Are yorkie prone to skin issues?
 

There are so many threads about itching. Is this a yorkie issue or do other dogs have this problem? Teeka is still scratching and she had been on a grain free food for 2 1/2 months. She does not get any treats that contain grains, either! I shampoo her weekly and follow up with GNC Medicated conditioner. Also use Pantene Ice conditioner...... I don't see any broken skin or irritated, rashy areas. Why is she scratching so bad?

First off I wouldn't use Pantene or any other product for humans. The pH of these products is formulated for people not dogs. Are yorkies prone to it hides? I don't think so. Only one of mine has allergies and scratches. And when we visit the dermatologist, there arent that many yorkies compared with other breeds. For my dog with allergies, I like yorkie splash and shine shampoo the best (Yorkie Splash and Yorkie Shine | Yorkie Shampoo and Yorkie Conditioner). For my others, I really like Les Pooches products.

Food allergies are kind of rare. In my view, sometimes grain free formulas are worse because they have lots of pea or legume proteins that can be just as intolerable as grains. I currently feed grain free, but it's home cooked. For many years, my dogs ate brown rice and we had no issues with grains.

Your vet should be able to help with the itching.

She goes back into the vet in a couple of weeks. I will definitely address this problem, again. Someone one here uses Pantene Ice on their yorkies. That is why I started using it on her. I will just try using the Medicated conditioner for a while. Thanks!

I don't think I'd use the medicated stuff either. Sometimes people use Chlor hex shampoos formulated for dogs. But thats for when they have bacterial or fungal skin infections. Virbac also makes a product called epi soothe that might calm her down. My former vet sold that but I've seen it online. I liked it, but needed conditioner of my own for the long coated dogs. Or you could just do an oatmeal bath but it's a pain to rinse it all out. Good luck!

When did she start itching, did you change anything before that? Joey's breeder stressed the importance of rinsing, and said after you feel like you've rinsed enough, rinse another minute. Shampoo left on the skin can be irritating. Is the itching all over or just in certain places? Has the vet done a skin scaping? Neither one of mine have itching problems, so I don't think it always a problem, but it does seem pretty common here.

I use a oatmeal based puppy shampoo. Maybe I am not rinsing enough. I have a spray attachment that I use to rinse her with and I thought I rinse her well. She used to scratch her ears a lot and she had a yeast infection. That was treated and I continue to clean and dry her ears. Most of her scratching is in the neck/ face area. She also bites or chews on her legs or tops of her feet. She is not constantly itching but when she does, it is frantic scratching that lasts quiet a few seconds!

I would think if it's a problem based on not rinsing enough, there would be more itching on the back area. I wonder if the yeast infection is really in check? Sometimes if they're on an antibiotic, the bacteria that keep the yeast in check are killed and the yeast grows out of control. I've read that itching and biting on the feet can indicate a food problem, but it can also be an environmental allergy such as allergic to grass. You also want to check her nails, because dogs will bite at overgrown nails. I really would have the vet do another checkup. Maybe you could keep a dairy of how bad the itching is each day and chart such things as “walked on grass”, to see if you can find any correlations. I definitely would try rinsing the shampoo out more and I wish you the best of luck!

It is cold here during the winter, so I wouldn't think it would be grass. Her ears don't smell....well maybe slightly, but not that funky smell! I do try to keep her nails clipped. She is not a fan of the clipping, so I only do a couple at a time!

Oh that's right, I forget it's winter in some places! I wonder if mites could be a problem? Maybe the vet could do a skin scraping?

My dog has problems all year winter or not.

Jasmine our little 4 yr old yorkie had a terrible problem with itching and even had some sores on her back and tummy at times. We fought this for over a year or so. We, of course took her to the vet several times, used two different shampoos from vet, went the way of the steroids, changed food to basic blue, no treats, never people food, gave her the fish oil supplement, tried the different conditioners and rinsed, rinsed, rinsed. All of this and my poor baby was still miserable, very frustrating, for her and me. Finally someone on here was raving about coconut oil........BINGO.....that's what worked for our little Jasmine. I know this might not be the answer for little one, but I just wanted to let you know what worked for Jasmine. We use Nutiva organic cold pressed coconut oil from GNC. She is 5 lbs and I give her 1/2 tsp.

Do you put this on her food? I am willing to try anything to help with the itching. I will also as for a skin scraping when she goes to the vet.

I have read that some people here on YT do, however I just put in a tsp and each of my girls line right up for it like I am the ice cream wagon on a hot July day. They love it and their breath smells great. Also, I have noticed that their coat is shinier. Again if it wasn't for YT I probably would have never heard about the use of coconut oil and dogs. I would start out with a very small amount according to their weight and adjust as tolerated. You might want to discuss this with your vet too.

I couldn't swear to it, but it might have been me raving about the benefits of coconut oil. ;)

But, you can feed it to them straight, put it in food, let them lick it off your fingers, rub it on their skin, spray it in solution on their coat, put it in their shampoo solution...any number of ways. Make sure you get 100% virgin organic coconut oil...if the label doesn't say it, it doesn't have it inside the jar. :p:D

I know lots of things have been helped, fixed, eliminated, enhanced, etc. by using coconut oil...leather ear resolved, for example...in people, too...kidney stones, candida as more examples. You can go to coconutoil.com and check out what they say about it, but it is one of the healthiest substances you can consume.

My Yorkies will lick it off my fingers, off a spoon or bowl/saucer, or even chew chunks of it in its solid form (it's melting point is 76 F so it solidifies at 75 F), and I have been asked many times 'what dosage' to give but it is food, so no 'dosage' actually exists...unless you just do not get enough to be effective. One example of that might be if you had a raging candidiasis going on and were only consuming a tiny bit of coconut oil, you might not be getting enough coconut oil to control the candida overgrowth and see no benefit and think it doesn't work. Medicine sees this, also...take too little of your pain med and you still hurt. :rolleyes:

If you get too much oil on their hair, they'll just get oily till it goes away or you wash them again, but it won't hurt them, and they will lick it off, too and get the internal benefit...same with sprays...but it will absorb on skin...which it is good for skin, too...very rich in lauric acid, among other things.

I won't say it will always work 'for what ails ya' but coconut oil is very beneficial. Good luck! :)

Navillusc, thank you! I knew someone would come here with more information on the "wonders" of coconut oil. You may very well have been the one that I first heard about the benefits of coconut oil, if so, thank you bc it has literally changed Jasmine's life.

Where can I purchase coconut oil? Someone said they use GNC coconut oil. Petsmart carries that brand, so would they have it? I will talk to my vet about it, too. Since it is an oil, does it cause an unhealthy weight gain or have any side effects?

Most grocery stores carry it in their health food section. You are right, it can cause unhealthy weight gain and for those dogs that have to have a low fat diet it may not be a good idea. I've read several people say it was a last resort kind of thing and they were extremely happy, for others, it had no effect. Still others say it works topically on sores, but it does nothing when ingested. I’m always suspicious of anything that is touted as a cure all, and it seems like coconut oil would have died away because it’s a saturated fat, but now all these websites are screaming the virtues of coconut oil, so its suddenly become very popular. Lots of junk foods use to contain it and they warned us against it. I’m the type of person who likes to see scientific proof, so I would want to see what my vet had to say before I started self-curing. Sometimes, we can mask symptoms just enough that the vet can’t diagnose the problem correctly. Reality check: Coconut oil is not healthy? Beware? « Felicissima. If the vet doesn't have any answers, I'd probably try the 1/2 tsp. of coconut oil, and I'd make an appointment with a dermatologist.

Coconut oil does not promote weight gain...quite the contrary, actually...it promotes metabolism and weight loss. Coconut oil has been in recent years downplayed and sometimes outright 'demonized' but its benefits have not changed. There has been 'confusion' introduced surrounding saturated fats, which I will not attempt to explain here, but "saturation" relates to molecular attributes specifically and is not synonymous with "unhealthy" by any means.

You can buy coconut oil lots of places these days...just make sure you get 100% virgin organic coconut oil.

It only promotes weight gain because it is high in calories like any fat product. I know some people have said it promotes metabolism and weight loss, but is there any scientific research that says this? From the Mayo Clinic website. Coconut oil and weight loss: Does it work? - MayoClinic.com

The only skin problem mine have had is chachi had mange and had to be treated for it. He had one bout with itchiness and I changed food and the itchiness stopped so no I dont think all yorkies have allergy related itching

I think I will have a visit with my vet about her itching and what to add if any thing to her diet. Maybe request a skin scraping to see if their is a cause for the symptoms. I would like to find out why she scratches not just cover the symptoms . My yorkie that passed in August rarely scratched, only had 1 yeast ear infection in 10 years! Max rarely scratches, either! Teeka is my baby and I want the best for her. Thank you everyone for the input!

I'm like you; I want to find the why's! Sometimes covering up symptoms just gets you further down the hole. On the other hand, sometimes it just seems like our knowledge is still so limited, and we have to settle on what may help with symptoms. Best of luck!

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org...h%20Center.pdf

One must be willing to look at the subject open-mindedly and in depth...research does not ever come from one source alone. Take care. {{{Hugs}}} :)

Link to list of PubMed research articles:

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org...h%20Center.pdf

My background is science and research, so I’m kind of a hard nose. Please don't get me wrong, it may work, but I'm just the type that needs proof before you make certain statements. I really wish they weren't saying SO many things about it and what it will cure; they did the same thing with apple cider vinegar a few years ago, and that just makes me more skeptical. I would definitely agree it needs more study, and because it doesn't seem dangerous in any way, and it would not harm most people or animals, so you could do your own little experiment. However, people should be aware that YES, it does contain calories and saturated fat.

:thumbup:
Coconut oil is amazing. I use it daily.

Would coconut milk have the same benefits? Or does it have to be an oil?

It could be a food allergy. When I first adopted Artie, he had what looked like acne on his belly. His previous owners had been feeding him canned Pedigree Chicken. I switched him to dried Wilderness Chicken, thinking that a higher quality food might improve his overall coat. The acne rash persisted. The vet thought it was some sort of allergy, but did not want to use medication yet. A groomer suggested switching him to Pure Vita Duck and Oatmeal dried food. The acne rash cleared up within two weeks of the switch and has never returned. He eats a combination of the Pure Vita Turkey and Duck and Oatmeal. Problem solved.

LowRain, she has been on BB Freedom for about 2 1/2 months and gets only gluten free homemade treats, green beans or greek yogurt to top her kibble.