Dandruff problem need help!

It could be a thyroid. Thinning hair, and dander all could be a thyroid issue. I hope not but the vet could tell you.

 

Just got back from the vet 80 bills lighter. Did the skin scrape and found nothing, but when he was treated for demodox the first time they didnt find anything either. This time though instead of giving me ivermectin (sp?) he just gave me an anti bacteria ointment to put on the spot on his tail twice a day. He looked at his fur and said that because he doesn't itch and his skin isn't red he highly doubts allergies. He said their is a thing where instead of the skin naturally falling off in tiny tiny flakes that it builds up and falls of in large ones. He wants to do a skin biopsy when we take him in to get neutured. He said in very rare occations the mites are deep in the skin and can't be scrapped up. I am going to alternate between the ointment and nu-stock to see if it helps the spot on his tail. I read the bottle again and I have been putting it on wrong. I didn't realize I was supposed to clean off the old stuff before puttin on new nu-stock. I brush him every other day with the wire brushes that have rubber tips and that just makes more dander lol. Going to try the olive oil thing and that shampoo that was recommended. He is on frontline for fleas and ticks. Besides the raw food he just gets his Omega oil. Like I said though this happened before and he was eating Orijen kibble at the time. Thank you everyone for the input I appreciate it.

 

olive oil in the food is a good one aswell- as far as the possibility of deep mites- try sprinkling a bit of garlic powder on the food aswell (not too much as garlic is of the onion family- light, like a sprinkling of salt)

 

Thanks RR I did the olive oil thing today i also added a 200mg Vitamin E pill to his food. I forgot I don't just feed raw. I also give him yogurt which is what I put the Omega oil and now olive oil into. Ordered the shampoo today so we shall see if it helps.

 

ok this i what i heard what should help:

after washing your dog, leave the fur quite wet and apply an eucalyptus oil and tea tree oil on the affected areas!
make sure to get a PURE high quality oil and not some cheap mixed stuff.
and be carefull that your dog doesnt get it in his eyes.

if you do that every week or every 2 weeks it should go away.
(ask your vet about it before trying it...)

 

Good to know. I figure if I do everything the Vet and people tell me on here to do and nothing works I am shaving his ass and breeding him as some rare hairless pitbull. I'll make a killing!!!

 

I had a girl that used to get quite dandruffy on certain foods. First things I'd try...


Change the food to something with completely different ingredients.
Stop bathing the dog and brush or towel scrub the dog instead.
Stop with the 3, 6 and nine EFA and go with just the three. Six and nine are pretty easy to come by in a diet, where three's not so much so if there is an imbalance of those fatty acids, you basically defeat the purpose of giving any.

Thyroid can definitley be an issue here. I'd get some bloodwork done.

 

Oh ya... forgot another one. Some people have luck with alopecia by adding some apple cider vinegar to the diet.

 

Well I only feed chicken, beef, and pork raw so I didn't want him to miss out on the 6 and 9. My dog won't eat fish he would much rather roll in it. I will take a look into the apple cider vinegar.

So far I have to try:

Vitamin E
Olive Oil (1 tbls)
Apple Cider Vinegar
The special shampoo
Eucalyptus oil
Tea Tree oil
Garlic powder (small amount)

Lol something is going to do it.

 

Hey just so you know apple cider vinegar can be used for an abundance of things I give it to my dogs every day orally 2 teaspoons each dog per day ... Here are 2 great links so you can read up on the benefits of giving your dog or pet apple cider vinegar...

http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/Ten-Good-Reasons-to-Give-Your-Pet-Apple-Cider-Vinegar.30311

http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html

 

If I understand the research I did correctly, six is actually quite easily obtained in meat due to the high grain content of their feed, so if you are giving all three of them, you could be putting it all out of balance. lol Dogs do need a higher six ratio to threes than people, but because of the lack of greens in the diet of their food sometimes you have to readjust things. If I was going to add more than the three, I'd go with a source for the six's and not the nines. Even with this supplement for dogs, they don't add the nines..

http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf%5Fid=20540004&dept%5Fid=1052&brand%5Fid=624&mscssid=6ED0B2WN8M0P9JL2F7DMWBR73RRE8SB0

Here's a link to some info. No doubt explains it better than I could! lol

http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/fa.html

 

Actually, here's another good article on the EFA's!

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=fattyacids

 

Great reads thanks Zoe.

 

ive just skimmed through some post's, so if ive missed something i appolagise. earlier in my years i had the odd one with similar probs. adding olive oil & flax seed oil to the diet fixed the problem. i use these in all my dogs diets now days anyway because they contain essentials any how. also, don't wash ya dog to often, i know some people like to bring there dogs inside etc...but washing the dog removes natural oils from the skin and washing could just be the number one problem. if you can, i would add these oils to the diet and dont wash the dog for a month, see how things go.

 

I totally agree with the over washing. My first girl, I used to wash way too much in the beginning but once I stopped, minus mild occasional coat dryness on certain foods, her coat issues all but went away.

 

I added the apple cider vinegar to his diet with the olive oil and I have noticed a difference already in his dandruff. Maybe the olive oil put his Omegas into correct ratios. His tail still has the spot but between the antibiotic ointment and the nu-stock I am hoping it clears up soon. If not the skin biopsy will hopfully give me some answers.

 

Right on! Where is the spot on his tail located? Could it be ''stud tail''?

 

Not sure what "stud tail" is. It is on the top of his tail about 4-5 inches down from his butt.

 

There isn't that much good info for it online but if you do a search on here, there was a recent post about it and some people gave some ideas to remedy it.

Here's one about cats. Same deal though...

http://www.petplace.com/cats/stud-tail-in-cats--supracaudal-gland-hyperplasia/page1.aspx

Little bit on it on this page...

http://animalpetdoctor.homestead.com/bacterialskin.html

They show a picture of it on here..

http://www.thewhippet.net/dog-skin-rashes.html

 

Holly crap that is exactly what my dogs tail looks like. YOU ROCK!!!