Itchy puppy

[NeSaxena]

Boone's (my now little over 3 month old BM) always been a little itchier than normal. There's no discoloration, no hair loss since I started him on raw, no crazy shedding, no pink spots, no dandruff, no flakes, no fleas or ticks (I've checked it all multiple times!). He still seems to want to constantly keep scratching himself. Add to this, he gets a WHOLE lot of red/brown ear wax - I have to clean it every second or third day or he scratches his ears silly!

Any ideas?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Well, I'm HOPING that he'll continue to improve on raw, but in the mean time: clean his ears regularly (thats been a common question, I'll dig out a couple threads with recipes for a home-made wash). I forget, are you still adding fish oil or coconut oil to his diet?

 

[tb44]

He might be starting to shed his puppy coat. That's what my girl started doing and the vet said she is losing her puppy coat. Or it could be that he likes laying in water.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Ok an article: Chronic Ear Infections in Canine - Whole Dog Journal Article they recommend home brewed green tea, and a couple of purchased products I don't know if you can get.

For homemade ear cleaner: ear cleaning Don't use to much alcohal, and if his ears dry out TO much using this skip the alcohal all together.


It may take several weeks on raw (I've even seen it take several months for bad cases) for total improvement FYI

 

[NeSaxena]

Yes, both fish oil and coconut oil. He LOOOOVVVESS them both!

I'll keep cleaning those ears out then, with a gas mask on my face, coz he loves farting whenever I get into them! Lolz!

I was just reading the other thread on farts, and it took me forever to type this out cuz it was so much like Boone!

 

[musicdeb]

I agree, this can be normal. Titan to this day, still has come ear issues with the black guck. I started using the ear cleanser that geisthexe (deb) recommended which is helping immensely. His ear issues goes through cycles. We're in one right now and I have to clean his ears every couple of days. Titan's ear started drying out, so I'm backing down on the alcohol in the solution.

 

[ruthcatrin]

lol!!

Once he's WELL AND SOLIDLY on raw (ie: not for months sorry) you can probly feed him a little extra fat in his meals and potentially skip the coconut oil, and it'll do the same thing. But go ahead and reduce his fish oil for now if its giving him that much gas!

 

[musicdeb]

Titan has bad gas when he eats chicken but not beef or pork. Since he's refusing to eat chicken now, I get some relief from the bad gas for now.

 

[DennasMom]

Denna has one ear (just one) that has always had the red/brown gook in it. Vets look at it each visit and don't see it as a problem - I do clean it out as often as I can (this is NOT Denna's favorite activity). I also purchased a 'natural' wash with tea tree oil and aloe - I'll look at the recommendations above, too.

I was hoping raw feeding would clear the ear... but we've been raw for about 6 months now, and the ear is still gooky. It seems to be better with the tea tree/aloe wash, so we'll keep at it!

For gas issues... which we've been pleasantly low on with Denna (a vast improvement over our previous dogs), we used probiotics and also a supplement with yucca shidigera if the probiotics didn't do the trick.

For itchy skin - which Denna had since the day she came home (again, nothing the vets were concerned with) - doubling up on fish oil seemed to do the trick. Keeping the level of chicken in her diet at low to no levels also seems to help.

 

[musicdeb]

I hear ya, Tina. Titan sees me getting the cotton balls and bowl. He usually runs into his kennel and will not come out so I have to close it first before getting the cotton balls. Once the kennel is closed, he knows. He then will sit in a corner still as can be saying, "she can't see me, she can't see me."

 

[NeSaxena]

@ Dennasmom - He's on probiotic and multivitamin supplementation, but he was also eating yogurt and pumpkin till a couple of days ago, which I'm thinking was the major cause of gas. Now, he'll fart only if you do something to his ears!!! BUT those, on a scale of 1 to 10 are a 747! I'll definitely try the fish oil thing, though.

@musicdeb - Boone's favorite place to hide is under a chair we have lying outside which he does NOT fit on or under anymore. So he's now learning from ostriches - shoves a chair into a corner, gets under it, with his butt out from one side! "If I can't see her, she can't see me!" ROFL! :lolbangtable:

 

[musicdeb]

hahahahahahahaha on the chair maneuvers!

 

[Robtouw]

All of my dogs that have had floppy ears were bad about that nasty brown waxy build up.

 

[NeSaxena]

All of my dogs that have had floppy ears were bad about that nasty brown waxy build up.

Oh! How did you deal with it?

Update: Itchiness is gone now He'll only want to scratch the collar off when we're taking him out for a walk Yay!

 

[ruthcatrin]

yay!

 

[Robtouw]

I use a baby wipe every couple of days to wipe the inner ear and the flap. Once a month when he goes for his bath they really clean the inner part with irrigation and a chlorhexidine solution. The baby wipe thing requires a lot of peanut butter to keep him still!

 

[NeSaxena]

I use a baby wipe every couple of days to wipe the inner ear and the flap. Once a month when he goes for his bath they really clean the inner part with irrigation and a chlorhexidine solution. The baby wipe thing requires a lot of peanut butter to keep him still!

I'm gonna try that.

 

[Robtouw]

Works good. In the hotter months I wipe the inside of the ear with mineral oil, it helps keep bugs out of his ears. I use it on my horses as well and it really helps.

 

[musicdeb]

I tried the ear wipes and they made Titan's ears worse. I have found the ear cleanser that deb posted works great! I've used it for about a week now and his ears are completely clean today. I will continue to use the cleanser because it works.

 

[NeSaxena]

Okay he has ear mites - vet confirmed today. Should I still clean his ears with the tea remedy?