been fed a good diet. Thoughts?

If she's having "head to toe" yeast problems, I'd look for foods without potaotes and other root vegetables. I don't remember the specifics of what I read, but it was along the lines of the carbs in the root veggies turning into yeast. Anyway- my boy hasn't had an ear infection since I switched him to a food with no potatoes .

Do a full blood panel and allergy testing. I had the same thing and it was beet pulp in the food!

Just curious, do we breed dogs that clearly have issues we need to manage like this? We have so many pet owners with labs with allergies, hopefully none of the bitches that can't tolerate certain foods are being bred.

Sue M,
Just curious what food are you feeding?
Julia

Make sure whatever food you give, add probiotics. A recent dose of antibiotics can make her itchy head to toe.

She probably has a systemic yeast infection. This protocol absolutely works, but you have to stick with it. It is a bit pricey for the initial layout, but nothing works better. Follow it exactly! Your bitch will love you for it.

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/feed_program_for_systemic_yeast_problems.htm

Do you know what type of yeast? After struggling for months to treat a recurring yeast infection in just one ear, my veterinary dermatologist theorized that my boy was allergic to the yeast itself. She did the standard scratch test, using malassevia (I'm sure that's not the correct spelling). He tested positive, so she made a serum for him using that yeast. After a couple of weeks of injections, the ear cleared up. He gets a shot every other week, and has never had any further problems.
We did the standard food sensitivity test with no results.
As it turns out, the vet now says that this type of allergy is becoming more common. It's worth mentioning to your vet I think.

Had a similar problem years ago with a dog that is now deceased. He lived nearby and I showed him a few times. He stunk to high heavens and in the coldest weather, the car windows had to be down to share the van with him. His owners took him to our local vet who finally said the dog would have to be on pred for the rest of his life if they wanted to keep him in the house. I was crushed and so were they. I urged them to take the dog to U. PA vet school & they did not want to do that.

Probably 6 months later I ran into the owner at the supermarket. I asked how Rocky was. She said he was great, no longer stunk and was happily back in the house. Turned out they took him to U. PA after all. There they diagnosed him with a systemic yeast infection and put him on oral ketaconazole. I believe he was also bathed in shampoo containing ketaconazole. It might have been Nizoral, which is for you & me and is sold in all drug stores.

Good luck with your girl!

feed a TOTALLY grain free food - read all of the ingredients - no corn, wheat or soy at all or products of these - barley may be ok but if you can go completely grain free your dog will be happier.

Absolutely not. She is due to be spayed shortly. I wouldn't breed anything with allergies.

I feed grain free. After testing for allergies, we also did skin test and found a secondary fungus. Nizoral is off the market in non prescription strength, but got a ketoconizole shampoo and lime sulphur dip from my vet that took care of the skin. ( not expensive at all) She also took a course of anti fungal meds. Happy now, but will be spayed.

Pro Plan Chicken.

Just wondering... If a puppy was raised on grain free all of it's life and never fed biscuits, how is one to know it has allergies?

This came about after a long time on antibiotics for wound. This is why I am thinking yeast. Was not fed probiotics. Thing I think all vets should tell owners when giving script.

Used antifungal shampoo. Big improvement! Just tired of going to vets and first thing am told is food allergies. Lets all eat expensive vet food. Life would be great!

Thing is a healthy bitch from long line of healthy dogs. All others in the litter great. How on earth can food allergies pop up?

Tired of guessing and vet bills. I will not accept food allergies. We are all allergic to something!

No, I would not breed a bitch with confirmed allergies. Never. I have lived with other breeders bad choices. Not in my yard.

If you saw a big improvement from the ketaconazole shampoo, you should definitely try the oral ketaconazole. It made all the difference in the world for Rocky. The local vet is very good, but clueless in this case. Talk to your vet. Say you want to give it a try. The drug is cheap and can do no harm.

Mine too. Long line of well known dogs no health issues. No allergies at all. Purina does have beet pulp in it though. We ran allergy testing when we ran regular blood work.

Will do testing for yeast on Monday. the will not prescribe the ketaconazole without testing. Said she had to be on it a month. If it is not yeast then the only thing left is food allergies?

If it is yeast consider giving Braggs apple cider viniger and alfalfa tablets. Both ward off yeast (are antifungals)

ACV 1 tbsp daily in food with water added
Alfalfa 300mg 2x/day
Look into oil of oregano capsules as I remember reading somewhere that they are antifungal as well.

good luck finding the answer.

After having 2 friends on opposite coasts have this issue,yeasty greasy coats that were treated with Ketoconazole baths,one also was prescribed the oral med too, it turned out to be something else and not yeast at all,it was Scabies. All the dogs when treated with Revolution every 3 weeks for 6 months were able to break the cycle and their coats cleared of the "yeast" very quickly, both were scraped for scabies and negative for it,the vets did say it doesn't always test positive. One friend did elimination diets,steroids, Benadryl and antibiotics , then the antifungals with no relief. Turns out it wasn't allergies afterall.

Oral Ketoconazole is not harmless (said earlier), it's a big drug.

Scabies does seem to be on the rise--we never had it before. My vet had us do three treatments, one every TWO weeks. Then we go to monthly treatments. We are in winter here, so it may have made it easier to control. The fact that I had it in dogs who never had skin problems before clued me in to ask for Revolution. Skin scrapings were negative, as these are clean dogs who were getting bathed, going down the whole allergy route. We tried it on the two worst ones and they slept through the night after an initial bout of scratching. That was our clue that it was parasitic, and probably scabies Back I went for enough Revolution to treat them all. Anyone who has not been on heartworm preventative should be tested before starting Revolution or ivermectin. The vet said that the Revolution is easier on the oldies than ivermectin. The oldies were not symptomatic, just the middle "kids" going places, so the nonsymptomatic ones have done fine with the label usage of once a month. Frankly, I think I brought it home from a show, given who were affected, but it could have been from local wildlife.

With many vet visits and wrecking the brain. It is highly likely she is allergic to the large plastic bed they use. She often spends her day with her chin resting on the chewed edge. It harbors germs most likely. This bed is only used during colder months as I like them to be able to cuddle up. As of today we will remove the bed. Get her chin healed up. Taken a swab just to see what is harboring there. Bathing chin with Benzoyl peroxide 3%.

It cannot be yeast for sure.

So, if all turns out how we think and she is just fine without her plastic crate bottom and plastic bed, would you breed a bitch that has an allergy to plastic? Guess it is common in dogs from what I read. I would spay her if needed. She is perfect in every other way.

Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.