Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Why does my dog smell worse all of a sudden?
Okay, it could just be my pregnancy nose, but I've only noticed it in the past month or so. Bailey used to go two weeks between baths and even then not smell too bad. Now, he starts stinking within a few days of a bath. I haven't changed his food (he eats a variety of Wellness canned). I have washed all his bedding w/ Nature's Miracle and cleaned out his crate, but I just bathed him on Monday, and yesterday afternoon, he was already stinking again!
Is there a medical issue that could be causing this?
Re: Why does my dog smell worse all of a sudden?
I think your sense of smell can become heightened during pregnancy. I would be willing to bet you are just smelling things you never could before.
)
oh, and PS - congratulations!
Check for yeasty paws/ears.
We had a problem with this last year and it wasn't any of the common issues like diet or yeast. As it turned out, it was because his coat was mildewing due to keeping him in the air conditioning after giving him a bath. His undercoat couldn't dry completely and thus mildewed. After a full day in the sunshine, we've never had a problem with it. Just something to consider, although it's winter.
Ew! It does take his coat a long time to dry.
How can I tell if his paws and ears are yeasty?
Thanks, Maine!
Is he chewing his paws a lot or do his ears seem itchy? Does he seem to smell worse in those areas? If so, the only way to solve the problem is to eliminate yeast from the diet. You can do medications or soaks, but that's just slapping a bandaid on it and not fixing anything.
If he isn't displaying the above signs, it could just be that the coat isn't drying enough. I would recommend just not bathing him for a while and letting him get outside as much as possible. I don't know where you live, but since it's winter I assume that won't do as much as just taking the time to blow dry him completely (which could take hours depending on the coat).
When we went though this, I remember Miko smelled so bad... like a musty smell that just wouldn't go away. We kept bathing him over and over and I even had the groomer do a skunk shampoo on him, but of course later we found out that the bathing and not sun drying was the problem! So frustrating.
I would check his paws,ears, and then look at his arm pits and belly if it smells yeasty. With the type of coat, he really shouldn't have a lot of smell to begin with. But it sounds like you aren't drying him after baths and that can definitely lead to yeast issues and hot spots. If possible, I try to use several towels and then blow dry with forced air not heat. It's really important to get him dry down to the skin otherwise wetness will stay trapped under the under coat and can lead to yeast growing.
If ears or feet smell yeasty, I would clean with witch hazel because the alcohol is self drying and won't leave wetness behind. In the fall we had a bit of a yeasty smell on Keefer's feet in between the toes because everything was so wet outside. A few cleanings and he was fine again.
Okay, well the smell didn't seem concentrated around his ears. It actually seemed worse on his back than his head. I brushed him and noticed some yellow flakes. I don't know if it's just dry skin or something related to the smell, but I hadn't noticed them before.
It does get damp in our house a lot this time of year, because many days it's too cool for the a/c and too hot for the heat. I dry him as thoroughly as I can with towels after a bath, and sometimes I've used the blowdryer a little to speed things up, but I've never blown him completely dry.
He needs to go to the groomer's soon. Is there anything special I should ask them to do/use?
Yellow flakes, hmm, I don't know what that would be. You could try adding oil and vitamin E to his diet if you don't in case it's dry skin (fish oil and coconut oils are good). Maybe the groomer will have ideas on what it could be.
This may seem counter to what I said, but I dry my dog down to the skin, but to keep the coat hydrated especially in the winter when it's dry here, I put a light spray of water over his coat (outer coat so it doesn't really dampen him, just a mist).
If it's on his back, does he roll in anything that might smell?
I would just emphasize that he must be COMPLETELY DRY -several times- because they often get lazy and won't do it.