Male Yorkie Skin problem... Help!

[jaracose]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post and I have a big problem with my 1 year old yorkie. He has a huge problem with licking and scratching. A little background:

Currently we have him on "Royal Canin Yorkshire Terrier 28" dog food.

We have already had him into the vet several times. They have done skin scraping and confirmed no mites or mange. They perscribed VANECTYL-P tablets for 15 days and while it seemed to help a little it didnt really stop him.

We were bathing him about once a week but have stopped and now bath him no more than once every 3 or 4 weeks. Mind you, he stinks

Ive attached some pictures as well just so that you can see that he truely is having problems. We feel really bad and cant seem to figure out what the problem is

Any advise or help would be helpfull....

[TLC]

Poor baby...

The food you are feeding is loaded with corn, which is a know allergen to dogs, so I would change his food to a good brand that doesn't have corn or by-products. You can give him some fish oil, I like Nordic Naturals for Pets, to his daily food. When my Roxy has the itches, I give her Children's Grape Fastmelt tabs. You can get the correct dose for your fella from your Vet. (Roxy is 4.5 lbs and can have 1/2 up to 3x a day).

Fabric softeners and the dies and fragrence in laundry detergent can cause skin issues too. So maybe change to the 'free' of 'stuff' kind.

Keep us posted!

You may have to see a derm vet

[107barney]

What did you vet say this was? They look kinda like the hotspots Barney gets secondary to his allergies.

[jaracose]

thanks for the advise.. any recomendations on food?

[hugz4all4]

Tucker has the same issue when he eats food with corn in it and if he ends up with fleas (which isnt very often).. my guess would be its the food you are feeding. Try switching (slowly, over several days) to a grain free product, like totw, acana, orijen, etc. to see if that helps.

[Armani Alexis]

This problem is not unique to male Yorkies. I have to agree with the recommendation to change his food. A grain-free diet with fish oil sprinkled on top should help a great deal. My little girl has allergies and our vet has me bathe her weekly and it is clear that the weekly baths are soothing for her.

We have success with NOW Small Breed Formula (it is chicken-free, grain-free and is not too high in protein) http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=209.

I hope you find relief for your little boy soon.

[kayi078]

get this, i am ordering the 2nd bottle.

Amazon.com: Grizzly Salmon Oil All-Natural Dog...

[Furbaby Friend]

I recommend Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet Potato and Duck Small Breed Bites. It is a grain free product and is limited ingredient and thus recommended for pets with allergies. It also uses an uncommon protein source, which reduces the chance of a reaction (things like chicken are known to be aggravating). My Rylie is on it and does great. Granted Rylie doesn't have allergies, but my cat Suki does. Rylie is on this food in case Suki accidentally gets into her bowl.

Suki had food allergies and was throwing up her food very often (almost everyday) and was scratching her ears raw. After switching her to NB LID Duck and Green Pea (the cat formula), she stopped puking up her food and is doing really well! We were soooooo happy. The scratching reduced, but she ended up having environmental allergies as well so it didn't completely stop. We're now managing her environmental allergies with other things, but the food switch was definitely a good thing for her. I highly recommend Natural Balance for pets with allergies!

[bchgirl]

His food is the culprit. Mine reacted the same way on Royal Canin. Now I feed Taste of the wild ..

[beachdog]

Paris looked like that also until I switched him to Blue Buffalo Senior.

[Bertina]

My dog has the same thing! Does yours's totally stink just a few hours after bathing?? I just recently changed his food to eukemba yorkie! He seems to love it because it's very small bites! My poor baby has been on medicine a antibiotic and a anti fungal and steroid shot once a month! The vet told me it takes months to get rid of this but never told me he might have a food allergy.... My dogs rash is more located on his face! I've cleared up most of all his other issues! Lol! This dog was a rescue and our first yorkie! We are learning a bunch! This is great!

[Ringo1]

My Westie used to get staph infections from scratching so much. We did change his food to Blue B uffalo Wilderness Duck; and added a little fish oil to his food as well.

When his allergies were actiing up, the Vet prescribed OTC Zyrtec. We give him one full tablet; but he is much larger than a yorkie.

The vet also recommended that we bathe him frequently when his itching starts up; he prescribed a soothing, cortisone shampoo for his hair and skin. I think it was called Cortisoothe and I got it from the Vet.

There is usually one week in the Spring and one in the fall in which he requires a round of prednisone to help control his allergies and itching.

Good Luck. Severe allergies or itching can make your dog miserable.

[buggz]

He secretly scratches his ears when we are not watching him and he chews himself so bad it looks like a teenagers first hickey attempt! Then it looks like big bites/welts. We've had him 2 yrs now, he's 6, he was a very vomiting little guy when I got him , but now it's very rare. When he came to live with us he was on "Ceasars for small dogs", I changed his food right away, I put him on "Nutro" Natural Choice Limited Ingredients, the same food I have my Shi-itzu on, but that was a big mistake! He bloated up so bad he was in dire pain, after eating every day, I took him out in the yard last winter (it was really cold) for his pee, he just sat there crying and fell over just like a statue in slow motion,and then laying there shaking like a leaf! Oh I was so scared for the little guy, I got him to the vet, they put tubes into his belly to un-bloat him took exrays and did the whole gambit, after $600 bill the vet still didn't know what was wrong with him! So i took him home and started doing research to help the little guy.
I was a trained Chef and I've worked in a Health Food Store so I know a bit about nutrition, Now he's a beautiful healthy rambunctious Yorkie! I changed his food to "Summit Premium Holistic Pet food, Canadian Chicken Dog Crunchies" and WOW, what a difference, I also make my own doggie cookies that are great (made with rice flour and oats) I creep my husband out and eat one once in a while when I give the dogs one! also in them is apples,bananas,spinach, carrots and Oat bran and Flax, and a touch of honey. To be safe at dinner time I still give Petey about 4ml of " Liquid Baby" Colic meds, works great! he's not making us wear gas mask's to bed anymore! I still find he has a few environmental allergies so occasionally he gets an allergy pill in a piece of roasted Potato.
He still has a really bad habit that hampers his food digestion, He Does NOT CHEW HIS FOOD, HE INHALES IT!! So with his dinner I sprinkle Digestive Enzymes on his food.
I give Petey and his brother and Cat sister treats every night at 8pm, they all get ( a few crunchies from their food bag)I praise Buggz the Shi-itzu on his crunching of his treat and it seems to have caught on by Petey who gets lots of praise when he crunches his food, if only I could get him to do that when he eats his supper!!
Good Luck all, I'm sorry this was so long, this is my second post, I'll try to keep them shorter!

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by jaracose

We were bathing him about once a week but have stopped and now bath him no more than once every 3 or 4 weeks. Mind you, he stinks

Do you mean he has an odor most of the time, even soon after bath? If yes, it makes me wonder about systemic yeast. For that, he'd be given Diflucan x 3-6 weeks.

It also looks like it could be pyoderma (staph intermedius), which can be 2ndary to any kind of allergy, whether food, pollen, enviro.

He needs to be bathed 1-2x per week right now (do not use Oatmeal shampoos, despite what you hear...they will exacerbate existing skin issues); use something like this , or a prescription shampoo from the vet.

To rule in/rule out a food allergy - you really have to do an elimination diet for at least 8 weeks. Personally, I'd get this kiddo to a Vet Dermatologist ASAP! They will be able to help you tremendously.

[Lil Sis]

There has been a lot of excellent advice posted... I will add mine

A.)
Food-- the corn may be the problem. I also use the natural balance limited ingredient.

If my babies spend the night at a friend who uses "regular" food they come back itching!! - Also ear infections stopped when I changed food.

B.)
I just added salmon oil - I got it at petsupermarket. I see someone gave you a link to purchase online. Before that I used fishoil tablets that I cut opened --weee my finger did smell ;(

C.)
At this point you have to worry about staph infections.. please see the vet.
Also -- when this started with mine I had to get shots a few times to "get over the hump" so to speak.. to give the little guy some relief

D.)
Flea bits can cause allergies - that is what I had to get the shots for.

F.)
Check into apple cider vinegar -- there are some post on yt that were so good I purchased it and started yesterday.. add to drinking water and add to rinse water

G.)
I use t-gel (tar) shampoo and it helps


I am sure I repeated a lot.... but if I added anything that helps you I am gald. I have a shih tuz and Laso that have major troubles with skin and have tried just about everything over the last 6 years...above is what I have learned that helps