I apologize in advance for the length of this message, more like a novel haha, I am just trying to give you the details of the problem, what I am doing to attempt to treat it, so you can best give me advice.
I moved in with my grandparents recently due to my grandfather struggling to recover from a recent serious heart surgery and stroke, so I came here to give my grandma a hand in caring for him while she is at work. Well, they have an approx. 12 year old mixed breed dog whom my uncle brought home a few years ago, and he quickly became my grandparent's beloved family dog. But my grandparents being the "old timers" they are, are unfamiliar with common health issues that dogs get, as well as the health issues that crappy dog food can cause, they have also rarely bathed him and have most certainly not clean his ears. They feed him crap dog food that is the cheapest they can get at the store, typical Ol' Roy type food.
He is having some serious skin issues, and I looked inside his ears and they are absolutely atrocious. I am assuming his skin issues, and possibly his ear issues as well, can be attributed to the dog food he is being fed, perhaps food allergies?
Let me know what you think when you look at the photos. I did give him a bath on the 26th of January, I used an oatmeal dog shampoo, and created a rinse after doing some research on home remedies for skin issues like this on the internet. The rinse consisted of apple cider vinegar, green tea, oatmeal, epsom salts and water. I used that to rinse him after scrubbing him down, before rinsing him.
Since I do not have a store bought ear cleaner, I also researched ear cleaners you can create at home and created an air cleaner consisting of apple cider vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and water.
So far I have been cleaning his ears every other day, and although it is doing a great job at flushing all of the gunk out, his ears honestly do not look all thay much better (slight difference though).
I was spraying down his butt a couple times a day with a store bought hot spot spray, but since last night have started rubbing it down with Bag Balm. I did that because I figured it would stay on his skin much longer than a hot spot spray and therefore moisturize for much longer and provide him with extended relief. I have also found 2, what I assume were/are hot spots, on both the left and right side of his chest, and on his hind quarter. They feel like dry patches about the size of the palm of my hand with giant flakes coming off of them when I scratch them, I called them flakes for lack of a better word but they are more like hard beads of skin, if that makes sense at all??
My grandfather also found what I assume is a hotspot on him before I gave him the bath, which had healed before I gave him the bath and turned into just a patch of dry skin, whereas when my grandfather had first found it it was a raw, bloody patch and he flinched anytime you got near it while petting him.
I really feel terrible because he hates me, he just sees me as some girl that invaded his home and all the sudden started flushing stuff down his ears and rubbing stuff all over his butt, which is probably painful, I would imagine. But the good news is my grandparents told me he is not waking them up at night itching and shaking his head, and whining and crying. So I know progress is being made, and hopefully once we change the food we will be able to eliminate the core of the problem, I just feel so bad that he doesn't really know I am helping him and he runs from me practically every time he sees me...
I already informed my grandmother that she absolutely must change his food, and convinced her to get a bag of Kirkland brand from Costco, which she will have my aunt pick up for her next week, unfortunately that is the earliest she can/will get it.
Does anybody know what could be causing this, am I right that it is most likely food allergies? Is there anything else I can do to help him? Any advice is greatly appreciated or any suggestions for other home remedies that I can treat his skin or ears with, I really want to help him feel better, the poor thing is just itching constantly and has a skip to his walk because you can tell his butt is so uncomfortable, he also holds his tail to the side and tight to his bottom when he walks because the skin on his butt is probably so itchy and painful.
If you need any specific photos that you would like me to take please do not hesitate to ask. I did my best to take photos so you can tell exactly what I am talking about. Also, although I am trying to explain everything the best I can I understand that my word choice may not be the best and I may not have been clear enough about some details, so if there is something you are confused about please do not hesitate to ask me to clarify. Thank you so much, in advance, for any help or advice you may be able to offer.
His ears on 1/26/15, taken during his FIRST EVER ear cleaning:
After his bath on 1/26/15:
Close ups from last night so you can see how yellow his dry skin is:
Here you can see the yellowing of the dry skin and how irritated and red the skin on his tail looks:
Few more photos coming...
I moved in with my grandparents recently due to my grandfather struggling to recover from a recent serious heart surgery and stroke, so I came here to give my grandma a hand in caring for him while she is at work. Well, they have an approx. 12 year old mixed breed dog whom my uncle brought home a few years ago, and he quickly became my grandparent's beloved family dog. But my grandparents being the "old timers" they are, are unfamiliar with common health issues that dogs get, as well as the health issues that crappy dog food can cause, they have also rarely bathed him and have most certainly not clean his ears. They feed him crap dog food that is the cheapest they can get at the store, typical Ol' Roy type food.
He is having some serious skin issues, and I looked inside his ears and they are absolutely atrocious. I am assuming his skin issues, and possibly his ear issues as well, can be attributed to the dog food he is being fed, perhaps food allergies?
Let me know what you think when you look at the photos. I did give him a bath on the 26th of January, I used an oatmeal dog shampoo, and created a rinse after doing some research on home remedies for skin issues like this on the internet. The rinse consisted of apple cider vinegar, green tea, oatmeal, epsom salts and water. I used that to rinse him after scrubbing him down, before rinsing him.
Since I do not have a store bought ear cleaner, I also researched ear cleaners you can create at home and created an air cleaner consisting of apple cider vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and water.
So far I have been cleaning his ears every other day, and although it is doing a great job at flushing all of the gunk out, his ears honestly do not look all thay much better (slight difference though).
I was spraying down his butt a couple times a day with a store bought hot spot spray, but since last night have started rubbing it down with Bag Balm. I did that because I figured it would stay on his skin much longer than a hot spot spray and therefore moisturize for much longer and provide him with extended relief. I have also found 2, what I assume were/are hot spots, on both the left and right side of his chest, and on his hind quarter. They feel like dry patches about the size of the palm of my hand with giant flakes coming off of them when I scratch them, I called them flakes for lack of a better word but they are more like hard beads of skin, if that makes sense at all??
My grandfather also found what I assume is a hotspot on him before I gave him the bath, which had healed before I gave him the bath and turned into just a patch of dry skin, whereas when my grandfather had first found it it was a raw, bloody patch and he flinched anytime you got near it while petting him.
I really feel terrible because he hates me, he just sees me as some girl that invaded his home and all the sudden started flushing stuff down his ears and rubbing stuff all over his butt, which is probably painful, I would imagine. But the good news is my grandparents told me he is not waking them up at night itching and shaking his head, and whining and crying. So I know progress is being made, and hopefully once we change the food we will be able to eliminate the core of the problem, I just feel so bad that he doesn't really know I am helping him and he runs from me practically every time he sees me...
I already informed my grandmother that she absolutely must change his food, and convinced her to get a bag of Kirkland brand from Costco, which she will have my aunt pick up for her next week, unfortunately that is the earliest she can/will get it.
Does anybody know what could be causing this, am I right that it is most likely food allergies? Is there anything else I can do to help him? Any advice is greatly appreciated or any suggestions for other home remedies that I can treat his skin or ears with, I really want to help him feel better, the poor thing is just itching constantly and has a skip to his walk because you can tell his butt is so uncomfortable, he also holds his tail to the side and tight to his bottom when he walks because the skin on his butt is probably so itchy and painful.
If you need any specific photos that you would like me to take please do not hesitate to ask. I did my best to take photos so you can tell exactly what I am talking about. Also, although I am trying to explain everything the best I can I understand that my word choice may not be the best and I may not have been clear enough about some details, so if there is something you are confused about please do not hesitate to ask me to clarify. Thank you so much, in advance, for any help or advice you may be able to offer.
His ears on 1/26/15, taken during his FIRST EVER ear cleaning:
After his bath on 1/26/15:
Close ups from last night so you can see how yellow his dry skin is:
Here you can see the yellowing of the dry skin and how irritated and red the skin on his tail looks:
Few more photos coming...
