How can I reduce smell on Labrador which licks himself

peter021072

Has anyone ideas about how to reduce odour from a dogs fur?  It's like smelly socks not poo, not sweet.  His bed, floor, toys & collar are odourless, the smell just follows him round.  Recently I eliminated metabolic problems, & got his teeth and gums cleaned. He's also just finished an antibiotic treatment for gingivitis which may still be there.  Although his gums are still dark red, his mouth no longer smells much, and breath from his nose never did.  It seems to be coming from his fur, particularly where he licks.  I gave him a good clean yesterday and today with dog shampoo with no success.

My theory is that because he constantly licks himself due to atopia, the saliva on the fur magnifies the problem, like when a dog is wet but constantly. 

So I'm looking for something to apply to a dogs fur (better than shampoo) or a freshener which neutralises smells rather than just covers them up.  My only solution at the moment is an open window & I have hay fever!

sheramber

I assume you mean atopic dermatitis. You need to address the cause of the smell. If your dog is constantly licking he is uncomfortable, itchy and probably as distressed as you are, if not more so. If your vet cannot help then you need to ask for referral to a specialist. 

You mention several things you have investigated but have you looked at food. Sensitivity to doe foods or additives is a common cause of skin problems.
Use a good quality food with  few ingredients. Better still look at raw feeding.

peter021072

Well yes but how to find the source.

He's been to two different vets now.  The second one didn't think the atopic dermatitis was particularly severe and probably isn't worth pursuing with the more expensive treatments such as Cytopoint yet. It was treatment for Atopic dermatitis which preceded the smell problem using steroids.  They didn't help anyway, and this could be a factor in triggering off a different problem.   There's certainly no smell from his mouth now his teeth have been cleaned, but the deep red gingivitis is still there so it's unclear if the antibiotics did much.

Yes food often gets mentioned as a cause of smells, but mostly by naturopaths not vets. He's on one of the best diets available so I'm not experimenting with new diets.  There's a great deal of false information exposed here and you can end up wasting time on useless treatments and going round in circles, both from vets and the less qualified.

His 'armpits' smell like corn crisps as mentioned in the link.  At other times the room has filled with a smell like used socks; both of which are reported to be a sign of fungus. Neither vet mentioned the possibility of fungus though and both have inspected his ears.

Today he's licking much less, and smells a bit better overall. However, I'll keep my eye out for other fungus signs and get a formal test done on this or/and obtain a suitable shampoo if necessary.

sheramber

How do you know that the one of the best diets available is the best for him.
Ihad a dog who scratched herself night and day. It took 2 years before I was advised by a homeopathic  representative  at a dog show that the most likely cause was food related. 
I started to feed her boiled chicken and rice and within 3 days she stopped scratching. IT took several weeks for her skin to heal where she had scratched so much the skin was black. It became a healthy pink.
I found that as long as I avoided wheat gluten she was okay.
That was before there was the variety of foods you can get today. All processed foods contained wheat so I ended up feeding boiled chicken or boiled fish and rice until a dog food with chicken and rice came on the market.
My vet had told me it was very unlikely to be diet related but I took matters into my own hands.

I had one who was sensitive to animal fat and was fed a vegetarian diet.
Another  who reacted to lamb.
Chicken is a common cause of problems. 

A friend’s dog head sores on his feet which the skin specialist diagnosed as caused by store mites found in dried dog food. He was changed to tinned Chappie and the sores cleared.

It doesn't matter How ‘good’ a food is if there is an ingredient in it that your dog can’t tolerate. Y out are just  wasting money on treating symptoms rather the cause.

Apintplease

Cheesy feet smell is usually linked to Sebhorric Dermatitis , treatment being a grain free diet and malaseb shampoo twice a week

My last cocker was plagued with it until we changed him to Harringtons  grain free - after trying all the super expensive foods